Note: As you may know, I have had the privilege of serving as the preaching pastor at New Life since the church began in March 2009. This summer, I’ll be taking a sabbatical – a time of extended rest that is designed to replenish me spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. Because I am filled with gratitude for New Life, I thought I’d share a series of reflections on why I love our church. This post is the fourth in a series of five. I hope you enjoy them!

In Ephesians 4:12, Paul writes that God gives leaders to his church, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” The goal is that every Christian would be mature in faith rather than tossed around by the latest fads and ideas.

In their book Total Church, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis articulate a biblical view of discipleship that we have sought to live out here at New Life:

It is in the family of God that I am able to care and be cared for, love and be loved, forgive and be forgiven, rebuke and be rebuked, encourage and be encouraged – all of which are essential to the task of being a disciple of the risen Lord Jesus. Too often, however, churches are not contexts for making disciples so much as occasions for acknowledging relative strangers. (112-113)

We didn’t want New Life to be known as a place people went to worship God once a week or a few times a year. Rather, we wanted to be known as the people of God on mission together to make disciples of all nations.

By God’s grace, we’ve seen a culture of discipleship emerge over the past seven years. Our culture includes big things like sending teams of missionaries to unreached people groups around the world, and members helping one another to understand and apply the Bible in our Life Groups. But it also includes smaller things, like referring to our facility as “the church building” rather than “the church.”

Just this past weekend, a young family that has been a part of New Life for the past three years worshiped with us for the last time prior to moving overseas. Before we prayed together, they expressed how thankful they were to be a part of a healthy local church that helped them grow in faith, knowledge, and obedience to the Lord.

Of course, this young family had also been used by God to help many others grow spiritually through their committed service, counsel, and prayers. And that’s exactly how it’s supposed to work in the local church. We make disciples as we are learning to follow Jesus more faithfully ourselves.

The Apostle John wrote, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 4). In the same way, I have no greater joy than seeing our members growing as disciples of Jesus and making disciples of Jesus both in our community and around the world.

Written by New Life Preaching Pastor, Allen Duty