In my Vision Sunday sermon a couple of weeks ago (you can watch it here), I mentioned that our focus for 2025 at Christ Church is going to be Discipleship. One of the definitions I talked about for that word was “Apprentice,” one who follows Jesus and becomes more and more like Him. While I didn’t have time to delve too deeply into it during the sermon, it got me thinking about what an apprentice actually does and how this comparison might actually play out.

And so, I turned to John Mark Comer’s book, “Practicing the Way.” Friends, this might just be the best book on discipleship I have read in a very long time. He defines being an apprentice of Jesus as, “Anyone whose ultimate aim is to be with Jesus in order to become like him and live the way Jesus would live if he were in their shoes.” He summarizes apprenticeship as being with Jesus, becoming like Jesus, and doing what Jesus did. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. (If you want to read an excellent review of the book, you can do so here. If you want to hear Comer talk about this concept of “Practicing the Way,” you can watch a powerful interview with him here.)

Apprenticeship as discipleship asks the question, “What would it look like to not just believe in Jesus but to actually live like Jesus? If Jesus were in my shoes, how would He handle this moment, this conversation, this decision, this relationship?” Apprenticeship is learning by doing, so it requires us to not just read about what Jesus did in the Gospels but to actually then do what Jesus did. The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:13 that our goal should be to become “mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”  I want that for my life, and I want it for yours too!

I am so excited to see how this will happen for us at Christ Church over the next four months as we journey through the Gospel of Matthew. Let’s put some intentionality around moving from just being a Christian to being a disciple, an apprentice, learning how to become like our Master, Jesus!