Discipleship
A lot of churches are talking about discipleship these days. What does it all mean? What is a disciple? Simply put, a disciple is a follower. There were followers of John (Matthew 9:14), of the Pharisees (Mark 2:18), of Moses (John 9:28), and of Christ (John 8:31), just to name a few. A disciple is also a learner. This means that he places himself under a teacher (Matthew 10:24-25). He is forever a student of his master.
There are true disciples and false disciples. John recorded these sad words, "As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore" (John 6:66). We observe that a true disciple will persevere to the end. We know that Judas, one of the twelve apostles, failed to endure (Matthew 27:3-5). True disciples long to read and study His Word, to pray, to witness, to serve... to obey the written Word!
At the close of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gave a short speech to His disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). We know this as the Great Commission, but it is repeated elsewhere (Mark 16:15-18; Acts 1:8).
The heart of the Great Commission is discipleship. As a matter of fact, there is only one command in those three verses: make disciples! Certainly, evangelism is needed in order to reach those who have not heard the Gospel. But evangelism is just the beginning, not the end, of the Great Commission. After conversion, the Church's role is to baptize and to teach the new convert.Since every believer is a disciple, every person should be able to tell others how to come to faith in Christ. This is the beginning of obedience to the Great Commission. Some are gifted in evangelism, others at teaching, still others are serving. But it takes a team effort, all the members doing their respective parts.
We should never be satisfied merely to see large numbers at church. Rather, it is spiritual growth, not necessarily numerical growth, that should be our focus. This was Paul's desire, "And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ." (Colossians 1:28).
Presently, the elders are presenting a model of discipleship to the deacons. It is our goal that the deacons can be trained how to be disciplemakers. Then they can turn around and pour their lives into others, and the process completes (2 Timothy 2:2). Some books that are extremely helpful on discipleship include the following:
- Boice, James Montgomery, Christ's Call to Discipleship
- Bruce, A.B., The Training of the Twelve
- Cosgrove, Francis M, Essentials of Discipleship
- Hull, Bill, The Disciple-Making Church
- Hull, Bill, The Disciple-Making Pastor
- Hull, Bill, Jesus Christ, Disciplemaker
- Pentecost, J. Dwight, Design for Discipleship
|
|