The Apprentice of Jesus Pathway

"My relationship with Jesus is the most important relationship in my life.  It influences everything I do."




If you sense you are living in this stage of your journey, here are some suggestions and options you might be interested in trying as you seek to make the most of our intentional spiritual journey to Christlikeness.

Let the journey begin!

The call to follow Christ is also a call to be transformed into His image. Thus, kingdom living begins when we accept Jesus’ invitation to keep company with him…that we might become like him (Mark 3:14; Mark 1:17; John 15; John 17:3; Galatians 4:9; Colossians 3:1-17). In other words, we become like Christ by interaction with Christ himself. Taking on the character of Christ then, being spiritually formed, flows from an ongoing interaction with Christ, through the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, to receive from God the life we cannot birth in ourselves.

The fact is we can’t change our own hearts. We can’t control, manage, or dictate spiritual reality in our lives. The active agent in the transformation process is the Holy Spirit, who regenerates, enlightens, motivates, and empowers believers in their inner being by his presence to grow us in our likeness to Christ.  On the other hand, it is unlikely that we will deepen our relationship with God in a random or unintentional way.

Although we cannot by direct effort change our heart, we are invited to participate with God in our transformation. We do this by a purposeful pattern of life…of intentionally placing ourselves in environments where we create the conditions in our lives so as to train our hearts to recognize and surrender to the already ongoing, maturing and healing presence of the Holy Spirit, who is shaping us to be like Jesus and bringing about God’s Kingdom purposes and mission. 

For example, if you were asked to list people, places or events that were instrumental in your spiritual development, what are some of those things you would list?  More than likely it would look something like this:  a friend who took you “under wing” as a spiritual mentor, a retreat place or summer camp, a book, a missions trip, Scripture, an altar experience, cancer, fasting, a pastor, serving in a soup kitchen, etc. All of these “environments” provided the opportunity for you to open your heart to the transforming presence and work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

If you would like to know more, you may listen to the sermon called The Intentional Journey.

The good news is there are some natural “places” of transformation already embedded in our lives and our church that become opportunities to encounter Jesus’ transforming presence. All of the people, places, and/or events you listed earlier can be organized into five environments that provide opportunities to encounter Jesus: personal, relational, intellectual, missional, and experiential.  These five environments can be identified by the acrostic P.R.I.M.E. Click on the links below to read more about each environment.

P - Personal Environments:  We are transformed by intentional spiritual practices (1 Timothy 4:7-8)


The intentional practice of a spiritual discipline such as scripture reading, prayer, solitude, or fasting are environments where we train our hearts to remain open and surrendered to the fresh, ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. They are not “spiritual principles” or “moral guidelines” we perform as a way to go about improving our condition.  They are not a formula we follow so we can harness divine favor or look godly.

They are indispensable to a life of faith, but only to the degree that they allow us to “keep company” or connect with God.  Often it is through a spiritual discipline we make space in our lives for God to birth in us what we can’t do ourselves.  Transformation is entirely by grace (the work of the Spirit), but it requires our active, intentional participation through regular spiritual practices.

For more information on personal discipleship, listen to or read the sermon entitled Personal Discipleship.

Listen to the sermon entitled Keeping in Step with the Spirit.


Watch this video entitled Spiritual Practices - How to Meet God in the Everyday.


Even if you have a good foundation in core spiritual practices such as Bible engagement and prayer practices, you will discover that there are still untouched areas of needed growth.  These personal spiritual practices and highly focused and targeted exercises help you live into the fullness of the fruit of the Spirit.

Practice devotional reading.  Distinct from other ways of approaching the Bible, the practice of reading Scripture devotionally is the primary mode of reading the Bible for transformation.  It is an approach to Scripture with a spirit of attentiveness, seeking to be open and receptive, trusting and listening for how the living Word may be speaking to us in a fresh way.

Read How to Read the Bible Transformationally. To respond appropriately to God’s Word, we must study it but we also have to engage our hearts. This means discovering how to meet God through study, memorization and prayerful engagement with Scripture, and it will take your love for God to a deeper and more intimate level.

