Synopsis
Description
Sacred Roads: Exploring the Historic Paths of Discipleship - Member Book is an ecumenically gracious, young adult Bible study that looks at valuable practices from many different traditions and how we can incorporate them into our contemporary faith formation. Throughout history, people have gravitated toward different methods of discipleship. For a while, discipleship was entirely relational—early church small groups. When Christianity became the legal religion of the Roman Empire, discipleship became experiential—cathedrals, Stations of the Cross, iconography, and taking mass. With the Reformation came intellectualism—people started studying the bible for themselves and emphasized the conversion of the mind. Later it became personal—the onset of the personal quiet time. Finally, discipleship became incarnational—occurring while serving or through missions.
Sacred Roads takes a look at a few faces of discipleship including: relational discipleship, experiential discipleship, intellectual discipleship, personal discipleship, and incarnational discipleship, finding the worthwhile attributes of each and providing practical ways to implement each expression into our modern pursuit of Christ. (5 sessions)
Topics:
Relational: the early church, value of small groups, accountability, missional friendships. People grow in their relationship with Christ as they grow in relationship with others and are influenced by those relationships.
Experiential: the Catholic Church through Reformation, pilgrimage, stations of the cross, experiential worship. People grow in their relationship with Christ when they are immersed in an experience with Him that propels them in some area of their faith formation.
Intellectual: Reformation era, inductive Bible study, academic and educational approaches to discipleship. People grow in their relationship with Christ as they develop the mind of Christ through the reading, study, meditation, and memorization of Scripture.
Personal: 19th and 20th centuries, rise of personal devotional/quiet time, practice of spiritual disciplines. People grow in their relationship with Christ as they incorporate and practice spiritual disciplines into the context of their everyday lives.
Incarnational: 19th and 20th centuries, missions, service, social justice, compassion ministries. People grow in their relationship with Christ as they seek to follow His model of servant leadership and become His hands and feet in sacrificial service to those around them.
Author Info: Heather Zempel leads the discipleship efforts at National Community Church in Washington, D.C., where she provides leadership and vision for the small group ministry. Dedicated to helping others create communities that foster spiritual growth, she frequently writes and speaks on the topics of creative discipleship and spiritual formation. She lives on Capitol Hill with her husband Ryan
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