Many Christians genuinely want to follow Jesus yet struggle to see how the different parts of the Christian life fit together. We may know Scripture, participate in church, embrace important beliefs, and practice discipleship, yet still lack a coherent vision of how it all becomes a whole life with Jesus.
Through the Lens of Jesus Christ presents a clear, coherent, and integrated vision of the Christian life centered upon Jesus Christ. Each article explores what becomes visible when Jesus is recognized not merely as one part of Christianity, but as the governing center who gives every other part its meaning.
The series begins by recovering the radical call and compelling vision of discipleship. It then traces the true story of reality and explores the new humanity Jesus forms. From there, it offers practical pathways for cooperating with His transforming work and applies His life and teaching to the Church, relationships, leadership, and mission.
The series movement is as follows:
Why renewal is needed → The life Jesus offers → The story that explains reality → The people Jesus forms → The environments and tools that support formation → The Church and its relationships interpreted through Christ → Participation in His mission
Together, these articles invite us not merely to learn more about Jesus, but to see all of life through His eyes, increasingly live under His loving reign, and participate with Him in helping others do the same.
These articles explain why the Church needs a renewed vision and practice of discipleship centered upon Jesus Christ. Together, they recover the radical nature of His call, expose the limitations of systems that produce the wrong kind of disciple, and show why both our vision and our methods must be governed by Jesus.
The Radical Call of Discipleship: A Manifesto for Recovering the Way of Jesus — Jesus did not invite people merely to believe certain truths about Him. He called them to leave behind self-rule, entrust their whole lives to Him, and learn to live under His loving reign. This article recovers the weight, beauty, and all-encompassing nature of Jesus’ invitation to follow Him.
Dear Pastor: What Are We Training Our People to Become? — Every ministry structure, teaching emphasis, and measure of success forms people in a particular direction. This article invites pastors and church leaders to examine whether their ministries are producing spiritually dependent participants or mature disciples who increasingly think, live, and minister under the leadership of Jesus.
When the System Produces the Wrong Kind of Disciple — Every system of formation produces a certain kind of person. Churches may be active, sincere, and doctrinally committed while unintentionally forming people who do not increasingly resemble Jesus. This article examines how our methods, structures, and measures of success may produce outcomes that differ from the kind of disciples Jesus intended.
Why the Church Must Return to Jesus’ Way of Making Disciples — The Church cannot separate the message of Jesus from the way of Jesus. His priorities, methods, and relational patterns must once again govern how disciples are formed. This article explains why Jesus is not only the content of discipleship, but also the model for how discipleship should take place.
A Compelling Vision Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — People need more than disconnected teachings, practices, and ministry activities. They need a clear and compelling vision of the life God is calling them into through Jesus Christ. This article shows how that vision gives meaning and coherence to the Christian life, awakens desire, and helps believers understand and participate intentionally in the pathway of Christlike transformation.
These companion webpages gather broader resources for understanding and practicing Christ-centered discipleship. They offer practical pathways for learning the way of Jesus and growing toward whole-person Christlikeness.
Practicing the Way of Jesus: A Guide to Transformation — A practical guide to apprenticeship with Jesus, helping believers be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do as He did — toward the lifelong aim of increasingly living as Jesus lived.
Holistic Discipleship — A broader vision of discipleship that brings together the whole person and the whole Christian life, showing how Jesus forms us through truth, relationships, practices, and everyday participation with Him.
These articles establish the vision, destination, pathway, and formative environment of discipleship. Together, they prepare readers to understand why every dimension of the Christian life must be reconsidered through the lens of Jesus Christ.
The With-God Life: Why Following Jesus Is More Beautiful Than We Ever Imagined — The Christian life is not primarily a collection of doctrines, duties, or religious activities. It is a life lived with God through Jesus Christ. This article awakens desire for the relational life in which all discipleship takes place.
Why We Must Begin with the End in Mind — Before choosing methods, practices, or programs, we must understand what kind of people God intends to form. This article establishes Christlikeness as the intended outcome of discipleship and explains why the destination must govern the pathway.
The With-God Christian Life Made Simple: A Simple Path of Transformation Through Following Jesus — The Christian life may be inexhaustibly deep, but its central pathway is simple. We walk with Jesus, learn from Him, and increasingly share His way of life. This article presents an accessible overview of being with Jesus, becoming like Him, and living as He did.
