Jesus is the one who calls us ‘come follow me’. The call to be a disciple of Jesus demands a wholehearted, whole life response, which identifies Jesus Christ as Lord.
What would Jesus look like in your shoes and situation? From the very first disciples until now, Jesus has been shaping and forming disciples to follow him in every place. Seventy-two recognises the nature of being life-long followers of Jesus gets tough for all of us, in different seasons of life. We aim to be a community of like-minded Jesus followers and invite all who recognise the Lordship of Jesus Christ to share in our journey of mutual discovery and encouragement. We follow as individuals, but if you have a leadership role within the church you will want to do your very best to cultivate an environment in which other disciples can grow and thrive. Today, personal discipleship is the most crucial issue for the church across the UK and we are calling everyone to this priority.
Inspiring Discipleship Articles and Resources
Real Change
I’ve recently read Graham Greene’s powerful novel, Brighton Rock. At the heart of the book is the question, can a person truly change? Can someone who is evil become good? At one point two of the central characters, Rose and Ida, talk about this. In response to Rose’s...
Looking in the Mirror
The image of Donald Trump posing with a Bible outside a church building in Washington DC has seared itself into people’s consciousness. It’s been everywhere on news media and on social media and it’s been much discussed. To make the photo-op possible, crowds...
Twelve Steps Towards Freedom: Endure
I was supposed to be on sabbatical till the end of this month. But the restrictions on travel as well as the pastoral and missional demands of the COVID-19 lockdown has meant it rightly needed to be delayed. No, I’m not asking for sympathy. As God reminded me a few...
God of Justice
God is a God of justice and he calls us to reflect this in our discipleship. Put simply, as disciples of Jesus, we are called to be a people of justice. We often fail to recognise this. When I was writing my book on discipleship, I set out to expound Micah 6.8. The...
The Upside Down Kingdom
2 Corinthians 11:16-33. Take a moment to read the passage. Strength in weakness is an overarching theme in 2 Corinthians. We see it when Paul talks about his thorn in the flesh, the subject of last week’s reflection. We see it when he speaks of how the treasure of the...
Strength in Weakness
2 Corinthians 12:1-21 Have you felt weak at any time since lockdown began? I’d be very surprised if the answer was ‘no’. Perhaps you feel physically weak because you’ve actually contracted Covid 19. Perhaps you’ve felt physically unwell for another reason. It may be...
Family Meal
In Luke 8:19-21 Jesus’ family come to see him, but Jesus does not treat them as we would expect, instead he talks about a new family that goes beyond the barriers of flesh and blood. I don’t feel he was rejecting his family, merely stating that family, for Jesus, was...
The God of all Comfort
‘The God of all comfort… comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.’ (2 Corinthians 1.3-4) The ‘God of all comfort’ is one of the best-known phrases in 2 Corinthians, and the idea of...
Travelling through the Darkness
Psalm 23 is the surprising Psalm. That statement – in and of itself – might seem surprising. Surely this is the best known of all the Psalms. Most readers of this blog will be familiar with it. Yet that very familiarity means we often miss what is really here. We are...
Twelve Steps Towards Freedom: Restore
I spent some of my daily exercise out in the bluebell woods near my home a week or so back. A wonderful carpet of blue, a heavy scent filling the air. What a wonder - life being restored as the exceptionally warm April brings new life once more. A wonderful...