Discipleship: Posture of Together & Attitude of Love

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I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a disciple and what it looks like to disciple others.  In the discipleship journey, there is a need to be connected deeply to Christ and also to others.  There is wholeness and flourishing that come when we look at discipleship as something we do together, collectively - connecting to Christ and connecting to each other.  A mutual connection full of giving and receiving from the full body of Christ - each part indispensable.  Interdependent and needed.  "They will know you are my disciples if you love....."  (John 13).  There is a posture and an attitude with discipleship as well.  A posture of together and an attitude of love.  

Dr. John Swinton's work has connected so many of my thoughts on this topic.  He says,
“It is the ability to love, not the ability to include or tolerate, that is a primary mark of discipleship.
 ‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’ (John 13:34-35 NKJV)
Christian communities are not called simply to include people with disabilities; they may be obligated by law to do so, but this is not the nature or texture of their vocation.  The vocation of the Christian community is to learn to love God, and in coming to love God, learn what it means to love and receive love from all of its members.  That is what disciples do, and that is what disciples expect other disciples to do.” 
- John Swinton, Becoming Friends of Time

Through Capernaum, I get to try every day to live out this vocation as a disciple of Christ.  I get to point others to this calling and help grow a lens to see the spaces where we are not whole as a body of Christ - or at times not loving well or not receiving love from all of its members.  I also get to walk with friends in discipleship and I have learned in these relationships I too am a disciple.  They teach me about Jesus often and where I have a weakness they offer me their gifts.  

Last week I was spending time with one of my friends and she asked me how to share Jesus with a younger cousin.  With urgency in her voice she said, "I want her to know Jesus.  How do I tell her about Jesus?".  Together we made a plan of reading the Storybook Bible to her younger cousin and teaching her the song Jesus Loves Me.  She was so excited to be able to disciple others in their faith.  My dear friend has gifts that are needed for the body of Christ to be whole.  And her gifts are needed for us to work together as disciples of Christ.  

During Covid, we offered opportunities for our friends and leaders to memorize Psalm 23 and Psalm 100 to have scripture written on our hearts and to share this word of God with others. 

Watch Sarah from Memphis, TN recite Psalm 23 for her Zoom graduation party in 2020!





Learn Psalm 23 too with this video tutorial from Kelsey Hamilton, Northeast Texas Capernaum Regional Coordinator.


Staff and leaders, you can find more content for these lessons in the Discipleship section of our Staff Resources page.


May we love others well and receive love through discipleship.  May we seek out wholeness in the Kingdom with a posture of together and an attitude of love!!  Amen!


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Written by Sara Webb, the Capernaum Initiatives Coordinator for Learning and Discipleship

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