Disciples

One way for us to further achieve that vision is by focusing on discipleship: growing disciples. This will enable us to grow in God’s grace and more fully become Spirit-filled believers by rooting our lives in God’s word, and it will result in a deeper commitment to reach others for Jesus by encouraging and inspiring them to become and grow as disciples, too.



So beginning this fall we are going to use a new spiritual formation plan that has been developed by the Christian Reformed church called Disciples. This is a five-part series that connects worship, small group study, and daily devotions. Each part is five weeks long, focusing on different aspects of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. The aim of Disciples is to train disciples in the skills of living their faith in every part of their daily lives. There are three primary components to the Disciples strategy.

Weekly Worship

Between now and next summer there will be 5 times of 5 weeks at a time that we will devote our attention to being, growing, and making disciples. The sermons will focus on the themes of discipleship, and the services will be centered around these themes. We hope that this will engage as many people as possible in the discipleship journey.

Small Group

We are also encouraging every small group to very seriously consider using the Disciples materials for their small group discussions this year. We have already purchased 50 discussion guides of the first five-week study that we would love to give to the members of each group. These guides are written so that you don’t need to be an expert to read or lead a study. They are designed to get people interacting with one another and digging into their Bibles. All the key facts and terms are explained and there is no separate leader’s guide – discipleship is a journey together. The discussion guides offer suggestions for ice breakers, prayer items, further study, application, and accountability. Once again, we want to make this a time to join a small group, start a new small group, or even switch groups if that will enable you to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ. You will be given opportunities to get connected to a small group over the next few weeks as we launch our ministry activities again this Fall.

Daily Devotions

The third piece of Disciples is for use at home. The daily reading guide provides 37 devotions that encourage each household to put weekly worship into daily discipleship. Each reading promises to be thought-provoking, inspiring, and challenging. The idea is to use the daily devotionals during the same week we are focusing on that specific theme in our weekly worship and in your small groups. We have also already purchased these daily reading guides for every household that would like one. They will be available for you to take home over the next few weeks. We would highly encourage you to use this tool to further your growth as a disciple.

Our greatest desire is to see lives transformed by God’s Spirit to become more like Christ in everything we do. As is the case with everything we do, the more you get involved with something, the more you will get out of it. That’s why we are asking every person to participate in this year-long focus on growing as disciples. We pray that this will be a Spirit-filled, life-changing, joy-giving, heart-growing year for Unity Church.