Following Jesus

What Does It Mean to Follow Jesus?

You’ve probably heard the language “follower of Jesus”, “Christian”, or “disciple”, but you may wonder what it actually means to be a disciple or follower of Jesus. Scripturally, disciples of Jesus live out the teachings of Jesus by:

  1. Reaching Up (through worship)
  2. Reaching In (through community)
  3. Reaching Out (living on mission)

While that may sound simple enough, it’s anything but easy. Following Jesus is an entire life's pursuit. It’s not just an event on a Sunday, or a one-time decision. It’s a way of life, practiced in a church community around Jesus’ teaching. And though it’s difficult, being a disciple means living out God’s redemptive purpose and the life that He created for us. To live this way means we need to be transformed, from the inside out. It means growing daily in relationship to Jesus. It means living a life that reflects the Gospel – and we want to help!

Getting Started

The Gospel

The gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived a perfect life in our place, died a substitutionary death on the cross for our sins, rose triumphantly from the grave to launch God’s new creation, and is now exalted as King of the world. This good news calls for a response: repentance (mourning over and turning from our sin, and following the way of Jesus) and faith (trusting in Christ alone for salvation). The Gospel is how every Christ-follower begins a relationship with Jesus. 

You can receive Christ wherever you are reading this from today! Here's a simple prayer you could pray to God right now: "Father, my life is broken. I recognize it's because of my sin I need you. I believe that your son came to life, die, and was raised from the dead - to rescue me from sin. Forgive me. I turn from my own ways and trust in you. I know that Jesus is Lord of all, and I commit to following his ways." 

I Just Accepted Jesus

Baptism

We believe every follower of Jesus should be baptized. Baptism isn’t required for salvation, but for many Christ-followers, baptism is the first step in obedience to Jesus. 

Baptism is a picture or symbol of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, and symbolizes your new life as a Christian. It serves as a public testimony of your faith and presents a picture of the change from your past to your new life in Jesus. 

For those who have accepted Christ and want to follow His example, baptism is an opportunity to identify yourself with The Savior and show the world that you are a follower of Christ! 

Learn More

Reach Up

To be a follower of Jesus is to be a worshiper of Jesus. When Jesus calls us to follow him, he is calling us to live a life of worship to him. God both desires and deserves our worship.

Sadly, apart from Jesus, we worship all the wrong things. God calls this idolatry (Romans 1:21-23). Idolatry is worshiping anything or anyone other than God. While idolatry leaves us empty, worshiping God leaves us fulfilled. In fact, we believe that you become what you worship. That means that our worship of Christ transforms us continually to become like Christ.

Personal Worship

Every relationship is built on communication.

The same is true of our relationship with God. It requires regular communication to grow. One of the primary ways you can communicate with God is by practicing daily personal worship. In fact, there is no habit more important for your spiritual life than meeting with Jesus every day. When we think about worship, many of us picture Sunday morning, not Monday morning. Often our time with Jesus looks more like a weekly corporate boost than it does daily bread. You’re not alone if you’ve never fully committed to a daily time of worship, but now is a great time to start! In fact, we’ve created a guide to help you begin to practice personal worship.

Personal Worship Guide

Corporate Worship

In addition to personal worship, part of our discipleship journey is to join with others in congregational worship to God. Scripture tells us that every Christ-follower is part of the “body of Christ”, the church. Hebrews 10 tells us to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” At Biltmore Church, our worship services are full of dynamic worship and practical, Biblical teaching geared toward helping you grow as a disciple of Jesus. 

Campus Locations

Reach In

Following Jesus was never meant to be done in isolation. We believe discipleship happens in community. The bible uses various imagery to describe what the church is: the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, the temple of God, etc. One of the strongest images is that of a family, a “household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Through Jesus, we are adopted into God’s family. We were designed to follow Christ in the context of this family, the church, in community with one another. 

At Biltmore Church, the primary way we foster biblical community is through Connect Groups. Our Connect Groups are small groups of people designed to provide you an opportunity to be real and grow in your relationship with Jesus together. Connect Groups meet regularly – some on campus and some in homes. Every group welcomes new people. As you follow Jesus, we’d encourage you to cultivate a habit of regular attendance and participation in a Connect Group.

