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At Hyde Park United Methodist, you’ll hear a lot of talk about the discipleship pathway. We are intentional about helping people become and grow as disciples of Christ. The “discipleship pathway” is a framework that lays out how we believe this happens. The pathway is uniquely Methodist.

Do you know the Good Samaritan story in Luke? An expert in the law asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asked the man what was written in the law. The man answered “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and will all your mind; and Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus replied, “You have answered correctly, do this and you will live.”

So our question becomes “How?” The discipleship pathway sets out to answer “do this and you will live.”

To grow as a follower of Christ, there are five foundational elements in the discipleship pathway for growth in relationship with God and the Church:   
1.    Understanding the meaning of “discipleship”
2.    Stages of growth in our relationship with God
3.    Interrelated roles and responsibilities of God, the church and the disciple
4.    Spiritual practices that change as we grow
5.    Our discipleship as part of God’s redemptive plan for the world

Understanding these five essentials provides a firm foundation for growth with Christ. Below is the framework for how one grows.

Definition of a Disciple

First, we must define what we mean by “disciple.” Different churches define “disciple” differently. Here’s ours:

A follower of Jesus whose life is centering on loving God and loving others.

So, what does this mean? As Christians, we want to ground the definition in following Jesus and loving God and loving others. Following Jesus suggests that you are attracted to Jesus and his teaching. It also suggests you believe who he, and the church, says he was — God incarnate — and that you are willing to trust him for your personal salvation and for bringing healing and wholeness to the world.

But is belief enough to be considered a “follower of Jesus?” The word “follow” implies more. Action is required in order to be a follower of Jesus. What kind of action are we talking about? Based on Jesus’ assertion that the greatest commandment is that “you shall love the lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind” and the second is like it, “love your neighbor as yourself,” we have described this action as loving God and loving others. In other words, a disciple is one who “Makes God’s Love Real” in the world.

Note that usually belief and action don’t change at the exact same time. Sometimes belief is enough to change action, sometimes action happens first, and then we figure out what we believe through action.

Discipleship is about growing in belief and growing in action. As we grow in belief and action, hearts are transformed… for us, for the church and for the world. As followers of Jesus grow in these areas, things transform. God utilizes our growth as individuals and faith communities to participate in his transformation of the world.

As we grow in belief and live out those beliefs, we experience our lives growing more and more centered on loving God and loving others. Our lives become more and more about a life of service. We look more and more like Jesus.

So let’s look at how we might change as we grow spiritually.

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Stages of Relationship Growth

One way to look at spiritual growth is to consider how people at different stages of their faith might describe their relationship with Jesus. We have used broad categorizes for these stages.  Another way to look at this would be in terms of our relationship with God, like strangers, acquaintances, friends, good friends, and intimate friends. These are broad categories, but should give us an idea of what our relationship with Jesus might look like as we grow in faith.

  • Ignoring — “I don’t know if I believe in God.” “I believe in God but I don’t need a faith community.”
  • Exploring — “I believe in God, but I’m not sure about Jesus or the church.” “My faith is not a significant part of my life.”
  • Getting Started — “I believe in Jesus and I am working on what it means to follow him.” “I am participating in the life of the church.”
  • Going Deeper — "My relationship with Jesus makes a difference in how I live my life." "I am discovering how my life can make God's love real in the world."
  • Centering on Christ — "Following Jesus is the most important thing in my life." My life is part of God's transformation of the world."

These stages are not rigid, of course. The faith journey, like any journey is filled with twists and turns along the way. These terms might give you a general idea of where you are right now so that you can begin to identify what your next steps might be as you grow and move more deeply into living a Christ-centered life.

So, what actually helps us grow in this relationship, how do we move from ignoring and exploring to going deeper and Christ-centered... strangers to intimate friends?

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The Three Roles in Growing our Relationship

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God, the church, and each one of us has a role to play, and all of these roles interact and work together to help us to grow as disciples.

God does his part, but we have a responsibility to respond, and to put our faith into practice. The church also has a responsibility to provide experiences and opportunities for people to engage with and to nurture people as they seek to grow.

God’s Role

God is at work in our lives in different ways as we grow in our faith. John Wesley, the father of Methodism, described this as three forms of grace.

Prevenient grace is the stage in which God meets us where we are, before we have made any decision to follow him. It exists prior to and without reference to anything we may have done. God is calling all persons into relationship, and we can choose how we will respond. Some of us will ignore this call.

If we choose to become disciples of Christ, we are Justified by Grace. Justifying Grace is offered by God, and is received by us by faith and trust in Christ, through which God pardons us of sin. This justifying grace cancels our guilt and empowers us to resist the power of sin and to fully love God and neighbor. Wesley believed that justification can occur in different ways for different people. It may happen in one transforming moment, as in response to an altar call, or it may involve a series of decisions across time.

But, we are never done. We continue to work out our salvation as we grow in faith. Sanctifying Grace is that grace of God which sustains the followers in the journey toward perfection of love. This perfection is a genuine love of God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, and a genuine love of our neighbors as ourselves.

Church’s Role

The Church’s role is to nurture, encourage, provide accountability and challenge us as we grow. This is primarily done by providing opportunities to experience God in Christian community through small groups, corporate worship and opportunities to use our spiritual gifts in service.

Individual’s Role

What is our individual role in spiritual growth? First, we take advantage of the opportunities given to us by the church. But we can’t just show up at church every time the doors are open and think that we will grow spiritually. In addition to attending worship, being involved in a small group and in service, we each have a responsibility to be engaged in the practice of personal spiritual disciplines. The Methodist tradition believes that God uses our practice of spiritual disciplines to shape us in Christ’s image. There are lots of spiritual disciplines, but we think that these four are the essential ones that will be catalytic to spiritual growth. In other words, these personal practices are essential to growing in the likeness and image of Jesus.

 

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Spiritual Practices Change as We Grow

Our personal practices of spiritual discipline are an expression of loving God or of loving others. We believe it is through these practices that God changes us, and as we change, the ways in which we practice these disciplines should also change. The chart for prayer and mediation on the right gives us an idea of how these practices change.  

Growth in one discipline does not necessarily correspond with growth in other areas. You can be exploring one practice and going deeper in another. And of course, growth in these practices does not necessarily correspond with growth in what we believe. Sometimes we change our belief and one of these practices changes as a result. Other times, we begin with changing our actions and, through the practice of these spiritual disciplines, our beliefs are changed.  

And once again, growth is not ever as linear as this table would lead us to believe. The discipleship path is seldom in a straight line, and there may be regression, but it is a path nevertheless. The important thing is to keep following Jesus down the path. Wherever you are right now is great, but it is not where you are supposed to stay indefinitely. God is never through with us.

In what spiritual practices do you need to grow? 

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God’s Plan for Redemption

Of course, it is not all about us and our individual spiritual growth. God uses our response in his redeeming work. As we all grow together, lives are transformed, Christian community is created and the city of Tampa and the world are healed. This is Hyde Park’s vision for our congregation. This is all part of God’s plan of salvation and redemption and each one of us has an important part to play.

Why does this matter?
•    This is our vision and belief, that as we practice these disciplines individually and as a faith community the Holy Spirit will be transforming lives, creating Christian community and healing the city and the world.
•    This is God’s plan for his church and he needs us to be the community to fulfill his plan. God’s plan for our life is better than ours.
•    If we do not engage there will be much transformation, community building and healing left undone. Lives, communities and the world, both now and forever, are not as they could be.

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