Posts in Discipleship
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An Interview with Angel Turbeville, MBC Bethesda Director of Small Groups, and Helen Lee, MBC Bethesda Attendee
In the fall, I had the joy of co-leading a Friday night Multiply women’s group for MBC Bethesda. As our group started meeting, it was a joy to see the diversity, both ethnically and spiritually. Spiritually, some women had been faithful believers for years and some women were fairly new in their faith. One woman in particular, Helen, was a brand new Christian. I asked her to share her experience so that others might be encouraged to join a Multiply group. We learn and are challenged by each other’s views, questions, and varying levels of experience. The discussions in our Friday night group were so very rich because of…
By Tony Alany, MBC Arlington Director of Creative Arts
We’ve been talking a lot at MBC about discipleship, namely, disciples of Christ being disciple-makers. As I’ve been reading through the Old Testament (for those of you who think Christians just need to live in the New Testament…I beg you to rethink that approach) I came across the story of Elijah (disciple-maker) and Elisha (disciple) in 2 Kings 2.
See how this passage really lays out for us what disciples being disciple-makers looks like in real life:
- Elijah was a man who followed God wherever he was led.
- Elisha followed Elijah, who followed God.
- Elisha fought to stay with Elijah when God sent him out, never wanting to leave his side. He loved Elijah deeply…
By Rachel Thomas, MBC Loudoun Director of Discipleship for Women and Ministry Teams
When I lived in downtown Chicago, there was a certain buzz around the beginning of October. The Chicago Marathon completely shut down the city for one day. However, the days prior to the Sunday morning race, you could see hundreds of runners doing their final trainings, street sweepers cleaning the route, and orange “CITY OF CHICAGO” barricades placed on corners and intersections redirecting cars and cabs. All the runners in “The Windy City” would be bundled up and layered appropriately to stay warm before crossing the starting line on those crisp, fall mornings. But then you could see them just a few miles later throwing off all…
By Nate Keeler, MBC Arlington Campus Pastor
I recently had a conversation with a friend from MBC Arlington who asked me the question, “Is there an ideal way that discipleship should happen?” Great question. This one question leads to many: Is it one-on-one? Older to younger? Peer-to-peer? In a classroom? In a small group? Or is it in a mid-size Bible study? And what should we study? An inductive Bible study? Life topics? Systematic theology? This is just a sampling of the kinds of questions getting serious about discipleship will provoke. Often I will speak to people who are dogmatic and passionate about discipleship happening only one way, and they will have their example from Scripture to prove it! But…
By Mekdes Haddis, MBC Silver Spring Director of Discipleship
Growing up in Ethiopia, it was very easy and comfortable to invest in the local church I grew up in. But I don’t think I ever considered other believers around the world or even the other churches in the city I lived in. I mean why would I think of someone I hadn’t met? To be quite honest, I didn’t know there was a difference between the Local Church and Global Church. I understood very well the role I was to play in my local church but that was it. One day though, I passionately prayed to the Lord, “I love you so much, I want to know you more, and…
At a Bible study in my home for English learners, I once asked the group to turn back to the first book of the Bible, intending to make a point about Adam. I said, “Let’s go to the beginning, back to the story of the time when God created the earth.” A mainland Chinese woman looked up at me and said with utter astonishment, “He did?” She had no concept of a creator God, much less of a Savior named Jesus. Months later, she came to Christ and was discipled by an Indonesian believer here at MBC Tysons. Now years later, she is a disciple-maker back in China.
That experience has helped me recognize that discipling the nations is about…
The scent spread rapidly as he peeled back the lid from another can of sardines. I tried hard to avoid showing my disgust as the smell of oily fish quickly saturated the air surrounding our table. Sitting across from me was a man I had only just met. For weeks I had heard rumors of a Bible study group at my college, but I was hardly prepared for my encounter with the leader of this band of believers. Josiah was a cheerful man with a powerful smile–and many eccentricities. A nursing student, he had recently started college in his mid-twenties.
Josiah listened as I shared my story, his large beard parting frequently to let his lunch swim through. During that…