Last updated 9th August 2017

What is whole life discipleship?

Who are today’s disciples?

Lots of people – probably you included! Disciples aren’t just the first followers of Jesus, and they aren’t ultra-holy people who’ve got everything sorted. We believe that anyone who follows Jesus and tries to live out their Christian faith is a disciple. We all have the chance to worship and to pray, to learn more about what we believe, and to live out our Christian faith.

Why ‘Whole-life Discipleship’?

When we read about Jesus’ life, we see him talking about everyday things, and meeting people going about their daily business. God is interested in every aspect of our lives. This life involves every aspect of who we are: at work; enjoying art, music, food, celebration and sport; and in worship, prayer and studying the Bible. And that can be how other people first come into contact with the Christian faith: a recent survey showed that over a third of practising Christians said that a conversation with a Christian had helped them to come to faith – and one in five non-Christians are open to find out more about the Christian faith. 

Where can I find help with this?

• Talk to your vicar or lay church leaders about ways your church can make small changes to help people to live as whole-life disciples Monday-Saturday. These are some ideas that other people have used 
• Look at the prayer, worship and discipleship pages under resources on this website for ideas about prayer and reading the Bible, and the SHAPEd for God’s Purpose course, which helps us to think about what makes us who we are, and how that fits in with God’s purpose for us.
• The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity has produced some books and study courses that help people to think about how to live out their faith in their daily lives, especially at work.
• Talk to the Discipleship and Lay Ministry Development Officer Mandy Stanton by email or phone 01254 503084 for more ideas for things you can do, and ways the Diocesan team can help you.

If you have been a Christian for a while but would like to know more about your faith, you might like to consider doing one or more modules of the new Diocesan discipleship learning programme 'Routes of Faith: Making Informed Disciples'.