In addition to the blogs that I've shared here, I'm also using a Discord server to foster an online discipleship community. Joining this community is free, and while you do not need to be a Christian to join, we ask that you come with sincerity of heart desiring to know the wisdom of God's Word, to know Him (or know Him more deeply) and to have a relationship with Him where you learn to love the things that He loves, hate the things that He hates, and that you desire to know His will and obey it. In other words, I ask that you are seeking discipleship.
If that's not a word you are familiar with, a disciple is someone who is a follower of someone, usually for the purposes of studying under them and to learn what they have to teach you about life. More specifically, this term usually implies some relationship in which you understand that the disciple-maker (informally, you may hear the word "Rabbi" used to refer to a disciple-maker) also has insight into what it means to be a Christian and you can learn how to grow closer to God and live your life as a Christian by imitating them. There is also a component of the disciple-maker mentoring you and helping you learn how to "do life" as a Christian, because they have probably been through something similar in their life. Quite simply put, the disciple-maker calls out to others "follow me as I follow Christ." It is not simply the disciple-maker saying, "follow me" and then them making up their own religion or version of Christianity (that's a cult leader). The disciple-maker is one who understands The Great Commission to "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations"...…"baptizing"..."preaching"..."teaching to obey everything I have commanded you"....and becoming witnesses and ambassadors for King Jesus and His Kingdom. Just like ambassadors that we are familiar with today, we help people that are citizens of the kingdom that are "embassy" (our local church) is placed in to become citizens of the kingdom we represent (the kingdom of heaven).
The goal of discipleship is not just conversions (though evangelism is definitely a key component of discipleship), but it is about training others to become like Christ (that is what the word "Christian" means) and in doing so, they will naturally want to fulfill their mission--The Great Commission--and go and make disciples as well--those who are citizens of a country they love will naturally want to tell others how much they love it and how they too can become citizens of such a great country. In the same way, those who have been truly saved by Christ will want to tell others their story of how they were once a citizen of the kingdom of darkness but have now become a citizen of the kingdom of His marvelous light, and that others can experience that same transformation and become citizens of the kingdom of heaven (the kingdom of God) as well.
I understand that this means that the group will naturally start off small as it is a process for someone to go from being curious about God to believing God is who He said He is and that His word can be trusted to being a follower of God and ultimately to becoming a disciple-maker to help others in the process of discipleship, but I also understand that it has the potential for explosive, exponential growth as those who are coming for discipleship in turn that would in turn disciple others. That is the model that we are given in the Scriptures as we see a process of "multiplication" and not simply "addition" as people who are true disciples of Christ naturally become disciple-makers. In this way, the community will grow organically as together we fulfill the Great Commission as we "Go and make disciples of all people groups" (and every tribe tongue and nation) together, and as we grow in numbers, we should also be growing in maturity so that there should be people ready to be leaders as each of us brings more people into the group.
Please pray for God to bring people to us to be discipled and for God to bring people to me that are curious and want to be discipled as well as those who want to mature spiritually and help make disciples. The goal of discipleship is larger than the goal of evangelism or church-planting. It is about "teaching them to obey every I have commanded you." This was why Jesus commanded and commissioned us to go and make disciples, not converts. It is a long-term commitment and journey centered around the gospel of Jesus Christ and showing and telling others the change that it has made in you and me and the change that He can make in them as well, through the power and work of the Holy Spirit. This is why the gospel is at the heart of what we study as a group and is a central theme of most of what I write here on this site.
Many of the discipleship resources once offered exclusively through Discord are now being offered to members who register on this website. Once you register, use the Contact Us page to let us know what resources you would like to request access to.
If that's something that you'd like to learn more about, or something that you'd be interested in helping out with, or both, please click this link that will give you access to join our Discipleship Discord. You will join with no special role but will have access to send me questions directly through Direct Message (DM) and will get to see more about who we are and what we do. You'll get access to my Journal entries where I make notes on my daily devotions as well as the "general" voice channel where I post general words of exhortation and encouragement to the community or share a song that I've heard that will help everyone as they sing the truth to themselves and fill their mind with the word of God and good, sound teaching.
