Discipleship!!

Hello West End Church Family, 

For my introductory article as the Pastor of Discipleship and Families at West End, I thought I should talk about… discipleship!   

Before we dive in, I need to thank you all for the kind welcome you have extended to my family and I. So many of you have gone out of your way to make us feel at home here at West End. We truly love this church.  

Onto discipleship. Let’s start with a common definition. Discipleship can be defined as the formation of believers into mature followers of Jesus. Pretty simple.  

At West End, we believe it is our responsibility and mission to glorify God by making disciples of all nations starting in the West End of Greenville, SC. This means we’re intentionally and carefully crafting a church environment that helps believers form into followers who know, live, and multiply the Gospel. In our culture where discipleship is often equated with other good (but inaccurate) things like church attendance, program leadership, or otherwise, we need to be clear:  

• Discipleship is not a program or a class

• It is not a seasonal emphasis or weekend seminar

• It isn’t the result of following some branded process for church growth

Discipleship is none of those things.It is the lifelong process of being conformed into the image of Christ through Scripture, community, obedience, and mission. 

We believe the Scriptural mandate to make disciples is clear. In Matthew 28, Jesus commissions his disciples (and by extension us) to “make disciples of all nations…” Paul reinforces this in 2 Timothy 2 when he calls Timothy to “entrust truth to faithful men who will teach others also.” Ephesians 4 describes a church growing into maturity, equipped for works of service.  

The Biblical vision for discipleship isn’t simply an intellectual or philosophical exercise. Instead, we’re called to act and encourage one another as we ourselves form into “little Christs.” This is our goal at West End. Let’s discuss how.  

The Study of Scripture  

Scripture plays a central role in the discipleship process. According to 2 Timothy 3, the Word of God equips the believer for every good work. Discipleship detached from Scripture can force reliance on our favorite personalities, the cultural trends, or worse. Only the Word forms conviction, exposes sin, reveals Christ, and trains believers in righteousness.  

Reliance on the Spirit (not a pastor or leader) 

The pastor or ministry leader functions not as a performer but as an equipper. Faithful discipleship requires leaders who model obedience and cultivate environments where believers grow and multiply. The goal is to grow closer to each other and to God, not to become overly reliant on a particular leader.  

Directional not Destination-Based 

I stole this point directly from the book No Silver Bullets by Daniel Im. It can be easy to believe that discipleship is a destination we reach when we are “complete” in our faith. The problem is we’ll never be complete on this side of heaven. And neither will our discipleship models/ministries! Instead, we collectively want to push one another in the right direction of faith and good works as directed by Scripture through the gift of Biblical community.  

At West End we’re actively working to build a culture of discipleship that exhibits all these qualities. Our discipleship ministries will continue to look less like a “buffet of programmatic options” and more like a connected network of micro groups that are moving toward Jesus together.  

Think less siloes, more spider webs.  

To achieve this vision, we’ll need to continue to build up discipleship leaders who are comfortable discussing the Word with and building up the faith of others. We’ll need intergenerational relationships to share wisdom and perspective. And we’ll need to come to our discipleship groups with transparency, genuine love, and mutual support for each other as fellow members of this body.  

I’m so excited to be on this journey with you all. I pray for you daily.  

Grace & Peace,  

Adam