If you've spent any time around Arise Dothan, you've heard us use a phrase that might be new to you: Disciple Making Community. It's what we call our Thursday gathering, and it's the center of gravity for everything we're doing in this season. So let me tell you plainly what it is — and why it matters.
Start with the word disciple
Before we can talk about a disciple-making community, we have to be honest about what a disciple even is. Here's the working definition we keep coming back to:
A disciple is a believer in Christ who, together with others and by the power of the Holy Spirit, intentionally pursues Jesus, is being changed by Jesus, and is actively engaged in the mission of Jesus.
Read that again slowly, because every phrase is doing work. Together with others — discipleship is not a solo project. By the power of the Holy Spirit — it's not self-improvement; it's God's work in us. Pursues Jesus, is being changed by Jesus, engaged in the mission of Jesus — following, becoming, and doing, all at once. That's a disciple. And a Disciple Making Community is simply a group of people helping one another become exactly that.
What actually happens on a Thursday
A Disciple Making Community isn't a lecture and it isn't a hangout — it's somewhere better than both. Every Thursday at 6:00 PM we gather for coffee, prayer, open Scripture, and honest conversation. We read the Bible together and actually talk about it. We pray for each other by name. We tell the truth about where we're struggling and where God is at work. It's the slow, unhurried work of following Jesus in the company of people who know you.
Our spot moves around Dothan — a park one week, a coffee shop the next — so there's no single address to memorize. If you want to come, text Pastor Brian and I'll tell you exactly where we'll be that week. Come as you are. Bring your questions. There's a seat for you.
Why "making," and why "multiplying"
Here's the part that makes it more than a small group: we're not just trying to grow disciples, we're trying to grow disciples who make disciples. Jesus didn't tell us to accumulate followers — He told us to go and make more. So a healthy Disciple Making Community is always looking outward, praying that the people being formed in it will one day help form someone else.
That's why we talk about multiplying disciples across our city. One table becomes two. Two become four. That's not a growth strategy we invented; it's the way the kingdom has always moved — ordinary people, changed by Jesus, helping the next person take a step. It's how a launch team gets built, and it's how a church keeps growing long after launch day.
Not a placeholder — the foundation
It would be easy to look at where we are and see a waiting room: we'll do the real thing once Sunday mornings launch. I want to push back on that as hard as I can. The Disciple Making Community isn't a holding pattern until the "real church" starts. It is the church, doing the most important work a church can do — forming people into the likeness of Jesus and equipping them to go do the same. Everything we build on Sunday mornings will only be as healthy as the disciples being made on Thursdays right now.
So if you're wondering where to start with Arise Dothan, start here. This is the ground floor, and there's room for you to help build it. Text Pastor Brian, come to a Thursday, and see what it looks like to follow Jesus together.
— Pastor Brian