About this series:

In some senses nothing has changed - the church is still the church, with the same values, the same vision and the same people. Yet, so much has changed - we are now onsite and online, people are still going through a historic event and church life will never be quite the same again. A series on the church is therefore very timely and will hopefully remind people of the unchangeable nature of the church as well as envisioning people for what has changed. We’re framing this series of Sunday talks around eight terms used in the New Testament to describe the church - people, family, community, temple, unity, body, disciples, witnesses. These are the words the New Testament uses to describe the Spirit-empowered people of God and these are key elements for how we want to build Citygate.

About this talk:

Scripture: Acts 11:26

The term ‘disciple’ means follower, trainee, apprentice, someone in the process of learning to become more like their teacher. It is disciples that Jesus has called us to go and make - a quality of follower, not simply a believer or attender. Today, the usual term for a follower of Jesus is ‘Christian,’ but the original term ‘disciple’ has a far greater dynamism about it - bearing in mind that Acts 11:26 records the use of ‘Christian’ originally as a bit of a nickname, even a mickey-taking term, in wider society. Disciples take personal responsibility, under their teacher’s instruction, for their own growth and for doing life together as a community of disciples. For each of us the question then becomes: How well am I pursuing Jesus? What do I need to do to become more like him?