Why become a resilient disciple?
At the Crossing, we believe that the Real Jesus offers us the grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, compassion, patience and power that we need to be transformed into the men and women we long to be. It is in this culture that we grow into resilient disciples of Jesus, men and women who can flourish no matter the circumstances around us.
First things first.
Everybody is a disciple of someone or something.
The question is… WHO OR WHAT AM I A DISCIPLE OF?
i.e. What are you being formed into? What actions, beliefs and people are shaping your future?
Our desire for you as a church is to help you go from unintentionally formed by the world to be an intentionally formed by Jesus into a resilient disciple.
Everybody falls into one of the categories below…
Unintentional Spiritual formation
All you have to do is wake up tomorrow morning and you will be shaped by everything you see in this paradigm. As humans we are all formed by the stories that we believe (finances, sexuality, etc) with the habits we live into our relationships and our environment.
intentional spiritual formation
To become a resilient disciple of Jesus (and therefore our true self), we have to counter everything we see in the unintentional spiritual formation paradigm with what we see in the intentional spiritual formation paradigm.
We replace stories we believe (lies) with the truth from Scripture. We replace bad habits with healthy practices that we see from the life and teaching of Jesus. We counter relationships that are held together by preferences with community that is bound by Jesus. We learn how to live aware of and connected to the Holy Spirit wherever we are.
How do you become a resilient disciple?
Take responsibility for your own discipleship.
1. Abide
Personal
2. Connect
Communal
3. Risk
Missional
The journey may be hard, but we believe it is worth it.
At the Crossing, we invite you to “climb Mount Everest” with us as we journey to become what we refer to as resilient disciples.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but essential characteristics
7 Marks of a Resilient Disciple
Practicing the way of Jesus
This is what it means and this is how you can start today.
Rooted in the Scriptures
Daily reading.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit
This is what it means and how you can begin to develop practices in listening to the Spirit and following His leading.
Listen to a sermon in a recent series entitled Ghost Stories.
Driven by Compassionate Mission
This is what it means and how you do it.
Join a group that is designed to live on mission together. Join a Missional Community.
Committed to extravagant generosity
This is what it means and here’s how you do it.
Give Online.
dedicated to abundant simplicity
This is what it means and how you do it.
Action Step Here.
Shared with loving family
This is what it means and how you do it.
Action Step Here.
Join a Missional Community
An Easy & Essential Step in becoming a Resilient Disciple
Practice the way of Jesus (disciples) together (family) in NEA (mission).
