The Zone Gathering

In Deuteronomy 1:6 God commands the Israelites at Horeb: “You have stayed long enough on this mountain. Break camp and take your journey.”

Just as God called the Israelites out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land, God is calling all of us to follow Him on a journey of faith. Fortunately, we don’t have to take that journey alone; God designed us to walk within the context of community. At NCC, we come together in small groups to support and encourage one another as we seek to become disciples—fully devoted followers of Christ.

Acts 2 gives us a glimpse of the early church and profiles of fully devoted followers of Christ: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

This passage highlights 4 dimensions of discipleship. They were “filled with awe” —the spiritual or Seeker dimension. They were “devoted to the apostle’s teaching”—the intellectual or Learner dimension. They “had everything in common” and “enjoy[ed] the favor of all the people” —the relational or Influencer dimension. And “they gave to anyone as he had need” —the stewardship or Investor dimension.

In the Spring Semester Pass, we will unveil the new NCC Discipleship Map, a framework for NCCers to grow as a disciple that is built around these 4 dimensions. Spiritual growth is not linear, but it is predictable. And we want to give people options and foundational stepping stones for their faith journeys, enabling them to become a Seeker, Learner, Influencer, and Investor.

I would ask all of our small group leaders to begin meditating on this passage in Acts 2. If we want to be the church that Jesus envisioned, then Acts 2 is a good place to start. Over the next few weeks, we will unpack this verse here at the Zonegathering Thursday Leadership Lesson and begin to give you a sneak peak at the Discipleship Map.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 1st, 2005 at 9:46 am and is filed under Discipleship, Discipleship Map, Leadership Lessons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.