Pursuing Jesus: an apprentice’s journey of proximity, relationship and learning
Twelve years ago, an unexpected invitation from Jesus changed our lives forever.
In 2013, Gab and I were serving at Shore Vineyard Church, where I was the assistant pastor. We were happy there—deeply embedded in our community, playing our part in what God was doing. Gab had come to faith in that church as a teenager, and I had started working there at age 20. For a decade, it was our spiritual home, a place we dearly loved.
But in October of that year, something surprising happened. While away for a weekend to officiate a friend’s wedding, we received a series of prophetic words—three, in fact—all within the span of those two days. First, my dad had a dream for us. Then, an acquaintance shared a prophetic word. Finally, another person offered yet another word. None of these people knew each other, yet each message carried a common theme: Jesus was calling us to something new.
It was completely unexpected. Over the next three months, we received seven more words—ten in total—confirming this calling. The final word came during a morning service at Shore Vineyard, where a member of our community shared a vision that felt like Jesus saying, “OK, it’s time to do this.”
That was the moment Gab and I said yes. With the blessing of our church, we began the journey of being sent out to start something new. Throughout 2014, we prayerfully dreamed about what God was calling us to. Along the way, we gathered a few friends—including Rob and Alisha Wiseman—who joined us in discerning and preparing for this step of faith. In our old lounge, we would pray, dream, and wrestle with the vision. A church was forming in our hearts—one that didn’t yet exist but was becoming clearer by the day.
Then, in February 2015—ten years ago this month—Central Vineyard held its first public gathering at the original Crave Café in Morningside. A decade later, we are celebrating all that God has done in and through this community.
The Journey So Far
For the past ten years, our church logo has served as a visual marker of our journey. Alongside it, our vision statement—“Pursuing Jesus and playing our part”—has guided us. These have been good and faithful signposts. But as we mark this milestone, we are embracing a refresh—a refining of what God has been shaping in us.
The theologian Robert Jenson once wrote that for a church to be faithful, they must rhyme with their past while also remaining open to the surprises of the Spirit. That has been our heart in this process. Our new logo echoes the old—it still carries the tension and our key values, but with new elements woven in: a sense of the table, the framing of stained glass, our love for hospitality, and our deep appreciation for both the ancient and the contemporary in faith.
And with this logo refresh, we’ve also refined our vision. We are still committed to pursuing Jesus. That remains unchanged. But we wanted to clarify what it means to “play our part.” So, we have reshaped our mission statement:
Joining Him in the restoration of all things.
The best news of the Kingdom of God is that Jesus is in the restoration business. Right now, in this very moment, He is making all things new. Every broken place, every injustice, every area of dysfunction—Jesus is at work, setting things right. And He is doing this through His Kingdom, through His Church, and wants to do so through us.
Our role in this? To be people who embody His Kingdom. To live in such a way that His restoration flows through us—through our generosity, our prayers, our acts of mercy and justice, our work, our creativity, our hospitality, and the way we care for our neighbours. To pursue Jesus is to join Him in His work of renewal. That’s what this journey is all about.
Apprenticing Our Lives to Jesus
In Matthew 4:18-22, we read about the calling of the first disciples. Jesus sees a group of young, ordinary fishermen and invites them into something far greater than they could have imagined:
“Come, follow me, and I will show you how.”
This was the invitation offered to those men, the same invitation extended throughout history, and the same invitation Jesus offers to us today:
Come—Jesus says, I want you. Be close to me.
Follow me—Jesus says, Be in relationship with me.
I will show you how—Jesus says, Trust me. I will teach you the way.
Theologians call this Jesus’ “Rabbinic Call.” In His time, rabbis would invite students to follow them—to learn not just their teachings, but their way of life. To be a disciple was to be an apprentice.
John Mark Comer puts it like this:
“Jesus is not looking for converts to Christianity; He’s looking for apprentices in the Kingdom of God.”
Dallas Willard expands on this:
“As a disciple of Jesus, I am with Him, by choice and by grace, learning from Him how to live in the Kingdom of God… I am learning from Jesus to live my life as He would live my life if He were I.”
To be a disciple is to apprentice our lives to Jesus—to learn His way of living and bring it into our own.
The Path of an Apprentice
What does apprenticeship require? Three key things:
Proximity to the Master—You can’t learn from someone at a distance. Apprentices must be close to their teacher, observing and sharing life with them.
Relationship with the Master—It’s not just about knowledge; it’s about trust and connection. Apprenticeship happens in the context of relationship.
A Learning Posture—Learning is vulnerable. It’s messy. Growth comes through mistakes. But the secret to apprenticeship is to remain a lifelong learner.
The journey isn’t straightforward. It’s full of peaks and troughs, of breakthroughs and setbacks. Yet, through it all, Jesus walks with us, teaching us, shaping us, restoring us.
A Community of Apprentices
So, what does this mean for us as a church?
We want to be a community where this journey—every triumph and every challenge—is embraced and celebrated.
This is why we exist: to pursue Jesus together, apprenticing our lives to Him, and joining Him in the restoration of all things.
That is what I will get out of bed for every morning. That is what our team is committed to. And today, as you read this, the invitation is open to you:
Will you take this journey?
Will you pursue Jesus as your Master? Will you be close to Him, in relationship with Him, and willing to learn from Him? And will you do this within the context of this community—this workshop of faith?
Over the next three weeks, we will unpack this further:
Next week: The invitation to come—Jesus calls us because He loves us first.
The week after: Follow me—How do we abide in relationship with Jesus?
And finally: I will show you how—What does it mean to be a lifelong learner?
As you finish this, reflect today and pause. Close your eyes and imagine Jesus standing before you, lovingly extending the same invitation:
Come. Follow me. I’ll show you how.
What do those words mean for you today?