Your Next Step Is Crucial In The Journey Of A Disciple Maker

The journey of making a disciple who makes disciples does not end with conversion—it starts there! Once we’ve shared Jesus with someone, and they’ve decided to follow Jesus, it is up to us to teach them what it means to follow Jesus. This harkens back to Matthew 28 where we’re commanded to baptize, and then to teach our infant disciple-makers to do everything Jesus told His disciples to do.

We have to be careful not to create a to-do and not-to-do list of commandments. That’s the trap that the Jews had fallen into during Jesus’ time. Accepting Jesus means we get to look away from the Old Testament reality of having to do everything perfectly to get into heaven (and dooming ourselves to hell when we sin), and we get to look to the reality that we cannot be and are not perfect all of the time, but that Jesus died for us. If we could make the right decisions every single time, there would not be a need for Jesus’ death.

So if a new believer’s next step isn’t being handed a rulebook to follow in order to be a Christian, what IS their next step? What if a new believer has no idea how to pray or how to read their Bible? Where will they learn? Who will teach them? That’s where relationship comes in. When Jesus called His disciples, He said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”[1]  The process of following and being changed by Jesus always begins after the decision to come.

Jesus spent a lot of one-on-one time with his disciples. When we make disciples like Jesus did, we invest “a great deal of time, energy, prayer, and commitment into the life of another person—not just sharing the Good News with them, but developing relationship where the person being discipled learns, grows, and draws closer to God.”[2]

But that’s not all that Jesus modeled. That’s not the whole picture! He had twelve disciples who lived their daily lives together, and they were also part of a larger group of people who followed Jesus.[3] In the early church, they “connected with each other in the temple courts and from house to house.”[4]

Small groups are modeled after both Jesus’ discipleship of the original twelve and after the early church. People in small groups live everyday life together, and they seek God and His Truth together. For a small group to be effective, its members have to be honest, open, and real with one another. If your church doesn’t have small group environments that you can connect your new believer into, make one! Gather your Christian friends with the purpose of building relationships that matter as you pursue Christ together.[5]

Especially here in North Idaho, there a lot of people say “it’s just me ‘n Jesus,” or “the woods are my church.” That’s the easy way out. Relationships are messy, but we’re designed for them. When the religious leaders asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, Jesus said there are two—to love God, and to love others—and that all of the laws and prophets hang on these two commandments.[6] Why would every law point to relationship? “Because [Jesus] knows exactly how He made us. I believe every command is for our good and His glory… God designed us with relationships in mind—we are literally hardwired for relationship.”[7]

So when your friend who’s just accepted Christ looks to you for what’s next, the answer is not a rulebook or list of commandments. It’s relationship: both one-on-one and in a group setting.

You may also be interested in:

 http://jimputman.com/2018/04/10/the-disciple-makers-journey-starts-with-this-step/

[1] Matthew 4:19

[2] “One on One Discipleship” All About GOD Ministries. Accessed May 09, 2018. https://www.allaboutfollowingjesus.org/one-on-one-discipleship-faq.htm

[3] Luke 10:1

[4] Putman, Jim. The Power of Together Workbook. Grand Rapids, MI: BakerBooks, 2017, 15.

[5] Disclaimer: real relationships can get broken and messy. See Galatians 5:13-26 and Matthew 18:15-17 for advice.

[6] Mark 12:28-34, 40

[7] Putman, Jim. The Power of Together. Grand Rapids, MI: BakerBooks, 2016, 30.