Everyday Discipleship

Other than his preaching, Jesus did most of his teaching and discipleship as he and his followers lived everyday life, traveled together from one city to another, ate meals together, and so forth. The City Church believes that the best ways to grow, be discipled, and learn, are to discuss and practice life with those closest to you. In the Bible, we do not see in a distinction between “spiritual” life and “non-spiritual” life; between times of structured, programmed growth and other times without it. Instead, we see the commands to “encourage one another,” “exhort one another,” “rebuke one another,” and we find the image of the body of Christ “building itself up in love” (1 Thess 5:11; Heb 3:13; Luke 17:3; Eph 4:16). Simply, it seems that the majority of Biblical learning and spiritual growth happens naturally and informally, amidst the church family in everyday life situations. Here's how this plays out in our church family:

• Villages: The primary venue of discipleship and growth in our church family, as you meet together regularly with folks you know well, to encourage, exhort, rebuke, push, and pull each other more toward Christ in different aspects of life, from biblical understanding, to parenting, to leadership, to whatever else.
• Everyday Discipleship: Outside of the weekly Village meeting, we encourage you to live out your Gospel-centered 'Disciple' identity by informally, regularly discipling each other, as you live everyday life together, meet at the pub after work together, run errands together, grill out together, carpool to work together, and do other normal activities with "gospel intentionality."
• Discipleship Card: This simple card, available here, just gives a few guidelines to help you disciple each other. It's the role of the body to carry out ministry, so don't wait for some sort of "program" or prompting; grab the card & a couple folks you're close to, & live out the gospel together, in your life & in each others' lives!

Formal Training

We do realize there are moments and issues that will not be addressed in Villages, and that God gave church leadership to “equip the saints” so you can build each other up (Eph 4:12). So The City Church offers two venues for more formal training:

• Porterbrook Fort Worth: "Practical, biblical, theological training for everyone," we offer Porterbrook twice annually, in conjunction with other Acts 29 churches in Fort Worth. From future pastors, to current students, to stay-at-home moms, to everyone in between, Porterbrook is accessible learning (four Saturday seminars, individual reading, & regular group meetings spread out over nine months), that is immediately applicable.
• Classes and seminars: Offered at various points each year, these train you in specific theology or life issues. They are meant to supplement the growth that happens in your Village, as they suit our church's mission and need. And in addition to our regular gatherings, we host community events, weekend events, student/college-specific events, men’s/women’s events, and more.

> See our calendar for upcoming City Church events, including discipleship and training opportunities