DISCIPLESHIP GROUPS & THE NEW CITY DISCIPLESHIP MODEL
Dear church,
You may have already heard that we are offering three Discipleship Groups this spring/summer as we wind down Intermission Groups. The three groups that will meet in person every Wednesday evening starting May 4 are as follows:
We encourage you to join one of these groups and register as soon as possible.
But what exactly are discipleship groups? What purpose do they serve and how are they different from our regular Intermission Groups (small groups)?
Discipleship groups are an important part of New City’s overall discipleship plan. In Matthew 28, Jesus calls his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded. This is often referred to as “the Great Commission,” and it is central to our mission as a church. But that begs the question, how exactly are faithful disciples of Christ made? This is a big question, one that we have worked hard to answer through much prayer, study, and discussion.
We understood that discipleship is a whole-person enterprise, involving the entirety of a person, as the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We also recognized that there are both vertical and horizontal dimensions to the process of being transformed into the image of Christ, as the Apostle John writes in 1 John 4:20, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” We also recognized that people grow by doing and that the fruit of the Spirit is expressed through active service, as the Apostle James writes in James 2:22, “faith was completed by his works.”
All these thoughts led to the following, a visual illustration of the discipleship model that we have sought to implement over the years:
In short, we are called to bring the whole gospel to Hamilton until Hamilton is whole by knowing God, being God’s people, and engaging in God’s Work. By faithfully doing this in the power of the Holy Spirit, we believe that God will bring us closer and closer to wholeness in Christ.
So, where do summer discipleship groups fit in the discipleship model? As you can see above, it plays a similar role to Intermission groups in that it bridges “being God’s people” with “engaging in God’s work.” It is a place where we learn to be faithful people of God as we learn what it means to live in service of God. Both Intermission and Discipleship groups feature scriptural learning, prayer, and mutual encouragement as essential parts of whole-person discipleship.
So, what’s the difference between the two? Intermission Groups provide a natural progression from merely attending Sunday morning services to becoming more involved in the life of the church, because they provide a friendly environment in which a small group of people can discuss the Sunday sermons, pray, and help one another apply Scriptural principles to one another’s lives. These groups normally run for half the year in order to facilitate meaningful and lasting friendships.
Discipleship groups, on the other hand, can be thought of as shorter-term (6 to 10 sessions) intensives, or crash courses, that specialize in a particular aspect of the Christian life. We have offered discipleship groups that teach people how to read and study the Bible, how to pray, how to understand the big story of the Bible, how to evangelize, how to become Christians, how to do mercy work, how to engage in missions, how to build healthy, Christ-centred marriages, etc.
We earnestly hope that you will continue to engage wholeheartedly in these opportunities to grow in the grace of God. May the Lord bless you and strengthen you as you join us in discipleship!