It is imperative to say that the whole community of God has a responsibility to each other.

So, what does Kingdom leadership or authority look like?

We’ve made the case that the church (or ekklesia) should not resemble a business or corporation, as it often does, but rather, should function as the family she is meant to be.

Much like the pyramid-like structure of a Fortune 500, most American churches are structured with a hierarchical chain-of-command. The question must be asked, is this how Jesus wanted His Church to look.

A world was opening up before me. It was as if Ryan and Lewie had taken me to the threshold of a doorway and said, “Look!”

Many mornings, I have great intentions of starting our day well and then transition to watching it slowly spin out of control.

Making disciples in your home doesn’t have to be big, dramatic moments.  It doesn’t have to be perfect. But if you will commit to learning these practices in your family, God will work and you will all grow. 

Our homes become places of discipleship when we lead them to be places where grace is experienced on a regular basis. So how can we mirror the grace that has been given to us by Jesus in our families?

As we reflect back on our parenting years, one of the things I’ve been most thankful for are the traditions or “rhythms” we’ve been able to establish with our children on a regular basis that have provided a cadence of intentionality to the busyness of our lives.

At that moment I wasn’t sure what that “something” was, but I was beginning to have an idea. As if everything I had come to learn about Ryan, and now Lewie, was captured in that one sentence. But it was only the beginning, one sentence of a larger story.

I’ve never felt like I belong. It’s a feeling, I think, many of us know. It reaches across all of us, reaching far, leaving its mark on significant moments. I’ve carried that feeling with me all my life. And in my effort to close the gap, I’ve overcompensated.

We set the stage for discipleship at home by pursuing a life that we want our children to imitate.

Jesus shows us that the invitation of hospitality is an invitation into a heart that puts people at ease, makes them the most important person, and therefore creating a space where they can grow as a disciple.

With 22 years of marriage and 3 kids, I can never lose sight that fulfilling the commission in Matthew 28:19-20 to “go and make disciples” starts in my home. It not only starts in my home but is the most important aspect of making disciples in my life.

God made us for life with Him; He redeemed us for life in Him. We were made for unbroken communion with our Lord. Discipleship is ‘followship’ – following God in fellowship with Him. And this is living in our salvation.