Developing disciple making connections begins with understanding every personal relationship revolves around our spiritual relationship with Christ. The primary relationship for the disciple maker is being in love with Jesus. We share what we love. What we love consumes our lives, permeates everything we do and all that we are. It directs the path we travel.
Disciple making relationships result when the Love of Christ enters you, flows through you and transforms those around you.
FiC teaches that making disciples is not just another Bible study. Rather, it is the application of the Word of God into our lives. Everyone is being “discipled” by someone or something. Education, athletics, entertainment or thugonomics are all willing teachers eager to disciple you. Each person is responsible for determining the source of the information source for their transformation. As believers, we are called by Christ to be taking advantage of opportunities to make disciples. Our ministry focus at FiC is Disciple Making.
PRAYER
When we fall in love with the source of our life, Christ (Col. 3:4), our relationship grows through communication with Him. As a child, I learned to pray by observing others. There were Godly men and women who knew how to converse with God. While there was awesome demonstrations of prayer, no one ever taught me how to pray or what it meant to pray. Being raised in church comes with assumptions that you should know how to do certain things. Through discipling relationships, I learned that prayer is true and honest communication to and from God. God speaks to us through His Word, music, circumstances, other people, and many other ways. We learn to recognize His voice by spending time with Him. Too often prayer is approached for an, “I’ll talk, you listen,” attitude, but true communication occurs when we express our life to God, hear His response and go in obedience to His instruction.
EVANGELISM
Evangelism will effectively follow a strong relationship with God. Anyone can learn the latest evangelism tool and be very persuasive with it. FiC teaches the importance of guiding the unbeliever in the understanding that salvation is the result of a relationship, not a magical incantation. As we train believers in methods of sharing the Gospel, we teach how to build bridges into the lives of those they are sharing Christ with. Most evangelistic relationships last years before a decision is made, we cannot microwave the Gospel and have instant results. Actually, we teach that the results are not up to us, the sharing believer will receive more no’s than yeses. We live in obedience to God, loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbors whether or not they come into a saving relationship through Christ.
DISCIPLESHIP
Time, dedication, concern, sacrifice, honesty, vulnerability, love…just a few terms that don’t define discipleship but are essential nutrients in the cells that keep the body growing. The seemingly incidental text messages, phone calls, visits, lunches are vital points of contact that stimulate the spiritual transformation of the disciple. FiC teaches disciple makers the importance of making contacts a priority. The communication made during the week tends to be far more beneficial than the once a week gathering.
We also teach the disciple maker to continue being a disciple. We need relationships with believers more mature than we are, who have our trust as a spiritual mentor. Don’t underestimate the power of modeling what you are teaching. The disciple will grasp the importance quicker when he sees his discipler living by his instruction.