Deuteronomy 6:7: You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
We don’t worship simply by putting a service on the calendar and showing up. We put the service on the calendar and show up so that we can do the work of worship, the chief work of the church.
In the same way, as Pastor Sumpter has said, discipleship is not accomplished by a program. Programs and plans are vehicles that enable discipleship to take place. Scheduled events put us in the same place at the same time so that we can pray and study and be accountable and so grow up together into maturity in Jesus Christ.
Growing as a disciple, and leading others to be disciples, involves more than showing up at a discipleship group. Israelite parents trained their children in the daily rhythms of life, in, with and under all the changing postures of a day’s work and rest.
This was Israel’s pattern, and it is ours, because it is the Lord’s pattern. God invites us to His house. He spread a meal before us, and He speaks His statutes and judgments and ordinances. He is our great Father and Brother who teaches us as He walks with us, stands with us, rises and lies down with us, above all when He comes near to sit enthroned with us at this table in His kingdom.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
