On becoming a community of disciples of Jesus, followers of The Way

Facilitated by Constance Bair-Thompson

“The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master.   It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters…” [Matthew 10:24-25, KJV]  Merriam-Webster says that being a disciple “implies a devoted allegiance to the teachings of one chosen as a master.”

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How can we become disciples, and a community of disciples, of Jesus?  What is it that Jesus asks of His disciples today?

[A survey or overview retreat, perhaps to become a series.]

The twelve men that Jesus chose to be his disciples while he walked the earth left everything to follow Him.  They lived with Him and each other listening to Him, learning His ways, learning His practices, observing Him in different situations.  Their transformation from ordinary fishermen, tax collectors and the like into a community of disciples did not take place instantly, but rather over a few years, and even then, they seemed not to fully understand who He was or what His mission was until after His death and resurrection.  They were first-hand witnesses to His life and earthly ministry, death, resurrection and ascension, and also spent forty days learning more from him after His resurrection.

If it took the original disciples so much preparation when they were first-hand witnesses to so much that we can not be, how then can we hope to grow into discipleship today?  Much of the answer lies still in preparing ourselves by engaging with the practices, the disciplines, those that Jesus Himself did as well as others that can bring us closer to Him – and in learning from Him directly as He speaks with us in our heart now in prayer. 

During our time together, we will survey some of the spiritual practices, a few in depth, that can help prepare us to be disciples of Jesus, growing into an ever deeper relationship with Him.  Many of these are those that He himself followed in the Gospel narratives, such as prayer and solitude.  Some of them, like prayer, can be practiced in community as well as individually.

We will also explore what Jesus asks of His disciples today. As always, all that He asks is at its core centered in radical and transforming love.  His love.  Love of God and of neighbor.  Love of each other.  Love even of our enemies.  Love of Creation.

The Way of Jesus… The Way of Love… As disciples, we walk with Him daily, individually as well as in community, looking to Him as that Inward Teacher and Guide, trusting Him to transform us from the inside out to grow more and more like Him. The Way traveled by His original disciples in the first century which formed them, and can form us as well, into communities of disciples.