Discipleship

Beginning to develop that anxious mind which comes a few days out. My mind bounces from one consideration to another. Nervously weighing various ideas and piecing them into an overall puzzle. You see, beginning this Wednesday night; I will lead another discipleship class through a 15-week journey. This will be my sixth trip down this path. However, it has been over a year since leading my last group.

How I need to go back and work through these building blocks again. Each group has always taught me new aspects and centered my own focus. Some of the classes have been started by inviting friends to get together for an early morning once a week. Others, like this one, are started by the church and listed on the Wednesday night schedule. I never know whom, if anyone will walk through the door.

Discipleship is not an easy class. These are small group discussions. I warn right from the start that this is not a normal study. They do not gather each week to listen to what the instructor has learned but instead we find out what they are experiencing and see how they are growing week by week. We start slowly but build quickly. Students will be asked to commit themselves to this endeavor. The schedule will run through early July when it will difficult to walk away from a warm summer evening to sit in a windowless room for an hour and half. However, the results can be life changing. I know my life changed when I went through the class a few years ago.

I ask anyone reading this to stop for a moment and pray that those who are led into this class will have a heart to chase God. If anyone is chooses a discipleship class so God will love them more then I suggest finding another way. I do not know how to help with that goal because God loves them as much today as he will ever or has ever loved. There is no way to increase His complete love. Discipleship, however, is a lifetime commitment for those seeking to fulfill a desire to love God with all their heart, all their soul and all their mind. It is impossible to pull God closer to ourselves but how amazing it is when we pull ourselves closer to God.