Discipleship: Our View at TC

At The Community, we see discipleship as a personal responsibility to manage our own experience with God.
We believe that corporateness of life and a corporate desire to follow God are both Biblical and life giving. We feel that our corporate strength is gauged by the level to which each individual has a personal walk with Christ. Discipleship is not about Biblical knowledge, or coming to church to be "fed", it is a place of personal pursuit of Christ and the self discovery that leads to maturity. Apostle Paul said, "my God shall supply all your needs". We see that Paul’s God was very personal. Discipleship is about each individual knowing "their God".

It is through this personal understanding of God in our own lives, that the Father shows us the mysteries of the Kingdom and hidden resources. -Mark 4:1-10

We believe that discipleship is a training process and this process is not about a church service, but life itself: i.e. marriage, work, family relations etc. This process can be broken into two important areas, as related in Luke 6:40-45. The first is the need for self analysis and personal correction to God’s demands on our lives. This requires personal responsibility . Secondly, we are required to look into our own hearts, checking the purity of our own inner person, thoughts and emotions.

Jesus wants those who are totally committed to follow Him. He is not interested in a mixed multitude (Luke 14:25). Discipleship requires an absolute death to our own desires and a submission of our lives to His demands. Jesus made it clear that this is a 100% commitment. He patterned this for us when He said, "I do not seek My will, but the will of My Father." Look at what Jesus says in Mark 8:34.

When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."

At TC we focus on what comes before the "following", namely the precursors of desire, denial of self, and execution of personal actions. Discipleship is a conscious choice of His preferences and a personal internal desire to follow Him by consistent execution of our wills and to continually change. Denial of self is not just material or external in nature, but a denial of one’s self focus and interests.

Finally, discipleship requires action, which constitutes a daily process which is progressive, step by step, consistent and disciplined. This produces a people who know who they are and to whom they belong. Discipleship produces an individual not swayed by worldly demands or view points but functioning out of an inner resource which only God can provide.


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