Equipping for Discipleship
Growing one another as disciples through on-going teaching, training, and opportunities for ministry, in and outside of the church.
“to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” … “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom. That we may present everyone mature in Christ.”
Ephesians 4:11-13 & Colossians 1:28
Equipping for Discipleship focuses on the formal instruction and spiritual formation of God’s people at Ascension.
In addition to the preaching and teaching that occurs as we worship the LORD on Sunday mornings, we also provide a Discipleship Hour for all ages the hour before worship begins. These classes meet from September to June of each school year.
Our children and youth participate in five different classes (Preschool, Grade School, Teen Boys, Teen Girls, and Senior Seminar), and we also have three 10-week adult classes. The classes for children and youth follow a defined curriculum schedule using materials from Great Commission Publications (a joint ministry of the PCA and the OPC).
Adult classes vary from year to year. Some of the previous adult classes have studied a book of the Bible, the attributes of God, spiritual disciplines, spiritual gifts, spiritual warfare, biblical counseling, and Christian apologetics.
In addition to Discipleship Hour, future opportunities for book studies, bible studies, seminars, and conferences are all areas of expansion in our ongoing efforts to “equip the saints for the work of ministry.” (Ephesians 4:12)
Our Lord Jesus was not ambiguous in his expectations for Christians to demonstrate spiritual growth. Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” (John 15:5-6) Christians are to bear “much fruit” as evidence of belonging to Christ and continuing as His disciple. Consequently, Equipping for Discipleship is not a ministry in isolation from other Ministry Areas at Ascension. Success in Equipping for Discipleship is not merely evidenced by attendance numbers during Discipleship Hour on a Sunday morning. Rather, it is in the fruit we bear in Worshiping Jesus, in Loving the Body, and in Loving our Neighbors that we find evidence that God’s people are indeed being Equipped for Discipleship at Ascension Presbyterian Church.