How God Shapes Disciples: Nine Classrooms of Revelation and Formation — Jesus forms His people throughout the whole of life. These classrooms identify the primary environments through which God reveals Himself and shapes His disciples. This article presents God’s lifelong school of revelation and formation, with Scripture serving as both its foundation and governing lens.
These articles establish the biblical story that gives the Christian life its meaning. Together, they reveal God’s original design, humanity’s distortion through sin, and the restoration now unfolding through Jesus Christ.
Finding Your Place in the Story of Jesus: A Meta-Narrative of the Gospel (Here's a Simple Gospel Presentation version of it for evangelism) — The gospel is the true story of reality centered upon Jesus Christ — the Creator, sustaining center, and rightful King of all things. It reveals humanity created to flourish under God’s loving reign, the catastrophic disorder unleashed by self-rule, and God’s work through Jesus to rescue and restore His creation. It invites us to relinquish self-rule, receive our rightful place under King Jesus, and be restored to faithful human responsibility under His leadership. The article traces the biblical story through five movements:
Design (Creation)
Distortion (Sin)
Demonstration (Jesus Christ)
Discipleship (Following Jesus)
Destination (Restoration)
The New Humanity in Jesus Christ: Understanding God's Design, God's Model, God's Pathway, and God's Mission — God is restoring humanity through Jesus Christ. This article explains how God’s design for human formation, God’s model of restored humanity, God’s pathway of discipleship, and God’s mission of restoration all converge in Jesus. Jesus is not only saving individuals. He is forming a restored people who live under His loving reign, increasingly reflect His character and ways, and participate in His mission of restoring all things.
A Theology Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — Jesus is not merely one doctrine among many. He is the governing center through whom every doctrine finds its meaning and coherence. This article presents Jesus Christ as the supreme interpretive center of Christian theology.
COMPANION GUIDE > Jesus as the Center: A Scripture Discovery Guide — A discovery-based guide that brings together key biblical passages so readers can examine for themselves Scripture’s claims about the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ.
Living in Ultimate Reality Through the Lens of Jesus Christ: What Kind of World are we Actually Living in? — What kind of world are we actually living in? This article explores the deepest reality of all: the living God revealed in Jesus Christ. Because we were created by Him and for Him, our lives have objective meaning, purpose, and accountability. It shows that our highest responsibility is not merely to believe in God, but to know Him, joyfully live under His loving reign, and increasingly align every area of life with the reality for which we were created.
Perception Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — Sin distorts the way we see God, ourselves, other people, and the world. Jesus restores our vision and teaches us to perceive reality under His loving reign. This article explains why transformation begins with a change in perception and why discipleship involves learning to see reality through the eyes of Jesus.
These articles explore how life with Jesus restores the whole person into the humanity God intended. Together, they show how He realigns our inner life, forms us patiently into His likeness, and teaches us to embody His character and way of life in the ordinary rhythms of discipleship.
The Missing Dimension of Spiritual Formation: Completing the Picture of Christlike Discipleship — Many sincere believers remain spiritually active while experiencing limited transformation in their inner lives. This article identifies what has often been missing from approaches to Christian formation and presents a more complete vision of whole-person transformation.
The Freedom of Dependence: Awakening, Formation, and Growing into Mature Life with God — We often imagine maturity as becoming increasingly independent, but Jesus reveals something different. This article explores how deeper dependence upon God can free us from the false dependencies that govern us and form us into mature sons and daughters capable of faithful agency, responsible self-government, and whole-life alignment under the loving reign of Jesus.
Discipleship Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — Jesus is the center, model, pathway, and destination of discipleship. This article explains discipleship as the lifelong process through which Jesus forms people who increasingly see, surrender, and live under His loving reign.
An Inside Look Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — Jesus does not merely change what we do; He changes how we see and what governs us within. This article explores how looking honestly within with Jesus helps us recognize our patterns, realign what has drifted, and increasingly live in His way.
COMPANION GUIDE > Right Alignment Under Jesus: A Companion Guide to An Inside Look Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — A biblical and practical guide to the right ordering of life under Jesus — clarifying our dependence on God, our responsibility for what He entrusts to us, and the proper place of people and created gifts.
The Abundant Life Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — The abundant life is not found primarily in what Jesus gives us, but in Jesus Himself. This article shows how life with Him becomes the center of discipleship, from which Christlike transformation and lasting fruit increasingly grow.
Slowed-Down Spirituality: Walking at the Pace of Jesus — Christlike formation cannot be hurried or measured only by visible progress. This article explores how Jesus forms His people through patient faithfulness, hidden growth, and seasons of waiting as they learn to move at His pace rather than being driven by anxiety.