Read Embracing Sabbath - Cure for Runaway Souls.  Our culture invariably supposes that action and accomplishment are better than rest, that doing something….anything…is better than doing nothing.  Yet under the spell of speed, we are desperately in need of something sacred. Because we do not rest, we lose our way.  Poisoned by this hypnotic belief that good things come only through unceasing determination and tireless effort, we can never truly rest. And for want of rest, our lives are in danger.

Fixed-hour of prayer (link coming soon), also commonly referrred to as the "Daily Offices" or the "liturgy of the hours," is the oldest form of Christian spiritual discipline and has its roots in the Judaism out of which Christianity came. When the Psalmist says, "Seven times a day do I praise you," he is referring to fixed-hour prayer as it existed in ancient Judaism. 

Journey through Richard Foster's book, Prayer - Finding the Heart's True Home.


Practice the Prayer of Examen.  One of the most beneficial things we can do in our walk with God is to stay attuned to God's ongoing activity in our lives that we might otherwise miss in the busyness and hectic pace of our days.  The Prayer of Examen is a simple exercise to help cultivate and nurture greater sensitivity to God's active involvement in our daily lives.

Watch this video on the Prayer of Examen.


Develop a personal rhythm of life (link coming soon).  You can deepen your love for God by intentionally developing an individualized personal rhythm of life (often called a rule of life). Christian tradition understands this as an intentional arrangement of our daily lives around the goal of becoming more like Christ and often has daily, weekly, and sometimes quarterly or yearly dimensions. This rhythm of life reflects a pattern of attitudes, behaviors, relationships and practices that promote God-awareness and love of others within your routine of daily living.  Your rhythm of spiritual practices will reflect your personality, your spiritual type, your season of life, the sins you struggle with, and the areas where God is growing you.
R - Relational Environments:  We are transformed in relationship with one another (John 17:20-21)


Jesus’ transformative presence is rooted in relationship with God and one another. Therefore, being formed in Christlikeness for Kingdom purposes is always lived out and made complete in community. Communities of grace define who we are and how we live in trust, love, grace, humility, dignity, and justice. Biblical truths and messages are hammered out on the anvil of faithful community living…in an environment of ongoing nurture through relationships of trust, vulnerability, modeling, and accountability.

We cannot grow fully into Christ’s image apart from regular, sometimes difficult and messy, engagement with other Christ followers in which our jealousies, irritations and resentments are confronted and the virtues of patience, love and forgiveness are given regular opportunities to be practiced.

For more information on how we encounter Jesus in community, listen to or read the sermon entitled Relational Discipleship.


Lead a life group.  Training is provided as well as ongoing, weekly, and quarterly leadership training.  For more information, contact Pastor Gail.

Join The City - our primary networking tool for keeping connected at Faith and keeping up-to-date on current events. spiritual friends that are a bit further along in the journey toward Christlikeness. Investing in the lives of others is a both a privilege and a responsibility for spiritually mature Christians, and is often a great source of new growth in love for others.

Mentor others (link coming soon).  Mentors are spiritual friends who are a bit further along in the journey toward Christlikeness.  Investing in the lives of others is both a privilege and a responsibility for spiritually mature Christians, and is often a great source of new growth in love for others.
I - Intellectual Environments:  We are transformed as we apply Biblical truth to our mind and heart (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Colossians 3:16)

Our interaction with the Word of God must go beyond human intellectualism. Scripture has the capacity to become for us a holy ground on which we actually meet with God. The teaching and preaching of sound doctrine, adhering to the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, is absolutely essential. Yet, believing that the head and heart are to be integrated and not divorced, the goal is never about just obtaining more information. Transformation of mind and heart comes to us through wisdom and revelation. What we discover is that we need both.

To respond appropriately to God’s Word, we must study it, but we also have to engage our hearts.  We must strike a delicate balance between historical-critical engagement with scripture and opening oneself to the Word's life-transforming potential. There should always be room for serious study that does not bypass critical scholarship, yet the goal of scripture reading is to internalize and personalize the Scripture so that its truth can affect how we think, our attitudes, and how we live, our actions. 

