Come Follow Me: Seven UMCSC pastors pen discipleship sermon series for local churches

Church leaders are rolling out a free new resource this month to help foster discipleship in the local church.

Called “Come Follow Me,” it is a seven-part sermon series with adult discussion guide that follows the life of Peter and his development as one who said “yes” when Jesus said, “Come follow me.” It will be released March 15.

The series came out of the Discipleship ministry area of Conference Connectional Ministries. The Rev. Jim Arant, one of the series’ developers, said he and the Revs. Kathy James and Ross Chellis were inspired to create it after attending a workshop at Lake Junaluska.

“The idea is to try to get people to move from membership to discipleship,” Arant said.

While it is designed for the Easter season, Arant said it can be used any time of the year. Three major aspects of Peter’s life as a disciple are captured: his call, his denial and his redemption.

Sermon series writers are members of the South Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church. Sermon 1, on “Following,” draws from Mark 1:16-20 and is written by the Rev. Angela Ford Nelson. Sermon 2, on “Confessing,” draws from Matthew 16:13-20 and is written by Chellis. Sermon 3, on “Faltering,” draws from Luke 22:54-62 and is written by the Rev. Brad Gray. Sermon 4, on “Transforming,” draws from John 21:1-14 and is written by the Rev. Wendy Hudson-Jacoby. Sermon 5, on “Serving,” draws from John 21:15-19 and is written by the Rev. Neal Woods. Sermon 6, on “Proclaiming,” draws from Acts 2:29-39 and is written by the Rev. Ken Nelson. And Sermon 7, on “Crossing,” draws from Acts 10:34-38 and is written by the Rev. Paul W. Harmon.

Each sermon includes notes to the pastor; exegesis of the text; sermon outline; sermon manuscript; additional illustrations; video and music ideas and a bibliography. The resource is designed to preach as-is or adapt it to your congregation and style.

The discussion guide was written by the Rev. George Donigian, Earline Ulmer and Arant.

For more information: https://www.umcsc.org/home/come-follow-me/