A disciple is "someone who is growing in their dependence on, devotion to, and delight in Jesus, and helping others to do the same." Disciples never stop needing to grow. But how do we know if we are growing and where we need to keep growing? We need the Lord, working through the Holy Spirit, his word, and his church, to reveal where and how he wants us to grow. We want to be purposeful in our discipleship as the Lord reveals his purposes for us.

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Discipleship is not merely the transfer of information, but rather the transformation of our whole lives as we learn to live like Jesus really is Savior and Lord. Within the context of intentional biblical community, we learn to commune with the living God through prayer and his word. Through these habits of abiding, we develop a heart of dependence, devotion, and delight toward Jesus. And as he changes our heart, he shapes every part of our daily walk through all of life. 

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As Jesus does this work in us by his Spirit, working through his word and his church, we grow mature in Christ. Whereas we were once dead in our sins and blinded by the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:1-6, Eph. 2:1-2), Jesus causes us to be born again and we begin a new walk of growing in Christ (Col. 2:6-15, 1 Pet. 1:3-9). We are to then grow up in him, from children who long for and feed on pure spiritual milk (1 Pet. 2:1-3) to adolescents who need to grow into eating spiritual meat (Heb. 5:11-14) to spiritual parents how are actively feeding others, making disciples (1 Thess. 2:7-12).