Since my wife and I became disciples of Jesus in 2002, we have always sought to understand the true meaning of discipleship. According to the dictionary, a disciple is “one who follows the ideas or imitates the examples of another.” In the case of Jesus’ followers, we are those who seek to live according to His teachings and imitate His example of life.
We know Jesus and His life and work, and we believe in Him. We repent of our independent life from Him and return the governance of our lives to Him with the commitment to live completely submissive to His will.
The church where we began our life as followers of Jesus was beautiful! All we had was Jesus and each other, which is truly all that is needed. Religiousness was not welcome. It was delightful when someone asked the name of the church and we replied: the church of Jesus has no name. Or when they asked: where is the church? And the answer was wherever we were gathered.
And discipleship was something intimate and transformative, growth was not limited to knowledge alone, but extended to faith, love, and the commitment to make new disciples. We lived this intensely for a period of our Christian journey. We were always eager to experience more of Jesus, excited to practice His words, and with hearts full of desire to share Him with those who did not yet know Him.
But…
As time went by, the enjoyable and exciting discipleship began to turn into something mechanical and robotic. Lots of knowledge, booklets upon booklets, many obligations. And the meetings started to become tiresome and boring. So much so that several times, I hoped they would be canceled. And then you ask me, “If it was so bad, why didn’t you leave?”
Ah, so… We left. For four years we were alone. In the meantime, I took a theology course at a large church institute. In a short time, I became the “pastor” of my own church. I started preaching in various churches and got to know the institutional church from the inside. What I saw and witnessed was a tremendous disappointment, but that’s a topic for another occasion.
After those years and tired of so much religious adventure, God gave us a clear word: “Return to where you started.” And when God speaks, those who have ears obey.
But when we returned, what astonished us was that the church had transformed. Many things had changed. The root of religiosity was sprouting. And so more than eighteen years passed. And the church was becoming like any other church. With buildings, with salaried pastors and elders, with programs, with various leaders, as a sister once told us, not normal people.
Some dissatisfied with this organizational structure left. Some wounded and hurt, others because they did not believe that this is the true way to be a church. Our small group that meets in our home understood the message that God had given us: Return to where you started. And we returned to the simple and true discipleship of the beginning of our journey. Where we were together, ate together, laughed and cried with each other, where the fundamental is the relationship, communion, and the flow of the Holy Spirit.
We rediscovered that our place was that church from the beginning: without denomination, without buildings, without pastors. In the living room, in the garage, under a tree, or wherever God wants. Living the life of Christ and in the good sense “contaminating” others.
We believe that the church builds itself up. We believe that this is the true discipleship that cultivates a lifestyle that pleases the heart of God and impacts lives.
Let’s embrace Jesus’ call to be His disciples, multipliers of His love, and living examples of His grace. We must transform not only our lives but also the lives of everyone around us, impacting the world for the glory of God. May our discipleship journey be a continuous celebration of the love we have received and that we have been called to share.”
