Years ago, philosopher and author Dallas Willard observed that missing from many churches, and thus from the lives of many Christians, was a concerted focus on what Jesus actually taught and how to actually live it out. He referred to what was lacking as a “curriculum of Christlikeness.” He would later write that “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” was the modern Church’s great omission from Christ’s Great Commission to “make disciples.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Addressing this lapse by assembling such a curriculum is the motivation of this project.

Additionally, so many discipleship programs, books, studies, and other resources spend the bulk of their energies ensuring the reader/user believes all the right things, having doctrine nailed down. Such knowing is, of course, vital. But so is being—understanding the state of our souls, embracing our identity in Christ. As well as doing—not mere rule-keeping, but hearty obedience and visceral experience.

All three—knowing, being, and doing—are woven throughout this material.

Ultimately, you are the inspiration for Disciples Now and Always. Your actualization, your healing, your enjoyment of life as God gives it—your heart and mind captured by the beautiful truth that we get to be students and servants of Jesus Christ.

“The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples—students, apprentices, practitioners—of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.”
Dallas Willard, The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus's Essential Teachings on Discipleship