Up until 30 years or so ago, the term disciple was not a common word among American church-goers. They referred to themselves as Christians, or maybe believers and Christ followers, but were rarely called disciples. However, in the last 5-10 years, it has become a buzz word among church leaders, authors, and in social media.
Not everyone is comfortable referring to themselves as a disciple – some believe that is a term reserved for those 12 followers of Jesus in the New Testament. Or maybe they use it to refer to the church leaders, those they believe are “qualified” to teach the gospel to unbelievers.
It seems that there are many different thoughts on the definition of the word, and the purpose of a disciple. At Real Life Ministries we believe the definition is in the invitation that Jesus gave to his first followers. In Matthew 4:19 Jesus says “Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
According to that verse, a disciple is someone who is:
- Following Jesus (Come and follow)
- Being changed by Jesus (I will make you)
- On mission with Jesus (Fishers of men)
So using this as a baseline for defining a disciple, we came to believe that making disciples who go on to make disciples is the core mission of the church. Some might question the need for disciples who make other disciples because we now have the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Aren’t they enough to make disciples?
It is important to remember that Jesus knew we would have both of these things, yet He still told His disciples to go and to teach others to obey. (Matthew 28:18-20) Jesus knew that it would take mature disciples to delver the message. Disciples are made when the Spirit of God, the Word of God, and the people of God work together.
Disciples are made when the Spirit of God, the Word of God, and the people of God work together. #discipleship Share on XRomans 10:14 asks the question: ‘How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
The Church was not designed to be a group of spectators who attend weekly lectures: it was designed to be a trained army with a powerful message. All believers are the messengers who bring the message to others and then continue the process of discipling those who believe – in doing this, we complete the same work Jesus prayed about in John 17:4 where he said “I have brought you glory by completing the work you gave me to do.” He prayed this prayer before he went to the cross and was crucified for our sins – so what work was he referring to? The work of making disciples.
And we complete our work when our disciples can do his or her part to win and train new disciples who are then able to do the same with others. In this way, the process of making disciples continues until Jesus returns. His command to the church remains the same generation after generation.
To read more on this topic, go to The Real Life Discipleship Manual
You may also be interested in the following posts:
The Process Of Disciple Making – The Discipleship Wheel
The Three Distinctive Roles In The Discipleship Process
Here Are 6 Things Jesus Did To Equip His Disciples For Ministry