The Sermon on the Mount Through the Lens of Jesus Christ: A Portrait of the New Humanity — The Sermon on the Mount does not merely present a higher moral standard. It portrays the kind of people being formed under the loving reign of Jesus. This article shows how Jesus perfectly embodies the life He teaches and reveals what restored humanity looks like in practice.
COMPANION GUIDE > Guide to the Sermon on the Mount — A guided challenge through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount using short videos, including Bible Project resources, selected quotes, and reflection prompts to help readers grasp His vision of life in God’s kingdom and consider how it reshapes everyday discipleship.
The Apprenticeship Has Not Changed: Following Jesus Then and Now (Poem) — The historical setting has changed, but the essential invitation of Jesus remains the same. This poetic reflection presents the timeless call to walk with Jesus, learn from Him, and practice His way of life.
A Week with Jesus: Journal of an Ordinary Apprentice — Following Jesus takes shape in the ordinary moments of everyday life. Through a series of journal entries spanning one week, this article shows how Jesus uses relationships, interruptions, and inner struggles to shape an ordinary apprentice. It also reveals how simple acts of obedience form us increasingly into His likeness.
Spiritual Practices: Different On-Ramps into God’s Transforming Presence — Spiritual practices are not ends in themselves, nor does every practice engage every person in the same way. Different practices provide different points of entry into attentive and responsive life with God. This article explains how many distinct practices can help us abide in Jesus, cooperate with the Holy Spirit, and move toward the same destination: whole-person transformation into the likeness of Christ.
Christlike Discernment: Learning to See, Think, and Choose Like Jesus — Christlike maturity includes more than correct beliefs or outward behavior. It involves learning to perceive reality, examine motives, and make wise decisions with the mind of Christ. This article explores the formation of Christlike wisdom, motives, and discernment.
These articles explore the values, relationships, shared practices, and leadership responsibilities that create healthy pathways of Christlike formation. Together, they show how leaders and communities can embody the life they proclaim and cultivate environments and systems where people grow in maturity, participate meaningfully, and increasingly help form others.
7 Core Values of a Christ-Centered Disciple-Making Plan: An Enriching and Ever-Deepening Pathway into Life with Jesus — A guiding framework for developing disciple-making pathways marked by discovery, depth, integration, embodiment, reproducibility, and multiplication.
Where Disciples Are Truly Formed — Disciples are formed most deeply in relationships where they are known, loved, challenged, and invited into increasing responsibility. This article explores the relational environment in which Christlike maturity and multiplication take root.
The Taste of the Kingdom: Shared Values, Shared Practices, Life-on-Life — A discipleship community becomes formative when people share more than meetings. This article explores how shared values, repeated practices, and life together give people a lived experience of the kingdom of God.
Preparing for the Rain: The Responsibilities of a Formative Leader — Revival is God’s gift, but leaders are responsible for preparing the ground that can receive and sustain it. This article calls leaders to remain continually formed by Jesus, embody the life they proclaim, and build the relational cultures and organizational systems through which people can be formed in His way.
These resources provide simple and practical ways to engage Scripture, attend to Jesus, pray with others, and participate in His mission. They are designed to support both personal formation and shared discipleship.
Small Groups/Discipleship Resources
C.A.L.L Discovery Group Format — A format for structuring a small group or discipleship group around connection, Scripture, reflection, and faithful action.
Bible Study Resources
STARTING POINT PRACTICE: Discovery Bible Study (DBS) & Bible Study Sets —A simple Bible study method for discovering what Scripture reveals and responding in obedience.
The Gospel In All Of Scripture Bible Study — A Bible study resource for tracing the gospel and the person of Jesus throughout the whole biblical story.
Holistic Bible Study — A study framework that engages understanding, reflection, response, and embodied application.
Bible Character Study — A guided method for learning from the lives, choices, growth, and failures of people in Scripture.
Bible Book Study — A structured approach for understanding the message, context, and purpose of an entire biblical book.
Biblical Meditation Resources
Pray-Read the Word — A practice of slowly reading Scripture while turning its words into personal prayer.
Gospel Meditation (Ignatian) — An imaginative meditation practice that helps participants enter a Gospel scene and attend to Jesus.
Lectio Divina — A prayerful practice of reading, meditating, responding, and resting with God through Scripture.
Muttering — A biblical meditation practice of quietly repeating Scripture until its truth moves more deeply into the heart.
