Discipleship & Formation

Following Jesus Together

Discipleship is not a program the church runs. It is the life of following Jesus, together, in every part of life.

Thinking Christian treats discipleship as the church's central task: formation in the way of Jesus through Scripture, prayer, community, and obedience, rather than information transfer or self-improvement. These essays, conversations, and questions ask what it takes to become people whose instincts, not just beliefs, are shaped by Christ.

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Three Ways In

ReadWhat Discipleship Is and Isn’t ListenThe Holy Spirit and Discipleship: Growth Isn't Just Human Effort (Roger Ross)AskIs discipleship an optional part of salvation?

The Questions

Discipleship in Four Parts

The Book

Christian Resistance: Learning to Defy the World and Follow Jesus

Discipleship requires the capacity to refuse the world's terms, and the contemporary church has often lost that capacity through unconscious assimilation. Christian Resistance develops a theology of resistance that is neither culture-warrior posture nor reactive withdrawal, but the patient formation of a people who can say no when the gospel requires it.

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Essays on Discipleship & Formation

01What Discipleship Is and Isn’tDiscipleship opposes fear. When we walk with God, we perceive the world differently and learn that following where he leads matters more than our own safety.02Why the Church Needs to Get Serious About DiscipleshipDiscipleship is not a fix for our problems but a way of life we commit to when we proclaim Jesus is Lord, in a world that competes with God for our loyalty.03How Does Discipleship Show Up in the Old Testament?The Old Testament is God's revelation and is required for Christian discipleship. Three questions help us read it: who God is, who we are, and how to live.04How Does Discipleship Show Up in the Old Testament? Part 1Our discipleship is incomplete without the Old Testament. The New Testament continues its story rather than drawing a sharp line between old and new.05How Does Discipleship Show Up in the Old Testament? Part 2The old covenant was revelatory, not transactional. It set forth how Israel could live with God, and the Old Testament remains God's word for disciples today.06Discipleship as Coordination: The Church Versus the WorldDiscipleship is the church’s primary coordinating mechanism, the way Christians develop common knowledge and shared practice that the Great Commission requires.07The Open Mind Has Boundaries: Discipleship And The Logic Of ConstraintOpen-mindedness is relational: embracing the truth means excluding falsehood. Boundaries set by God’s Word do not cut us off from reality. They connect us to it.08You Can’t Follow Christ and Live in the GrayMorally gray characters like John Dutton and Gregory House are compelling, but Christians cannot settle for moral grayness because God is present and active.09Reframing Pragmatism: Why Obedience Is the Best ChoiceThere is no better strategy for a broken world than obedience. Like Saul at Gilgal, we are tempted to trade faithfulness for what seems practical.10Why Baptism Is a Necessary Next Step for ChristiansBaptism is no mere symbol. It is a public pledge of allegiance to the Triune God, a commitment to live under the authority of Christ in a new way of life.11How to Let the Lord’s Prayer Guide Your Everyday ActionsThe Lord’s Prayer is a theological outline that teaches us to pray against ourselves, setting aside misdirected desires so God is honored and trusted.12Has Worship Turned into a Spectacle That Is Distracting Us from God?Worship is a response that requires attention to God. The lights, screens, and stage of modern worship can draw that attention toward the spectacle instead.13How Do We Reorient Our Attention So That We Glorify God?Attention is not merely a cognitive function or, as Iain McGilchrist suggests, a moral act—it is a profoundly theological one.14How Can the Lord Redirect Our Greed for Worldly Desires?Greed is not only about wealth. Media feeds our misdirected desires, and contentment rooted in a right understanding of God is the antidote to greed.15How to Make Sure Your Faith Isn’t Just a Trendy AestheticWearing “Stay Salty” is easy; being the salt of the earth takes discipleship. Costly grace endlessly sharpens the call to live under Christ’s authority.16Forgiveness in the Face of Remembering 9/11Remembering 9/11 theologically means facing our national fragility, honoring selfless sacrifice, and doing the hard, uncomfortable work of loving our enemies.17Approaching New Year’s ResolutionsSet a New Year's resolution you can keep: be realistic, start when you are ready, think in minimums, and play to your strengths as you grow in Christ.18How to Reframe Your Resolutions Around What Really MattersNew Year’s resolutions should emerge from our enjoyment of God, not our dissatisfaction. Nested in worship and discipleship, they open us to God’s purposes.19Thinking Christian About New Year ResolutionsInstead of chasing the Joneses, Christians can make New Year resolutions that true us to the reality of God by learning to live under the authority of Christ.20When We No Longer Understand What the Word ‘Christian’ MeansApplied to colleges and nations, “Christian” has come to mean wholesomeness or politics. If it is to mean anything, “Christian” cannot be decoupled from Christ.21How Should Christians Respond When Culture Clashes With Truth?Replacing one ideology with another is a provisional win. Christians remind the world of God’s authority, affirm what aligns with truth, and point to God.22How Can Christians Know If They’re Trapped in Culture Wars?Christians are not called to fix the world by the world’s logic, pressure, and power, but to live faithfully in a broken world and proclaim the gospel.23What Does It Mean to Be Close-Minded, and How Can Christians Avoid It?Open- and closed-mindedness are relational. Discipleship opens us to reality and the Triune God while closing us to the fictions that distort him.24How to Recognize False Teachers in Our Local CommunitiesFalse teachers rarely rely on outright lies. They simplify terribly and scratch itching ears, rooting us in our own desires rather than allegiance to God.25What the Book Ban Debate Reveals About Biblical DiscernmentBanning books cannot disciple our children. Christians cannot settle for wholesomeness; only holiness will do, and forming wise readers is the church's work.26How Discernment Can Help Graduates Define Their Next StepsDiscernment is a way of knowing what to do in light of the reality of the Triune God. Four practices can help graduates follow the Lord in a new stage of life.27Labubu Exposes the Evil Lure Behind Trends to Distract and Spiritually DerailThe Labubu crisis isn't centered on the doll but on our responses to it. Trends reorient our attention away from the Triune God and toward objects of affection.28Tricked by Treats: Christians Should Be Wary of HalloweenBeyond its pagan origins, Halloween now trains us to link celebration with consumption. Christians should celebrate holidays deliberately, not by default.29The Church Has a Boundary ProblemThe American church has lost a clear sense of itself and its boundaries. Its deepest problem is formational, and the answer is discipleship: the coordination of the body of Christ.30Critique Without Restoration: Exvangelicalism and the Case for ReformExvangelicalism rightly identifies real problems within evangelical culture but leaves itself capable of critique, not restoration.31Why What Today’s Evangelicals Believe Still Matters for the ChurchDoctrine is not merely informational; it is formational. Ligonier’s 2025 State of Theology report shows where evangelicals are confused and why it matters.32The Biggest Danger of the “Evangelical Bro Code”The Evangelical bro code disadvantages Christian men too. Organizational norms never align with Christ's standard, and the code hides or justifies deformation.33Is Depopulation a Threat to the Church’s Future?Depopulation is a theological problem when we delay or forgo children for the wrong reasons. Whether single or married, our choices should glorify God.34Is It Really Taboo? Combining Theology and Public EducationWithout theology, other disciplines overreach to fill its place. Public education should include theology so children can think beyond the merely human realm.

Through the Framework

Discipleship & Formation and the Sacred-Social Order

In the Thinking Christian Framework, the kingdom works as a counter-field. Every field forms a habitus, the instincts by which we perceive, react, and choose. The world's field rewards reach, legitimacy, and preservation; the kingdom's field rewards faithfulness. Discipleship is long participation in that kingdom field, until Christ shapes our instincts as well as our beliefs.

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