Discipleship

Our goal as disciples of Christ is to conform to His image; we strive to help the Bethel community move beyond mere “doing” and experience a profound transformation into a new humanity.

What is discipleship?
A disciple is literally a learner. But a disciple is not is looking just to learn from their teacher, but to actually take up their teacher’s ways as their own.

The goal of discipleship, then, is to equip the Bethel community to follow the ways of Christ through prayer, knowledge of God and His word, and covenant-based living.

We try to facilitate a deeper, growing connection with Christ and with our fellow believers in a number of ways:

Shift
Shift is a discipleship ministry for freshmen aimed at building community and learning more about what it means to be Christ’s disciple.

Freshmen floors are lead by upper-class students who walk with and lead the freshmen through three primary transitions:  

• The first shift is the transition to college. The first year is a big year in the lives of students – so the shift leader is there to build relationships to help them through the transformation.
• The second shift is from relationship building to a more intentional study of God’s word. After a community is established, they will learn together what it means to become Christ’s disciple.
• The third shift is one that we hope our students will endure and continue for their rest of their lives: a shift away from their sinful nature and toward the image of Christ.  

Suite Ecclesias (house church)
A suite ecclesia is a whole lot more than a small group. Think of it as a house church - a group of people living together, agreeing on a common covenant, relying on each other, and growing spiritually.

• Common covenant - Covenant is a binding force between people that isn’t meant to be a set of rules, but instead is built on the idea of agape love—a love that is sacrificial, enduring, and removes self-interest.
• Relying on each other - Aside from it being founded on love for one another, a suite ecclesia is the embodiment of koinonia—biblical community. Koinonia stresses interdependence on each other that goes beyond simply sharing the same space.
• In Koinonia community the needs, burdens, celebrations, and goals of each individual within the community are shared by the whole. 
• Spiritual growth – People living in a suite ecclesia experience prayer and God’s word together. The community then can extend God’s kingdom and love to a hurting and searching world.