Discipleship Process
Although we will all continue to grow in our relationship with Christ for the rest of our lives, there does come a point where we are far enough down the road to help someone else in their growth. And there is a Biblical expectation that we each grow toward that point. Hebrews 5:11-14 puts it this way, “Concerning Him (Christ) we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” The writer of Hebrews recognizes that after a certain amount of time, believers should be able to grasp the elementary principles of the Faith in such a way that they are ready to be teach it to others.
Therefore, we have a 3 year discipleship process that we are asking our church to engage in with us to equip the saints to make disciples.
STEP ONE - DISCOVERY
The first step to getting involved with our Discipleship Process is by attending one of our Discovery Meetings to hear the story of Fellowship Memphis, be introduced to our church values, and be given a chance to move toward membership. You don’t have to become a member before you sign up for a small group with us, but you do need to take that first step toward getting to know a little bit about us before you jump into a group with our church.
YEAR ONE - COMMUNITY GROUP
The first year of our discipleship process will be in what we call a Community Group. Because we believe that discipleship is relational, inspirational, doctrinal, and experiential, you will spend time getting to know each other, praying and studying the Word of God together, and reaching out to the city of Memphis together in this group. After all, discipleship is concerned just as much with the heart as the head. These groups are anywhere from 10 to 20 people and are comprised of men and women, young and old together. The curriculum takes a Scriptural look at our church values, which serves 2 purposes. First, it grounds first year disciples in foundational truths that every follower of Christ needs to be able to pass on to other new believers and make disciples. Second, it grounds everyone at Fellowship Memphis in our DNA as a church so that we can continue to deepen our unity as a body together being, “of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose” Philippians 2:2.
YEAR 2 & 3 - GROWTH GROUP
The next 2 years of our discipleship process will be in what we call a Growth Group. A Growth Group is still relational, inspirational, doctrinal, and experiential just like a Community Group. You will still share life together, pray and study the Word, and reach out to the city of Memphis together as a group. One of the differences, however, is that instead of being in a group of 10-20 men and women alike, you will be in a smaller group made up of all men or all women. In general these people will be people who were a part of your Community Group in year one, but there may need to be some changes for some reason. Also, in general your leader will be the same leader you had in Community Group. The difference is that it will be smaller and gender specific. The curriculum will focus on becoming a spiritual leader, your relationship with God, your relationships with others, core theology, and inductive Bible study. These will round out the basic “pattern of sound doctrine” that Paul talks about in 2 Timothy 1:13 that we hope will equip you to pursue a relationship with Christ effectively for the rest of your life. It also rounds out what we feel any new believer needs to know to turn around and “teach others to observe all that I have commanded them,” just like Jesus told us to in the great commission.
THE FINAL STEP - LEADERSHIP
After spending 3 years with us in this discipleship process, worshipping with us on Sundays, and engaging in other growth opportunities that we offer such as our Fellowship Institute, our hope is that you will be ready to experience the joy of sharing what you have learned about following Christ with others. This can be fleshed out in leading a Community Group or Growth Group in our church, or engaging 1 on 1 with people in the city who God brings your way. After all, Jesus literally told us to make disciples, “as you are going,” about your life and we would hope that we would have just as many people passing on their faith outside of our church structure as they are inside of it.