Behold God & Live His Truth (5L's): The 5 L's of Seeing Him, Knowing Him, and Living Like Him — A framework for beholding God in Scripture and responding to what He reveals with faithful action.
Four Simple Biblical Responses: For Meditation, Prayer, and Spirit-Led Small Group Ministry — A flexible framework for meditation, prayer, and Spirit-led ministry in small groups.
Prayer Resources
STARTING POINT PRACTICE: Discovery Prayer — A participatory prayer practice that helps people listen to God, pray from Scripture, and respond together.
STARTING POINT PRACTICE: A Christ-Centered Prayer of Examen: Under the Yoke of Jesus — A practice for noticing Jesus, examining our responses, and receiving His invitation for the next faithful step.
A Prayer for Christ to Be Formed in Us — A prayer asking the Holy Spirit to form Christ within us for the glory of God, the advance of His kingdom, and the blessing of the world.
Apostolic Prayers — A collection of New Testament prayers that gives believers biblical language for praying for spiritual formation and mission.
Blessing Prayer — A simple practice of speaking biblical blessing, encouragement, and God’s purposes over another person.
Outreach/Evangelism Resources
Gospel Presentations — Simple and reproducible ways of communicating the story and invitation of Jesus.
Outreach Tools — Practical resources that help believers engage people, share hope, and participate in the ministry of Jesus.
Prayer Walking — A practice of walking through a neighborhood while listening to God and praying for the people and places encountered.
These articles apply Jesus Christ as the governing lens through which the Church understands Scripture, relationships, leadership, and shared life. Together, they show how every area finds its true meaning when centered upon Him.
The Three Means of Grace: The Continuing Reality of Walking with Jesus — Jesus continues to lead and form His disciples through Scripture, the Holy Spirit, and the Church. This article explains how these three means of God's grace on our lives remain distinct yet deeply connected as we learn to recognize His voice, receive His truth, and embody His life together.
Scripture Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — All Scripture points toward Jesus and finds its fulfillment in Him. This article presents Scripture as the foundation for understanding reality and Jesus as its governing center.
Formed Together — Christlike formation is deeply personal, but it is never merely private. This article explores how Jesus uses shared life, honest relationships, and mutual participation to form His people together.
The Church Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — The Church is a people gathered around Jesus, formed into His likeness, and sent into His mission. This article presents the Church as a spiritual family, a community of formation, and a visible expression of the new humanity Jesus is creating.
Accountability Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — Jesus is the loving standard, faithful teacher, searching shepherd, and final judge. This article explains how His presence reveals what governs the heart and invites us into repentance, surrender, and transformation. It also introduces the Christ-centered Prayer of Examen.
Marriage Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — Jesus is not merely invited into marriage. He becomes its center, pattern, power, and destination. This article presents marriage as a covenant relationship through which spouses learn Christlike love and participate in one another’s formation.
Ministry Through the Lens of Jesus Christ: A Working Philosophy of Ministry — If discipleship is a living apprenticeship with Jesus, every dimension of ministry must serve His work of forming people into His likeness. This article presents guiding principles for helping people participate with the Holy Spirit, grow in Christlike maturity, and join Jesus in His mission.
From Instruction to Formation: Why Discipleship Requires Emotionally Healthy, Present Leaders — Disciples are not formed through instruction alone. This article explains why leaders must offer emotionally healthy presence, embodied example, and relational guidance if they are to help others grow into Christlikeness.
Church Leadership Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — Christian leadership exists to build the Church upon Christ while equipping the whole body to participate in His ministry. This article explains how leaders can guard the foundation without becoming bottlenecks and entrust responsibility without losing the Church’s spiritual center.
These articles explain how restored people participate in God’s restoration of the world. Together, they present mission as an essential dimension of discipleship and everyday life with Jesus.
In the World but Not of the World: Jesus’ Way of Presence — Jesus neither withdrew from the world nor conformed to it. This article explores how His disciples can remain faithfully present among people while living from the values and power of another kingdom.
Mission Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — Mission is joining Jesus in the restoration of all things. This article explains how everyday life becomes participation in His kingdom as His people proclaim, embody, and demonstrate His loving reign.
Evangelism Through the Lens of Jesus Christ — Evangelism is helping people see, know, and follow Jesus. This article presents evangelism as the proclamation of a Person rather than merely the communication of a message.
Every article in this series flows from one central conviction: Jesus Christ is not one more part of the Christian life. He is the center who gives every other part its meaning, coherence, and purpose.