These seven connections will be very important in practicing home discipleship.
The discipleship practice of spending time alone with God gives each of us an opportunity to talk (prayer) and listen (Bible reading) to God repeatedly. Talking and listening repeatedly leads to a deeper relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Encourage your children to start a lifelong habit of meeting with God daily.
Connecting with your husband or wife on a spiritual level builds a strong relationship for the two of you. Relationships are built with constant communication. God creates a special oneness and "connectedness" in marriage when a husband and wife meet with Him together.
One of our home discipleship practices includes having a family worship time every day for a least 15 minutes. This includes reading the Bible together, practicing a memory verse together and singing. Establishing these habits together goes a long way toward passing on your faith and values to your children and assuring they will have lifelong habits of building a relationship with God.
Connections outside your family create a sense of community and fellowship. God created us to need each other for encouragement and accountability. Practicing the habit of hospitality to help us reach out and connect with other individuals and families.
Worshipping together builds our relationships with God and each other. The church service is the celebration of all the daily listening and talking with God and with one another that has occurred at home, at school, or at work during the week. It is a time to celebrate how God has been with you and those you know. Church gatherings provide support and encouragement to like-minded people who are trying to grow in their relationship with God and the people in their lives.
As a Christian, you are part of a worldwide family of faith that honors the God of the Bible as King. Families and individuals need habits in their lives that connect them to Christians all over the world – past and present. God's people connect to the Christian past through understanding church history and singing hymns. God's people connect today through the habits of prayer and giving for each other's needs.
As we are experiencing closer connections to God in our lives, we will naturally want to share with others who are struggling in their connections to God and others. As God's ambassadors, we invite others to seek a relationship to Christ. Evangelism is about helping unchurched or non-believers to begin their quest of faith by reading the Bible and praying as their first seeking moments. Our outreach includes seeing and meeting the spiritual and physical needs of the unbelieving world. God has called Christians to build bridges to the world.