You Have What It Takes to Make Disciples

The end goal of evangelism is to make disciples. When evangelism only gets converts without discipling them, just part of the Great Commission is being fulfilled. Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Evangelism is essential for the expansion of God’s kingdom and the establishing of Heaven on Earth. But converts who don’t know how to be Jesus followers will be weak and ineffective Christians. This is where discipleship comes in.

Many people believe that evangelism is the job of big personality evangelists, and discipleship is the job of men or women pastoring a local church. But the Bible shows a much more personal model: evangelism is the responsibility of all believers, just as discipleship is the responsibility of every Christian. Not all are called to the “office” of evangelist as is described in Ephesians 4, but all believers are called to share the Gospel and disciple other believers. This is the essence of the Great Commission.

Redefining Discipleship

If you have given your life to Christ, you now have a responsibility to disciple others. This may seem daunting, but it is actually beautiful when you re-define this word and make it accessible. What is discipleship?

Discipleship is mentoring someone until they surpass your skill and knowledge.

In other words, going forth and making disciples means identifying believers in your life whom you can teach everything you know about walking with God and the Bible until they know even more than you. It is an impartation of skill and knowledge, much like an apprenticeship.

A Fictional Example of “Discipleship”

I’ve been making my way through John Flanagan’s best-selling Ranger’s Apprentice series. The premise of the series focuses on a young orphan boy who is chosen by a Ranger to be his apprentice and serve the kingdom of Araluen.

Throughout the series, Will learns all he can from Halt to become a full-fledged Ranger who can oversee a fief of his own. Not only does Will learn all he knows from Halt, but in later books he also surpasses his mentor. He achieved great feats as a Ranger because of the skills Halt taught him during his apprenticeship. Eventually, Will becomes a mentor with an apprentice of his own. (I have yet to read that story, so no spoilers please.)

This is a perfect picture of what discipleship is meant to look like. It is coming under someone, doing life together, and learning all you can until you come into your own as a strong believer and can disciple someone else.

There is an important key here: The most effective discipleship is doing life with people.

There is a reason why Bible schools exist. There is something about dedicating a portion of your life to learning all you can in close relationship with teachers, mentors, and fellow students that leads to exponential growth. Jesus himself dedicated three years of his life to mentoring twelve young men.

The best discipleship happens in close relationship and community. Which leads me to my next point:

Discipleship Is Meant To Be Relational, Not Just Influential

It is one thing to be an influencer who impacts the lives of countless people. It is another thing to be a mentor who walks through thick and thin with someone.

I believe that Jesus always meant discipleship to be personal and relational, not distant and disconnected. Again, this is what he did with the twelve. We also see this pattern throughout the Bible:

Moses did life with Joshua, who eventually was chosen by God to lead Israel after Moses’s death.
Barnabas did life with Saul, until Saul was transformed into Paul. Barnabas also did life with Mark until Mark became a confident leader.
Paul, in turn, did life with Timothy, Luke, Aquila and Priscilla, and many others.

And remember that discipleship ebbs and flows. Mark started out with Paul, then went on to do ministry with Barnabas, and finally returned to work with Paul. Discipleship is flexible and grows with you.

There is a world of influencers who want to be admired, but there are few disciplers who want to go to the trenches with others. The Kingdom is built upon discipleship, not distant influencer personalities. Disciplers will, ultimately, influence the world beyond the grave. Influencers will only do so while trends last.

Effective Discipleship Considers Capacity

Another important thing to note is that effective discipleship is directly related to personal capacity. I mentioned that discipleship is personal and relational. This means that its effectiveness is proportional to each individual’s capacity to disciple.

We wonder why churches aren’t being more effective discipling nations yet expect the pastor to do all the work. Herein lies the problem. A pastor’s capacity is limited.

Every believer has a certain capacity. Jesus discipled twelve men at once, Paul did a couple at a time. Some Christians have a larger capacity than others, and that is ok. In fact, it is fully biblical. And yet, we set unrealistic expectations of our leaders and expect them to be the one-on-one mentors of every member of our church.

Rather than expect our leaders to disciple 50+ people, let us determine our own capacity and decide to disciple others. If each church member discipled one or two other believers, churches would be healthier and stronger.

How Can You Disciple People?

This all leads to the question: how do I disciple someone? This seems daunting, so let’s rephrase that. How can we do life with people?

Start where you are
Identify a person already in your life
Pray for this person
Have a weekly check-in with a short message or voice memo
Read a book together, and discuss it over text or coffee
Serve together in your local church
Start a Bible reading plan together
Watch a sermon/conference and then debrief or talk about it
Share a meal
Set up a special brunch to talk about Jesus and ask questions

Discipleship is practical. It’s doable. In fact, it is the way of the Kingdom. It is also way more creative than we make it out to be. We have so many tools at our disposal to connect!

Just remember a few key things:

Be creative – Discipleship looks like you!
Be flexible – Everyone has different schedules and life seasons.
Be wise – If you’re a woman, disciple a woman. If you’re a man, disciple a man. Not because women can’t teach men or men can’t teach women, but as a safety measure to set healthy emotional and spiritual boundaries. Your testimony matters.

My prayer for you is that this article would encourage you to take a look at your life and identify the people that you can teach until they surpass you.

Thanks for reading!
Anna

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

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