Discipleship

Being a disciple of Jesus is a life-long journey. Thankfully, we are not on the road on our own. Discipleship is not only a biblical principle but a model with a proven track record of helping people grow in God - whether they have been Christians for years, or whether they just beginning to find out about him.

We believe in "whole life" discipleship - not just what happens on Sunday mornings and in cell groups. The basis for this is taking responsibility for our won spiritual growth. We do, however, run a number of other initiatives which help people grow in God:

1-2-1 - The form of discipleship that has historically served us best is one-on-one. We encourage everyone to have at least one season of this at some stage in their lives - find a dedicated discipler, a person of the same gender who is further down the faith road, who challenge, support, spur on, believe-in, pray, love and look-out for them. In particular we have seen this be a vital life-line for students who want to live counter-culturally in their halls and houses, to make a difference, to go deeper with God.

Mentoring Groups - These can take a variety of forms, perhaps focused around specific callings or responsibilities, perhaps a group of people gathering together to discuss areas of their character.

Freedom in Christ Appointments – if you have received Christ as your personal Saviour, He has set you free. But every Christian has accumulated spiritual baggage that can prevent growth and fruitfulness. The good news is that you can get rid of this baggage because of your position in Christ as a child of God. Talk to Lizzie if you are interested in making an appointment in the near future.

DNA – choose to take a ‘year-in’ serving Open Heaven whilst part of a national training and discipleship course. We usually have a team of 2-4 based in Open Heaven. DNA is a year of intense discipleship and growing in God.

Alpha - Discipleship is not something soley for those in the church, but for most people starts even before they would call themselves Christians. The Alpha Course explores the Christian faith. Our next course starts on the 16th October

Foundation Course - A course looking at the basic principles of following Jesus, and is an ideal follow up to the Alpha course, or for those who have been going to church for a while but want to put really solid foundations in place. A new course is due to start at the end of October. Keep an eye on our Events page for more details.

Encounter Weekends - going away as a group for a weekend, to encounter God and give ourselves the chance to blow away a few cobwebs, and become more like Jesus. Our next Encounter weekend is 1st - 3rd May.

Network - is an interactive course that aims to help Christians understand who God has uniquely made them to be and mobilise them to a place of meaningful service in the local church. The course teaches the biblical nature and purpose of the church as the body of Christ and the unique importance of each member's contribution. We are taking a break from this course for 2008-2009 but it will make a return in the future.

Library - in order to encourage people to take responsibility for their walk with God we have assembled an extensive library of books, CDs, cassettes, DVDs & videos which are available for members to borrow (for free). We are constantly adding new titles, and are currently trying to get extra copies of the most popular books. You can browse them online or call into our Resource Centre on Ashby Road (102) to peruse them yourself.