When we approach scripture as the living word of God it invites us to pay attention to how God may be speaking to us in a fresh way and it becomes a place of encounter with Jesus.

For more information on intellectual discipleship, listen to or read the sermon entitled Intellectual Discipleship.
Suggested reading (some of these titles are available at the Resource Center at the church):
          • Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton
          • Invitation to Silence and Solitude by Ruth Haley Barton
          • The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
          • Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero
          • Surrender to Love by David Benner
          • Sabbath by Wayne Muller
          • Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Calhoun
          • The Apprentice Series by James Bryan Smith
M - Missional Environments:  We are transformed when we give ourselves away for the sake of others (Colossians 3:17; Ephesians 4:11-16)

Many think spiritual formation is about feeding our souls for the sake of our well-being.  On the contrary, it is intensely practical. The fuller life in Christ comes not only as we give attention to our own growth, but largely as we give ourselves away. As we align ourselves with the person and work of Christ - in becoming his disciples - our actions naturally flow out of hearts like his in demonstration of the love that has shaped us. In fact, Christ is not fully formed in us until it finds its greatest expression in love and sacrificial service for others.  Compassionate acts come out of hearts of compassion. Acts of compassion cannot just be programs that come and go, they must become the stuff of our everyday lives as God’s people on mission.

Our faith must become an embodied faith, where our witness to the world is based more on the weight of our actions than the strength of our arguments. We are not elected for privilege, but for service; to live not as exclusive beneficiaries of God’s saving work, but as bearers of this grace to the rest of the world.

For more information on missional discipleship, listen to or read the sermon entitled Missional Discipleship.

Attend the Management and Leadership life group to learn more about becoming a servant-leader.

Use your gifts and talents to serve in leadership on a ministry team.


Go on a short-term missions trip.


Read Your Flourishing is for the Nations.


Give generously.  Giving is one of the ways we support the mission of Faith.  Practicing tithing is a place to start.  Tithing is giving a portion (10%) of our income and testifies to the reality that all we have comes from God.  It serves as an expression that all our resources, time, talents, and treasures, are at God's disposal.  Read What the Bible Says About Tithing to learn ten reasons you should tithe and the various ways you can give at Faith.

Listen to a sermon on tithing.


Serve faithfully.  Making a regular commitment to serve is a crucial part of the development of a Christ-like heart and life.  Our many ministries at Faith provide a spring board for involvement at any level.  Whether you want to welcome guests, serve on a missions trip, work with kids, or simply pray for someone, you can find a place to serve with radical hospitality.  Log on to The City to see our service opportunities.

Support Faith's missions efforts financially.  The biblical understanding of offerings is viewed as giving above the tithe.  Both tithing and giving offerings are aspects of the larger call to stewardship and they are one of God's most important training exercises for shaping our hearts and participating in the work of the kingdom.

Serve on the missions leadership team.  Contact Lawrence Curtis for information.


Participate in ShareFest, a city-wide service day to our community.  Volunteer at one of the many community service agencies in the Tri-Cities.

    E - Experiential Environments:  We are transformed through encounters with Jesus that mark us forever (Colossians 1:27)


    While the process of spiritual formation is life long, there are moments and places of encounter with Jesus that transform us.  Whether it is in corporate worship, on a mountain top, a majestic cathedral, an ongoing personal trial, or unexplained suffering, there are moments of encounter with the divine that defy explanation and yet mark us…and we are never the same again.

    For more information on experiential discipleship, listen to or read the sermon entitled Experiential Discipleship.

    Attend a quarterly Awaken Worship Night for an evening of worship, baptism, and communion.

    Celebrate communion, also called The Lord's Supper.  It is offered once a month in our morning service.
     
    Pray for the baptism in the Holy Spirit.      Read Receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.


    Go on a personal guided retreat (link coming soon).


    Join in the daily prayer time at Faith at 5:00 AM and 9:00 AM in the multipurpose room.