Finally, the question must be asked, “What is a disciple?” For those early Christians, being a disciple was really quite simple. It meant that they were becoming more and more like Christ in every single aspect of their lives. Read the final entry in Steve Bruns’ series on discipleship.
It was here, in Holy Communion, that the Church saw fully and completely what the potential cost of discipleship entailed: death. And yet it was literal good news, because despite his death, Jesus Christ was currently present with them in this very act of Holy Communion. Read more from Steve Bruns’ series on the early church and discipleship.
Today we tend to think of Scripture for discipleship primarily in terms of individual Bible Study, but in the early church—which had no complete Bible—Scripture use was much more multivalent. Read more from Steve Bruns as he continues his series on discipleship.
How people pray greatly impacts what they believe. The early Church taught its people prayers and how to pray so that their faith would be correct and intact. It was one of the ways the Church discipled its people and encouraged them in their spiritual life and growth. Read more from Steven Bruns as he continues his series on discipleship in the early church.
Since the early Church didn’t have a New Testament, how did they make disciples? In today’s article, Steve Bruns reveals that the corporate worship service itself was when Christians were discipled in a general way and had access to Old Testament Scriptures, which were authoritative texts for the Church.
Before we can begin to make disciples, we must first come to terms with what the church is. What does it mean to be and join the church? Ancient Christians had an answer, and it pointed to the Nicene Creed: “We believe in one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church.” Read more from Steve Bruns as he continues in his series on discipleship and the church.
How did the early church engage with surrounding culture? In this article Steve Bruns offers illuminating insight from how the early Christians lived a spiritual life and made disciples. It is this pattern that Wesley employed in his own organization of the Methodist societies, and this pattern will help us discover what we can learn from the early Church and apply to today.
Many discipleship programs prize individualism and leave out the essential ingredient without which discipleship doesn’t really happen: the church. In today’s article, Steve Bruns shares why we need to leave our Gnostic tendencies behind and recapture a vision for discipleship that happens in and by the church.
