As you hear often, we at Faith Bible Church strive to be “a loving community making disciples of Jesus Christ.” This is why we encourage every member to adopt a pattern of discipling and being discipled. In other words, pursue a mentor who can help you learn and grow spiritually. And, seek out someone younger in the faith who you can help learn and grow spiritually as well. This is the call of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:20), and it is the mission of the church.
In an ongoing effort to equip our church body to grow and effectively minister to one another, the elders commissioned a team to create an accessible online “Discipleship Toolbox” full of resources, links, and tools to help you understand and apply what the Bible says about the most common questions and problems that Christians face today.
This effort started in seed form some years ago when we were putting together what I called “Shepherding Tools” for the Growth Group shepherds. They were topical summaries of biblical content and application questions for group leaders to help members learn and grow in a particular area.
At that time, the material was just handed out or emailed and wasn’t stored well for easy access later. As we strategized last year about how to equip and empower Faith members and leaders to disciple others, the idea of creating a digital repository of these resources on the website was born.
At that time the pastoral staff, with some help from our biblical counselors, brainstormed what were the most common topics, questions, and struggles that we encounter—and what books, articles, blogs, podcasts, sermons, or other resources we have found most helpful to inform and equip others to answer those questions and navigate those
difficulties.
Topics in the toolbox include:
The aim of compiling these resources is not only to help you personally, but to equip you to be a more effective discipler and minister of the Word to others—whether in your home, in your groups, or with other individuals.
We know that life in a sin-sick world is complicated. In a church our size, the questions and problems people face every day are more than the staff and elders could handle. While your shepherds seek to be available and helpful, our hope is that these tools will enable the body to more effectively fulfill God’s design:
“… the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
-Ephesians 4:16
We encourage everyone at Faith to open the toolbox. Go to fbchurch.org/resources and click on the more icon (three dots) next to the search bar, then scroll down until you see “Discipleship Toolbox” under “More Resources.” Click on “View Toolbox.” This link will connect you to these resources in a searchable format. Some are links to purchase a particular book on a topic. Others may take you directly to a document you can download or print. There are also online articles, blogs, podcasts, or sermon series on the topic.
We have tried to provide a variety of resources to help you scratch that spiritual itch to whatever degree is necessary, and we will continue adding good resources as we come across them. Start digging through the toolbox at fbchurch.org/toolbox.
Brian is the Pastor of Counseling & Equipping at Faith Bible Church. He is passionate about the local church, and equipping the saints to effectively serve one another. Before coming to Spokane, he spent 14 years serving God's people as a pastor in rural New England (Vermont & New Hampshire).
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