The 5th element - Dynamic Discipleship

In concluding our recap of the Five Elements of Verticalink Campus Ministries, we come to the one which we have titled Dynamic Discipleship.

Curiously, one dictionary defines discipleship as 'The state of attempting to follow the example of Jesus'. I look at it a little differently, in that I take issue with the suggestion that discipleship is 'trying to follow' Jesus. We don't try, we just follow, by faith. Thus, it becomes dynamic. It is a walk that is adventurous, exciting, and challenging. It is always changing, because we are constantly changing through this walk of Discipleship.

For many people today, life is unchanging. When asked how they have been, a common answer would be, ' Same as always', or 'Same stuff, different day'. This is because life without the Holy Spirit is static. It doesn't change, and the simple reason is that people do not change people. We can cause another person's behavior to change. We can alter someone's thinking. We can even force people into submission. But this does not change the one overwhelming truth that mankind lives under. All of us are under the inherent results of sin. This is a permanent state of being for man. There will always be guilt and the hundreds of ways in which it demonstrates itself. There will always be death. There will continue to be sin and evil in man's heart. These things are perpetual.

Unless....

Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right. (Romans 5:18-19 in The Message Bible)

We needed God to get us out of the mess we were in. He did it. We now need Jesus to bring us into a new life with Him. He did it, and is performing it daily in our lives, as we walk with Him.

Join us in this Dynamic Discipleship lifestyle! It is the only thing that can truly be called 'life changing'.