Missional Discipleship Cohort

COMING BACK SOON! Check back later this fall for information on the spring cohort.

We are grateful for your presence and desire to grow in our community! Thank you for taking the time to prayerfully apply. Please read the full program description before completing the application at the end of this page.

What is a “missional disciple”?

To put it quite literally, a missional disciple is a disciple of Jesus Christ—in other words, one of His students—who is living out His mission in their everyday contexts. Whether you think you are or not, you already exhibit many characteristics of a missional disciple!

After His resurrection, Jesus commissioned His original disciples to carry out the mission He initiated during His earthly ministry. This mission paved the way for our personal transformation from death in our sin to new life in Jesus; it is the means by which the gospel renews identities, restores communities, and challenges broken systems; and it is the driving force of our faith, not only in how it cultivates vibrant intimacy with Jesus, but also in how it equips us to carry out His work in our own contexts.

Here’s how Jesus framed it to His disciples in the beautiful Great Commission of Matthew 28:18b-20 (NIV):

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We tend to fixate too heavily on either: (1) Jesus’ underlined commands (the WHAT of the mission) or (2) Jesus’ boldfaced declarations about Himself and His relationship with us (the WHY of the mission). Take a moment to reread the underlined commands without the boldfaced declarations (and vice versa), and see how the Great Commission is rapidly drained of its power and purpose! Therefore, both are equally essential to our understanding of what it means to be a missional disciple of Jesus. In other words, you can’t have the WHAT without the WHY. You can’t divorce what Jesus tells us to do from who He is and how He relates with us. Otherwise, you’ll end up either: (1) doing a lot of things “for” Jesus and His mission (but then just burning out because you forgot the WHY) or (2) knowing a lot of things “about” Jesus and His mission (but then not actually living out the WHAT)!

What to expect in the semester ahead

To help us embrace what it looks like to healthily, sustainably, and fruitfully thrive as missional disciples of Jesus Christ who daily live out the Great Commission and reasonably avoid the trap of either (1) doing a lot of things “for” Jesus or (2) knowing a lot of things “about” Jesus, our cohort will focus on development in three pertinent areas:

  1. Learning from Jesus: Becoming whole-life disciples of Jesus who look to Him as all-satisfying Savior and Lord in every area of our personal lives

  2. Longing for Revival: Becoming prayer warriors who long for Jesus’ revival in every area of our personal lives and throughout our relational networks

  3. Living on Mission: Becoming Kingdom leaders who holistically embody and proclaim Jesus’ gospel in every area of our personal lives and throughout our relational networks

Program Requirements

  • Currently regularly involved in InterVarsity (attend a Community Group at least half the time)

  • Some interest in future leadership with InterVarsity

  • Commit to weekly 1 hour gatherings over 9 weeks

    • Tuesdays 12:15-1:15pm (time may vary slightly) in the USD Ministry Center conference room

  • Openness to learning new things and faithfully attempting the spiritual work of the cohort

Applications are due no later than Friday, April 21, 2023

Program adapted with permission from Melissa McCormick & Stephen Sena, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (11/17/22)