Welcome to the Disciple Cycle of the Uncommon Lectionary
The Disciple Cycle is a “Faith-Deepening Cycle for Believers to Explore the Major Themes of Scripture and Be Equipped to Mentor Seekers”. It follows the ordinary flow of the year, beginning in May with the story of Creation.
I urge church leaders to use the Disciple Cycle along with the Seeker Cycle. Anyone can come and go from the Seeker Cycle. However, I urge you to require all church leaders to participate in the Disciple Cycle. Clearly this is a more “advanced” training for Christians who have committed themselves to participate in God’s mission.
The overall strategy is to focus worship on five great story-lines throughout the Old and New Testament. We expect worshippers to attend post-worship or mid-week small groups to go even deeper into the scripture theme.
- Weeks are numbered 1 – 52. Designated months may vary as some months have 5 Sundays. Keep following the numbered weeks.
- The cycle starts with week 19 (the beginning of May) at the beginning of first story line, and follows a calendar most relevant to the pace of contemporary culture.
- Read right to left. There are five major “story-lines” for worship teaching and small group discussion. Review all the texts for small group exploration.
- Orient worship to coach faith, hope, or lifestyle as the Spirit leads. Try to diversify the focus through the year. Add to the primary text as called.
- Ground worship in the experience of Jesus as the Spirit leads. Try to diversify the focus through the year.
Each story-line is a distinct teaching series lasting about 8 – 10 weeks. The texts are very large, allowing worship design teams to apply portions of the text to address contextual needs and issues as they arise each year.