Reach Out

Disciples make disciples.

When Jesus ascended to heaven, he gave us a clear mission until his return: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” -Matthew 28:18–20

As we follow Jesus, we lead others to do the same. At Biltmore Church, we equip an army, not an audience. We believe every Christ-follower is called to ministry. God has created you and strategically placed you where you are to use your unique abilities, gifts, and passions to make disciples. Living missionally manifests itself both inside and outside the walls of the church. 

Below are some of the key ways we live on mission: 

"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace" -1 Peter 4:10

We believe that there is no great divide between the “ministers” and the “congregation.” Every follower of Jesus has something they can do to serve the bride of Christ, the church. From our perspective, every member of Biltmore Church is a minister, every person is gifted in some area, and every task is important. 

Here’s how the Apostle Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 12:“For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body."

Much like Jesus, disciples don’t seek to be served. Disciples sacrificially serve others the way that Christ served them. We couldn’t do what we do without our volunteers and leaders, and there are so many places to serve! We ask people who call Biltmore Church their home to find one or two areas they can connect in and serve the church.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” -Acts 1:8

Every follower of Jesus has a personal responsibility to share the hope of Jesus with others.

Though we often look to meet physical needs, our ultimate objective is to meet spiritual needs. We would be doing our community a great disservice by only giving them food or shelter, while failing to tell them about the hope that they have in Christ. We want the Gospel to be a major piece to everything that we do to Reach Out.

While many of us understand that we have a personal responsibility to share our faith, we often fail in practice. In fact, only about half of born again Christians say they actually share their faith at least once per year. We strive to equip you to understand how you can share the Gospel with others in a simple and effective way. Each year we host trainings in our Connect Groups so that you can share the Gospel, not just at church events, but in your everyday life.

“‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me’... ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” -Matthew 25:35-36, 40


In addition to declaring the Gospel, we are called to demonstrate the Gospel to a watching world. We display the character and glory of God through our lives and actions. The Holy Spirit is God’s personal presence moving through the world and in the lives of His people. As Christ-followers, we are called and commissioned to minister to those who Jesus calls "the least of these." 

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” -Matthew 28:18–20

God has called and commissioned the church to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. We work strategically to carry out the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20) locally, nationally, and around the world.

Locally, we partner with many local organizations who serve in various ways, including, feeding the homeless, sorting baby clothes, helping families in need, and working with orphans. Throughout the year our Serve828 projects serve our local partners and community. We also minister to those in local prisons, throughout the year.

Nationally, we're actively engaged in church planting throughout the world, strategically partnered to plant and support new churches, which will make disciples among some of the most unreached places in our world. We also work with national partners to help provide relief and rebuilding teams with cities that have been affected by natural disasters.

Internationally, we work with partners (like the International Mission Board and Compassion International) to make disciples of all nations. We.send short term mission trips throughout the year that work with our missionaries and mission partners. Our goal is to both declare and demonstrate the Gospel around the world.

"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." -2 Corinthians 9:6–8

Christ-followers manage God’s gifts for God’s purposes. Scripture tells us that God is the creator and owner of all things (Psalm 24:1). As the owner of all things, he is self-sufficient and needs nothing from us. Because ownership belongs to God, all that we have we possess as stewards. In other words, we manage things on behalf of the owner.

We can apply the principle of stewardship to all of life because all that we have is a gift from God. Our existence, our bodies, our relationships, our time, our talents, our treasures, our jobs, everything–are really God’s. Because God has been generous with us, we can be generous in ways that expand His kingdom here in Western North Carolina and around the world. We get to be conduits through which His generosity flows. We give because He gave first and our giving shows that we trust God.

Generosity should be a priority for every Christ-follower, done proportionally, sacrificially, and cheerfully (Proverbs 3:9; Malachi 3:8-12; Matthew 6:19-21, 25:14-29; Luke 21:1-4; Acts 2:44-47, 20:35; 1 Corinthians 4:1-2; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15). One key way to practice generosity is through tithes and offerings to your local church.