After you join the community, if you're interested in becoming a part of our Community Groups, please contact me. I'll ask you some questions about where you are at in your journey of discipleship and help you choose a group that is going through a curriculum that is suited for where you are at No matter what level you are at, we are not meant to do discipleship or Christianity in isolation. Our Community Groups are here to help you grow, but they will not replace you being a member a local church and being under the authority of the Word of God, your pastor, elders, and deacons. While discipleship is largely done outside the church as we live life together, it is not something that happens apart from the Church or in place of the Church. If you have questions about church membership or need help finding a church local to you that will help you to be discipled, encourage you to cultivate your spiritual gifts and use them to the benefit of the Church and other, and encourage you to be spiritually mature and to become a disciple-maker, please let me know. It may take some work on your part, but probably the most important component of choosing a church is to find one where the pastor preaches and teaches the Word of God in what would be called an expository format--he lets the text speak and the Bible interpret itself. If this is the type of church that you go to, then every other part of the church's work and ministry should eventually line up with the preaching as people will be encouraged to apply the Word of God to how the worship, how they work, how they interact with each other in the church and how they interact with the world. You will find issues in every church because every congregation is made up of imperfect people who are trying to follow Christ, but still struggle with battling the flesh. This fight is not over until we die and go to heaven or until Jesus returns and we are transformed into His likeness. If you are looking for the "perfect" church, you won't find it, but do look for a church that desires to honor God, not man and whose desire is to fulfill The Great Commission and that preaches the true gospel and is faithful to the Word of God in all they do.
Please understand that not everyone in this Community is a super-Christian--in fact, some people in this community may not even be saved, but they are all seeking to learn and understand the gospel and apply it to their lives--the same is hopefully true in your local church. Therefore, we welcome everyone that is anywhere on their journey of discipleship even if they have not yet come to the point of "conversion" or being "born again" yet as long as they have a genuine desire to know the answers to "Who is God as revealed in the the Bible?" and "What does He desire/require of me?" and "How can I know Him more intimately and deeply and be more obedient to Him?"
Thanks,
Daniel Westfall
If that's not a word you are familiar with, a disciple is someone who is a follower of someone, usually for the purposes of studying under them and to learn what they have to teach you about life. More specifically, this term usually implies some relationship in which you understand that the disciple-maker (informally, you may hear the word "Rabbi" used to refer to a disciple-maker) also has insight into what it means to be a Christian and you can learn how to grow closer to God and live your life as a Christian by imitating them. There is also a component of the disciple-maker mentoring you and helping you learn how to "do life" as a Christian, because they have probably been through something similar in their life. Quite simply put, the disciple-maker calls out to others "follow me as I follow Christ." It is not simply the disciple-maker saying, "follow me" and then them making up their own religion or version of Christianity (that's a cult leader). The disciple-maker is one who understands The Great Commission to "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations"...…"baptizing"..."preaching"..."teaching to obey everything I have commanded you"....and becoming witnesses and ambassadors for King Jesus and His Kingdom. Just like ambassadors that we are familiar with today, we help people that are citizens of the kingdom that are "embassy" (our local church) is placed in to become citizens of the kingdom we represent (the kingdom of heaven).
The goal of discipleship is not just conversions (though evangelism is definitely a key component of discipleship), but it is about training others to become like Christ (that is what the word "Christian" means) and in doing so, they will naturally want to fulfill their mission--The Great Commission--and go and make disciples as well--those who are citizens of a country they love will naturally want to tell others how much they love it and how they too can become citizens of such a great country. In the same way, those who have been truly saved by Christ will want to tell others their story of how they were once a citizen of the kingdom of darkness but have now become a citizen of the kingdom of His marvelous light, and that others can experience that same transformation and become citizens of the kingdom of heaven (the kingdom of God) as well.
