Discipleship Classes 
Starting Sunday, September 5. 9:15-10:15am.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19–20 ESV)

Discipleship Classes, our adult education hour, will meet every Sunday morning at 9:15am. The goal of our Discipleship Classes is to make disciples by teaching our members to observe everything that Christ has commanded. We want to rightly interpret and apply God’s Word to every aspect of our lives. Therefore, Discipleship Classes are purposely designed to give a comprehensive understanding of God’s Word that can be applied in every part of daily living. 

Adult Discipleship Classes will not be age-graded and we will offer multiple classes covering a range of topics, each lasting a quarter. Participants will choose their class, then after that class is over, will choose a different class on a different topic.

We are going to start with 3 tracks:

  • Great Commandment Track

    • Love God, Love People. The classes in this track will focus on inward discipleship, sanctification, and our relationships with God and others.

  • Great Commission Track

    • Make disciples. The classes in this track will focus on outward advancement of the gospel, missions, evangelism, defending the faith, etc.

  • Bible Track

    • We will always offer a study on a book of the Bible each quarter.

You do not have to stay in the same track every quarter, but the plan is that you will pick a class for each quarter and you will stay in that class for the duration of the class. Here are the first three classes we will be offering:

  • Great Commandment Track: How to Study the Bible/Meeting with God

    • Led by Mark Grigg & Jim Hartz in Room 201-A.

    • For the first half of this class, we will learn how to study and interpret the Bible as instructed in the Bible. In the second half of this class, we will learn how to practice the basic disciplines of the Christian life.

  • Great Commission Track: Evangelism

    • Led by Luke Folsom in Room 128.

    • In this class we will learn what evangelism is, what our responsibility in evangelism is, and how to share the gospel with our words.

  • Bible Track: The Book of James

    • Led by Bobby Sweet & Chip Stewart in Room 201-B.

    • In this class, we will be studying the book of James using the Knowing the Bible bible study by Crossway.

Click here to view a draft schedule for the next two years. The plan is to repeat the schedule after 2 years so that everyone can take every class. 

We are so excited for Discipleship Classes! We hope you will make plans to be in a class on Sunday mornings to learn how you can apply the Bible to every area of your life and that you will take full advantage of the opportunity to build new relationships with other members and visitors in our church! 

 

Community Groups
Starting January 2022. 2nd, 3rd, & 4th Sundays. 5-6:30pm.

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:46–47 ESV)

We want to introduce geographically-organized, home-based Community Groups in January 2022. These would intentionally be intergenerational and meet on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Sundays of every month at 5pm. There would still be a church wide prayer meeting on the first Sunday evening of the month at 5pm which gives a break to host homes, and allows us to pray all together as a church body. We also want to introduce Fifth Sunday Fellowships, which would be a Potluck right after church. Community Groups would not meet during the summer months. 

Community Group Schedule:

  • 5pm – Meet at host home

    • Host Homes would be geographically based.

  • 5-5:30pm – Eat dinner together

    • Food would be arranged by each Community Group. Dinner could be provided by different families on a rotation, etc.

  • 5:30-6pm – Sermon Application Discussion

    • There would be a sermon application guide provided based on that morning’s sermon and the leader would facilitate the discussion on how to apply the sermon to our lives.

    • Childcare would be arranged by each Community Group. Children can remain in the discussion with the parents, members of the group can rotate watching the kids each week, etc.

  • 6-6:30pm – Prayer

    • Men & Women would separate for intentional prayer

We need you!

  • We need volunteers for host homes!

  • We need volunteers for leaders!

  • If you would like to volunteer, please click here to sign up!

  • If you have questions about volunteering, please reply to this email and let me know!

 

Organic Discipleship & Ministry

We believe by restructuring our schedule in this way, and causing church members to interact across generational lines, that we will see more organic discipleship and ministry take place. Because more interaction is taking place, and there is more opportunity for relationships to be built, older men will be able to build relationships with and teach younger men, and older women will be able to build relationships with and teach younger women (Titus 2). This schedule also leaves room for informal bible studies and groups led by members throughout the week.

