Growing Our Faith and Experiencing God's Love

Growing Our Faith and Experiencing God's Love
By Gayle Suggs, Discipleship Council Chair

For the past two weeks we have learned about the new leadership structure for SPdL that is based on our core values of Worship, Discipleship, Mission and Community. If you missed Ron Watts’ and George Trusler’s “On Second Thought” columns from 11/3/21 and 11/10/21, respectively, I hope you’ll go back to read them. This week, I’m excited to share about the Discipleship Council.

 We encourage lifelong discipleship, offering opportunities for people to grow in faith and Christ’s love.

This is the vision for the Discipleship Council. We want to provide opportunities for people to grow stronger in their faith through individual and group Bible studies, through prayer experiences that challenge us to deepen our relationship with God, through stewardship opportunities that encourage us to give financially as well as giving of ourselves in time, talent, and skills. We want to expand the resources we have and assist with curriculum planning for all ages and help develop leaders in the church. And we’ll do this as we invite you to lend a hand in an area of interest to you.

We already have some great resources in place—an excellent Bible study organization that meets on Sunday mornings before worship, weekday small groups for young adults, college students, and teenagers, and exciting formational programs for children and families. But how can we expand beyond those opportunities? Perhaps we host local small groups that meet in geographic areas or pair people together in similar life stages or with similar interests? Perhaps we host other creative experiences to not only our congregation but our community, challenging ourselves and others to seek a deeper relationship with God? How might retreats and workshops supplement our spiritual formation? And what about virtual opportunities and electronic media – how may we use it in enriching our personal discipleship and encouraging us to reach out?

In Matthew 4:19, Jesus tells his disciples to follow Him and He will make them fish for people. Fishing is the goal, but to get there we first must follow. And to follow we need to engage in the spiritual disciplines and practices that help us to grow our faith and deepen our relationship with Christ. The Discipleship Council is here to help!

And what about you? Do you long for a deeper relationship with our Lord? Do you see a discipleship need in our church we are not meeting? Can you help with a short-term or individual project that helps our people grow and mature as Christ-followers? Or would you be interested in mentoring a new Christian, walking alongside him or her on the journey? I would love to hear from you, and you can easily reach me by sending a note to discipleship@spdl.org.

Together let’s “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Gayle Suggs
Discipleship Council Chair