How to Grow Your Faith

While growing as a disciple happens in community with other Jesus followers, it also involves a personal commitment to new habits and goals for life. Below are five practical next steps that will strengthen your faith and help you become more like Jesus every day. Start where you are, and let’s grow together!

Discipleship Habit #1 - Open Your Bible Often

Reading or listening to God’s Word is like having a daily conversation with Jesus. Reading the Bible, even just a few verses, helps you understand His heart, discover His promises, and apply His teachings to your life. This habit builds a strong foundation for your faith and guides you closer to Christ.  If you are a beginning Bible reader, we recommend the New Living Translation to begin. 

A great place to begin is in the Gospel of John, and then in the New Testament letter of James. You'll learn quite a bit about Jesus and also about wisdom for the Christian life. You could also explore reading plans on the YouVersion Bible app, jot down thoughts in a journal, or ask another Christian believer to read the Bible with you.  

Discipleship Habit #2 - Speak to God in Personal Prayer

Prayer is your direct line to God, where you can share your joys, struggles, and dreams. Setting aside time each day to pray—whether in the morning, at night, or during a quiet moment—deepens your trust in Jesus and aligns your heart with His. Use a simple structure like gratitude, requests, and listening, or join our church’s prayer challenges. Prayer transforms your relationship with God and fuels your growth as a disciple.  The Bible says:  “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” – Philippians 4:6 

If you are new to prayer, try this: set a timer for 4 minutes. For minute 1, spending praising God and thanking Him.  For minute 2, confess your sins and admit your needs to the Lord. For minute 3, ask God to help you with challenges in your own life. And finally, for minute 4, pray for some other people who need God's help.   If you'd like to pray even more than this, open to the book of Psalms in the Bible, and read a few verses.  Pray to the Lord about what you read, making the ideas personal in your own situation. You might try using Psalm 23, Psalm 42, Psalm 51, and Psalm 145 to begin.

Discipleship Habit #3 - Think Carefully about the Commands of Christ

Jesus gave specific directions for His followers to live by - and He showcased them by His own personal example. Qualities like love, forgiveness, faith, truth-telling, compassion, generosity, and humility are all important for Christ-followers to consider and strive for. This is essence of what it means to be a disciple of Christ - to really seek to learn from Him, and to become like Him!

You can read a great summary of Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5-7 in your Bible - his famous speech known as "the Sermon on the Mount."  In fact, a great way to focus on this is to handwrite your own copy of these three chapters. 

Discipleship Habit #4 - Start Intentionally Serving Others

Following Jesus means loving others the way He does, and serving is a powerful way to put your faith into action. Look for small ways to serve daily—helping a neighbor, encouraging a friend, or volunteering at church. These acts of love directly bless others, shape you to be more like Christ, and contribute to the mission of the church, as Ephesians 4:16 describes.  You are never more like Jesus than when you are serving others!  Consider what He said about His mission on earth:  “...the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:45  If you'd like to try volunteering at the church, drop us a line and one of our team will get back to you to assess your strengths and interests, and chat with you about available options.

Discipleship Habit #5 -Share Your Faith in Jesus with Others

As soon as Jesus recruited His first disciples (remember, Peter, James, Mary, Martha, John, etc.?) He challenged them to take the Good News to other people. He taught them to reach out with care, friendship, and truth to those who had open hearts to listen.  As a follower of Jesus today, your mission is the same!  Also, in the same way Jesus is changing your life, you can imagine how He might work in the life of your friend, family member, co-worker, fellow student, or neighbor!  Just begin to pray about how you might reach out to someone with care, for opportunities to have a meaningful conversation with that person.

Here are two ideas for sharing your faith: #1. Be ready to share your own story of learning about Jesus. What was your life like before you learned about Him?  How did you meet Him?  What factors led you to believe?  And, how has your life changed since that time?  #2. Learn a few important Bible verses that could help you explain the Good News (gospel) of Jesus to others. If you copy these verses onto notecards and start learning them, you'll be ready! Here are some recommended verses to begin: John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, and Romans 10:9.  

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Of course, growing as a disciple of Jesus can involve other areas of your life beyond these - including giving, hospitality, compassion, music, work ethic, positive attitude, healthy family relationships, and much more. But starting with these five habits will get you on the right track!

Discipleship is not a road you are meant to travel alone - that's why being involved in church is so important. Discover the five main ways our church can help with your discipleship here.