Discipleship Groups

Discipleship groups are gender-specific small groups who meet together regularly to study God’s Word, go through a book together, hold one another accountable, live life together, disciple one another, etc. We already have several Discipleship Groups going on at Crabapple. If you would like more information about joining one or starting one, please reach out to me! 

Discipling Relationships

A disciple is a follower. We are followers of Jesus. Disciples of Jesus are commanded to make disciples of Jesus. Biblical discipling is helping others follow Jesus by teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded. We want have a culture of discipline at Crabapple where everyone can answer the questions: Who is currently discipling you? Who are you currently discipling?

Gentle & Lowly

To get you started, we have a book for you. Crossway just recently published a book by Dane Ortland called “Gentle and Lowly.” This is such an incredible book, and Crossway is such an incredible publisher, that they sent us 200 free copies which we have available for you. So if you want to start a discipleship group, pick up some of these books, get some friends together, and go through this book together! If you want to start a discipling relationship, pick up one of these books and ask someone to go through it with you! 

 

Children’s & Student Ministries

There are a lot of exciting opportunities to serve in the Children’s and Student Ministries! If you are interested in serving in either of these ministries, please let me know! Here are a few areas that we need help with:

  • Volunteer to be a Preschool Sunday School co-teacher on a quarterly rotation. Please email Jenny or myself if you are interested in serving!

  • Volunteers to serve in Extended Session for nursery and preschool children during the worship service on a rotating basis. Please email Jenny or myself if you are interested in serving!

  • Volunteers for the Pray for Me Campaign. More information coming soon!

 

Wednesday Night Activities

We also wanted to remind you that we have kicked off our Wednesday night activities! We have activities for the whole family from 6:15-7:30pm. Make plans to be here! 

  • TeamKid (Children) - Check-in at Gym (1st-5th Grade) & Preschool Hall (3-K)

  • Rooted (Students) - Rooted Room

    • Studying the Minor Prophets.

  • Adult Bible Study - Room 201A

    • Living as a Church: Unity that Shows Off the Gospel. Led by Pastor Jerry.

  • Ladies Bible Study - Room 201B

    • LifeChange, the Book of Hebrews by NavPress. Led by Barbara Sweet.

 

Ministry & Mission Opportunities 

There are many exciting Ministry and Mission Opportunities coming up! Here are several that we would love for you to be a part of:

  • Milton Football Breakfasts start Friday, 8/20 at 7am

    • The Milton High School Football team uses our Fellowship Hall for their game-day breakfasts and gives us a chance to speak to them from the Bible each week. They provide all the food and set up. The first one is tomorrow! Come hang out and meet students we can invest in.

  • GABN Annual Meeting - Tuesday, 9/7, 6:30pm

    • We are hosting the annual meeting of our local association. We need volunteers to be greeters, to set up & take down for the meal and the meeting, and to serve during the meal. Please click here to volunteer! More information is coming soon.

  • Crabapple Fest - Saturday, 10/2, 10am-5pm

    • We will have a tent space at Crabapple Fest with an opportunity to interact with 40,000 people from our community! We will have 3 shifts of volunteers to man the tent. We would also love to provide volunteers to the city before, during, and after the event. Please click here to volunteer! More information is coming soon.

  • Operation Christmas Child Drop-off Site - Nov. 15–22, 2021

    • We will be a drop-off site for OCC shoeboxes this year! We need volunteers for set up, during National Collection Week during drop-off hours, and for clean up. More information is coming soon!

  • 2022 Mission Trip Calendar

    • We are planning to send teams to Senegal, Germany, & Central Asia next year! Please be praying and asking the Lord if He is sending you to take the gospel to the nations and to support our missionaries on a short-term mission trip next year. More information is coming soon!