Frank Viola | Beyond Evangelical

Official Blog of Author & Speaker Frank Viola. Digging below the surface and moving beyond the shallows in today's Christianity.

Problems and Solutions in Discipleship: Part I

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  1. Frank, thank you for endeavouring to show us how to live by the in-dwelling life, cant wait to get my copy. Thx for all the work that you do.
    Praise king Jesus.

  2. Amazing timing, Frank. I think God is trying to remind us all of something that has been largely forgotten. My blog post for Wednesday is about “Simple Discipleship” and how we need to get back to relational sharing as we get involved with each other’s lives. Thank you for this affirmation!

  3. Frank, thank you for sharing your wisdom and for your leadership. I have sensed God calling me to foster relationships with Christ through online writing and community, and have recently started heeding that call. I’m just getting started and have recently written a small eBook to share my perspective and style, but this message hit home for me, I’ll be reshaping my materials in new light. Thank you again.

  4. Interesting post Frank.
    A couple of things….
    If the New Testament Christians were not concerned with the New Testament, then should we be?
    When I think back to my first encounter with Christ, I wasn’t so concerned about becoming like Him so much as I wanted to get to know Him more and wanted to find out what His purpose was for me. I still feel the same way.
    Just asked my wife and she said the same as me.
    Maybe then discipleship should be more focused on ways that we can get to know our Lord better than how to become like Him? I would love to know your thoughts on this.

    • I don’t think the question is if they were “concerned about it.” They just didn’t have it like we do. They relied on the word (and later, the letters) of the apostles. I think we are privileged and blessed to have them and are accountable for what we know of them. But yes, our focus should be knowing the Christ of the Scriptures as we read them. That’s one of the main points of “Jesus: A Theography.”

      • Thanks for the reply Frank.
        Perhaps I threw you a bit with my opening question, which was unrelated to my second comment which was aimed at what you call problem 3…..
        “Problem 3. Christians are wanting to discover how they can become more like Jesus. The message they are typically given as the remedy for this is: “Pray, read your Bible, go to church, tithe, witness, and do your best to do what Jesus said to do.”

        My main question is as follows….
        Are Christians really wanting to discover how they can become more like Jesus?
        Or are they like me, wanting to know Him more and what His purpose is for me?

        Also with these questions in mind, should the thrust of discipleship be aimed at getting to know Him rather than becoming like Him?

        • In my experience, very generally speaking, younger Christians want to serve Him and be like Him. Older Christians want to primarily know Him (mostly because they served and tried to imitate and later realized they didn’t really know the Lord – something that most younger Christians don’t quite “get” yet).

          I think all of these things go together and shouldn’t be separated. I discuss this issue extensively in the online discipleship course.

  5. I never tire of the like mindedness found among those in CHRIST seeking genuine relationship and community with other believers…thank you for the reassurance that what my heart longs for is not off the mark and the reminder that what I fled from within the walls just isn’t working for most believers who are in The Way

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