2025 · Ruth 1:16 · A year of shared life
Your God
be
my God.
Learning to follow Jesus by sharing life: a story of belonging, formation, and love that reaches our neighbors.
Faith takes shape
in life together.
Ruth gave us the words; the life of Jesus showed us the way. Throughout the year we asked how discipleship changes our relationships, our practices, and the room we make for others.
These chapters bring the messages together around shared questions. Open an exploration and hear the moments that support it.
Your people. My people.
Ruth opens the year’s conversation about shared life, trustworthy commitment, and the care through which belonging becomes real.
Where does discipleship actually happen?
We can remember a lesson without learning a way of life. The opening messages ask us to look beyond what we know about discipleship and notice who sees us live: who hears our prayers, watches our choices, and experiences our response when life becomes difficult.
The classroom is shared life
Pastor Daniel approaches Ruth through her closeness to Naomi. Ruth’s commitment grows in the setting of a life she has witnessed, including grief. His comparison with Jesus and His disciples directs attention to the ordinary nearness through which people learn from one another.
This gives the year its starting question: what does someone learn about God by sharing life with me? A church gathering matters, but the learning continues in conversations, meals, disappointments, and the few relationships where we are known closely.
Following changes the learner
Elder Abraham then brings the definition to its cost. Following Jesus involves self-denial, carrying the cross, and living His teaching. Knowing what a disciple is does not finish the work of becoming one.
Read together, these messages connect the setting with the direction: we share life so that we learn to follow Christ. The invitation is more demanding than offering advice, and more personal than completing a course. It asks for a life that remains willing to be formed.
Hear Pastor Daniel contrast learning about discipleship with learning through a life shared at close range.
Hear Elder Abraham move from defining a disciple to the cost of actually following Jesus.