Discipleship and Spiritual Growth

We don’t live by faith by reading a rule book, or following a map, or working through a career development program. We do not begin with things, or pieces of paper, or ideas, or feelings, or deeds, or successes.

If Jesus says being a disciple and making disciples is the main thing, then that's the main thing for us. But what in the world does this look like?

Tom’s message was simple: each and every one of us is invited to encounter a God who loves, chooses, and visits us.

The routes we walk—rhythms of embodied presence and prayerful listening to the small world outside our front door— help me to notice the small, and not-so-small, shifts in our season of life.

When we seek God, we discover that—through the invitations of Jesus—God’s love sought and found us first.

We have to train ordinary people in the relational skills to be Spirit-led in helping others be changed by Jesus.

I have seen and heard firsthand that thousands have trouble seeing God as a loving Father because of deep wounds from their earthly father. Maybe that’s true for you as well.

The “Read the Labels” technique is an easy way to freshen up our Bible reading. While reading, identify and track the labels that an author uses for characters in the story. Once a character is introduced, many Bible readers create a picture in their mind of who that character is and default to that initial picture without looking at the nuanced ways that the author is presenting that character.