I understand that this means that the group will naturally start off small as it is a process for someone to go from being curious about God to believing God is who He said He is and that His word can be trusted to being a follower of God and ultimately to becoming a disciple-maker to help others in the process of discipleship, but I also understand that it has the potential for explosive, exponential growth as those who are coming for discipleship in turn that would in turn disciple others. That is the model that we are given in the Scriptures as we see a process of "multiplication" and not simply "addition" as people who are true disciples of Christ naturally become disciple-makers. In this way, the community will grow organically as together we fulfill the Great Commission as we "Go and make disciples of all people groups" (and every tribe tongue and nation) together, and as we grow in numbers, we should also be growing in maturity so that there should be people ready to be leaders as each of us brings more people into the group.
Please pray for God to bring people to us to be discipled and for God to bring people to me that are curious and want to be discipled as well as those who want to mature spiritually and help make disciples. The goal of discipleship is larger than the goal of evangelism or church-planting. It is about "teaching them to obey every I have commanded you." This was why Jesus commanded and commissioned us to go and make disciples, not converts. It is a long-term commitment and journey centered around the gospel of Jesus Christ and showing and telling others the change that it has made in you and me and the change that He can make in them as well, through the power and work of the Holy Spirit. This is why the gospel is at the heart of what we study as a group and is a central theme of most of what I write here on this site.
Many of the discipleship resources once offered exclusively through Discord are now being offered to members who register on this website. Once you register, use the Contact Us page to let us know what resources you would like to request access to.
If that's something that you'd like to learn more about, or something that you'd be interested in helping out with, or both, please click this link that will give you access to join our Discipleship Discord. You will join with no special role but will have access to send me questions directly through Direct Message (DM) and will get to see more about who we are and what we do. You'll get access to my Journal entries where I make notes on my daily devotions as well as the "general" voice channel where I post general words of exhortation and encouragement to the community or share a song that I've heard that will help everyone as they sing the truth to themselves and fill their mind with the word of God and good, sound teaching.
After you join the community, if you're interested in becoming a part of our Community Groups, please contact me. I'll ask you some questions about where you are at in your journey of discipleship and help you choose a group that is going through a curriculum that is suited for where you are at No matter what level you are at, we are not meant to do discipleship or Christianity in isolation. Our Community Groups are here to help you grow, but they will not replace you being a member a local church and being under the authority of the Word of God, your pastor, elders, and deacons. While discipleship is largely done outside the church as we live life together, it is not something that happens apart from the Church or in place of the Church. If you have questions about church membership or need help finding a church local to you that will help you to be discipled, encourage you to cultivate your spiritual gifts and use them to the benefit of the Church and other, and encourage you to be spiritually mature and to become a disciple-maker, please let me know. It may take some work on your part, but probably the most important component of choosing a church is to find one where the pastor preaches and teaches the Word of God in what would be called an expository format--he lets the text speak and the Bible interpret itself. If this is the type of church that you go to, then every other part of the church's work and ministry should eventually line up with the preaching as people will be encouraged to apply the Word of God to how the worship, how they work, how they interact with each other in the church and how they interact with the world. You will find issues in every church because every congregation is made up of imperfect people who are trying to follow Christ, but still struggle with battling the flesh. This fight is not over until we die and go to heaven or until Jesus returns and we are transformed into His likeness. If you are looking for the "perfect" church, you won't find it, but do look for a church that desires to honor God, not man and whose desire is to fulfill The Great Commission and that preaches the true gospel and is faithful to the Word of God in all they do.
Please understand that not everyone in this Community is a super-Christian--in fact, some people in this community may not even be saved, but they are all seeking to learn and understand the gospel and apply it to their lives--the same is hopefully true in your local church. Therefore, we welcome everyone that is anywhere on their journey of discipleship even if they have not yet come to the point of "conversion" or being "born again" yet as long as they have a genuine desire to know the answers to "Who is God as revealed in the the Bible?" and "What does He desire/require of me?" and "How can I know Him more intimately and deeply and be more obedient to Him?"
Thanks,
Daniel Westfall