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The Discipleship Adventure is made up of five elements:
1. Celebrate in worship,
2. Connect as one,
3. Develop our faith,
4. Serve like Christ,
5. Share the faith
If the Discipleship Adventure is a biblical paradigm for the church, then it will naturally be a part of all aspects of the church's ministry. One of the places I see this biblical calling at work is in worship. In worship we:

• Celebrate - we participate in praise and thanksgiving;
• Connect - we connect with one another through prayer concerns, greetings before, during and after worship, and we worship together by sitting with fellow disciples;
• Develop - we learn and grow as the Scriptures are read and proclaimed;
• Serve - we serve Christ through the ministries of music, hospitality, ushering and worship leadership, and through sermons we are called to ministries of justice and mercy in the world;
• Share - we share through testimony how God has and continues to transform us into faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

Churches that intentionally and significantly practice all five in every worship experience witness the power of God at work. These congregations, and specifically their worship leaders and planners, intentionally develop each component into the worship so that people are experiencing the inward journey of discipleship, celebrate, connect and develop and support people in the outward movement of discipleship, serving and sharing.

What are some of the practices of these congregations?

Celebrate - In these congregations worship leaders are warm, hopeful and joyful. They smile a lot and are inviting and encouraging. There is a mix of music, but there are significant upbeat joyful hymns/songs generally right at the beginning of worship. From time to time, worship leadership shares a brief testimony of joy in their life or how God has changed their life.

Connect - These congregations begin connecting with people before they enter the door. They have greeters outside in the parking lot or the front street. They have people to help direct worshipers to parking and where to enter the building. These people are filled with the Spirit of God, they are warm and encouraging. Inside there are additional people to welcome people and provide hospitality for all who enter. They again are filled with the Spirit of God. The congregation has a time when people can meet and connect with one another, usually over food and beverage. The prayer needs of people are listed in the bulletin and the prayer times lift up some of these people. Disciples are encouraged to reach out to the sick and the grieving. Testimonies of healing and congregational care are shared.

Develop - The message takes people to deeper levels in their faith and understanding of Scripture and has practical applications. Many people today do not want to be told to be good, but they want to understand what God expects of them and how they can specifically fulfill the Gospel. Messages that are too general or lack application can often leave disciples craving something more.

Serve -  Regular testimonies of justice, mercy and service help disciples see God at work in the world and encourage others to serve. Invitations to serve and inviting people to come forward for prayer and commit to service are a regular practice. Consecrating mission teams, individuals that will serve in the community and small group leaders all lift up the importance of service and invite others to serve.

Share - Altar calls and testimonies of God's life changing force in someone's life are powerful opportunities for people to share their faith or desire to have someone share the faith with them. Let me say a word about altar calls. I have seen and experienced many different ways of doing altar calls that range from people coming forward and kneeling to people joining hands with one another to people writing something down and taking it as a reminder. It is not the mechanics of the experience, but the fact that people are given the opportunity to physically do something in response to the Word of God that makes them meaningful. It becomes more effective if people have the opportunity to connect with someone else through prayer, the laying on of hands or the embrace of another disciple.

All of our congregations tend to do at least one or two of these aspects well. It is not enough. God's power has a greater opportunity of ministering to people when all five are done well every Sunday. It is in the biblical model of doing all five in worship and every other aspect of the congregation's life ? meetings, small groups, service projects ? that the Holy Spirit works.

I encourage people not to try to grow all five at once. Start with the one you are best at and take it to the next level and then add another and so on until all five are practiced with conviction and well.

Be adventurous, strive for all five in worship!