If you would have asked me three years ago what discipleship meant, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you. Discipleship began to be a part of my life in January 2021 when I was asked to join a small group Bible study with three other women at my church. Two of the three women, Cara and Meredith, had been walking with the Lord for quite some time, which meant they had godly wisdom to share. The other girl in the group was my age and my first cousin.
To put this into perspective, you need to know my background. I had grown up going to church my whole life and was involved with the youth group. In November 2020 I publicly professed my faith and allegiance to Jesus by following through with baptism. My cousin was also baptized around the same time. It was then that Cara and Meredith asked us to join them in a study of the whole Bible.
Looking back, I realize what I was calling a Bible study was actually a discipleship group. We met weekly to discuss the assigned reading, but we also talked about life. We held each other accountable for our reading and relationships with the Lord. There were things I learned about the Bible that I would have never known. Even though I grew up in church my entire life, most of my biblical knowledge comes from that discipleship group. That group met from January 2021 until July 2022, shortly after our high school graduation.
That August, I took a step of faith in the Lord by moving three-and-a-half hours away from home to college at Western Carolina University. This was a big deal because I’ve struggled with anxiety since I was young. It’s still a battle every day, but it’s improved dramatically because of my faith in the Lord. If you would have told me my freshman or even junior year of high school that I would have moved that far from home, I would have told you that you were crazy. To this day, I have never felt such peace about anything in my life. I knew this was the right decision because it’s where the Lord led me.
One of the prayers I repeatedly prayed before coming to college was for God to provide a godly community and boy, did he provide! I quickly made a friend who went to church with me and then I dragged her to a random small group that met on Wednesday nights. In this group, there were five girls including myself. It took a couple of weeks of getting used to each other, but we quickly became good friends. The two leaders of the group, Megan and Emily, were such an answered prayer. In this small group, we built deep connections. Each week, we would discuss what was going on in our lives and how we could be helping and praying for one another. We would go through passages of the Bible and talk about different topics. Through this small group, I got plugged into serving at church on Sundays through the Student Leadership Team (SLT).
At my church, discipleship is a huge thing. Like I said, I hadn’t really heard that term before other than when the Bible talks about Jesus and his disciples. Discipleship is something that is highly encouraged at my church. One of our mottos is “We’re not a church with small groups, we’re a church of small groups.” When I joined the SLT I was given a discipleship leader, Alex. I meet with Alex and three other girls weekly to discuss our lives and everything going on. We go through different questions about our week, share our highs and lows, our sin struggles and how we’re combatting those sin struggles. Through this group, my faith and relationship with Jesus has been strengthened. Alex is so intentional with each of us girls. She texts us regularly, holds us accountable for being in the Word, and constantly prays for us. Alex is the most sincere, intentional person I’ve met. When I think of discipleship, I think of Alex, Megan, Emily, Meredith and Cara. All these women have walked with me through different stages of my life. They all took time to be intentional in asking about my walk with Jesus and helping me grow in my faith.
When Jesus was talking to his disciples after he rose from the grave he said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This passage is called the Great Commission. Jesus gave instruction to his disciples to make more disciples. When Jesus used the word “make,” he showed that believers are to actively make disciples, it’s not something that just happens without intentionality. God calls people to himself, and believers are used as a tool in this process.
After people have accepted and decided to follow Jesus by putting their faith in him and walking in his path, they are considered baby Christians. No one would leave a baby to fend for himself because he would die. Just like real babies, Christian babies shouldn’t be left alone. They need someone caring for them; that’s where discipleship comes in. It takes a mature Christian to guide the baby Christian into maturity. When the baby reaches maturity, he will then begin discipling someone and doing what was done for him. This process provides accountability and gives a platform for confession. We are not meant to walk through life alone. God places people in our lives for specific reasons. Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” We are called to walk with each other in faith and help each other in the hard times.
Because of discipleship, my relationship with the Lord has really grown.
I saw this vividly when I was going through a rough time at school. I was battling a specific sin that I told my small group about. I was tired of it, and I needed to rip the band aid off and let it go. I just didn’t want to because I knew it was going to be hard. My small group leaders encouraged me to do what I knew in my heart I needed to do. One night in small group the Holy Spirit convicted me so hard. Surrounded by the girls who I knew loved and supported me, I took the step that needed to happen. I ripped off the band aid. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do, and I cried a lot. They all prayed over me and hugged me. It is in hard times when you see your community show up. After that, my relationship with Jesus was able to become much more intimate.
Now that you know the importance of a discipleship group, you may be wondering how to find one. For me, it was simple. When I got to college and found a church I really liked, I went to their event called “Starting Point,” which is where new people learn more about the church. In that meeting, they encouraged us to find a small group to join. They had a list of small groups, and I chose the one that was the best fit for me. If your church doesn’t do something like this, ask your pastor. The pastor should know what groups meet and help you get plugged into one. If there aren’t small groups at the church you go to, find someone of the same gender as you who is more mature in the Lord to mentor you. Through this, you will learn so much.
Because of discipleship, my relationship with the Lord has really grown. Until this group, I lacked accountability. I prayed before bed every night and sometimes before meals, but rarely throughout the day. I read my Bible at church, but never at home. To grow in your relationship and faith with Jesus, spending time in the Word and prayer are crucial. God is your father and just like any relationship, he wants you to talk to him. Prayer is a conversation with God. It is a time where you praise and thank him, ask for guidance and pray for specific needs. He wants you to come to him because you’re his child. Through reading the Word, you’re able to realize the character traits of God and how much he loves you. Convictions come through reading the Word, after which repentance should follow. You learn so much about God through reading the Bible, but also about yourself. You learn what your sin struggles are and ways in which you need to turn from them. Repentance is something that Christians will do their whole lives. Nobody is or will ever be perfect apart from Jesus.
I started my own small group in August 2023 with my best friend, Hayley. Hayley and I were a part of the same small group with Megan and Emily. We were both discipled by other women and realized this was the next step for us. Our goal was to encourage younger girls through God’s Word. We wanted to be obedient to what Jesus said in the Great Commission, to make more disciples. We both realized how much discipleship affected our lives and our walks with the Lord, and we want to do the same for other girls. The biggest piece of advice for starting a small group is prayer. Hayley and I feared that nobody would want to join our group, but we started with prayer, asking God to provide girls for us to lead and disciple. Once again, he provided! We currently have nine girls who consistently come to our group and are growing in their faith. It’s so encouraging looking back on how the Lord has provided for me and multiplied the efforts of those who committed themselves to discipleship.
