Making Disciples
Jesus told His disciplesMatthew 28:18 NKJV
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
He gave his disciples this one focus. They were to make disciples.
Occasionally, we ought to evalute our progress.
Who are you in the process of "making"?
Often we get quite busy "doing ministry" and we forget the prime objective, the production of disciples.
I would be interested in hearing any observations on the process.
Posted On Nov 19, 2005 at 0:00 AM
On Nov 19, 2005 Brian wrote: Hi Trent
Just one immediate observation (I'm sure I could come up with more if I tried!). I'm continually struck by how the church tends to focus on making believers, which I see as somewhat different from making disciples. Although one can't be a disciple without first being a believer, the church tends to stop at the believer part, and not worry about making them disciples.
There is a book called Disciple by Juan Carlos Ortiz, where he says (paraphrasing here) that God showed him that he (Juan) thought the church was growing because they now had 600 members, instead of 200. God showed him they weren't growing - they were just getting fat. Having 600 babies in a church is not a healthy situation.
We tend to work on getting people saved, and then not worry about what happens after that - we drop them and go after the next person. If we spent the time to make disciples, we would see much more true growth in the church.
Just my 2 cents worth!
Brian.
Trent Replied: I am in agreement. What do you think the process of Disciple-making should look like?
On Nov 20, 2005 Doug wrote: For Brian: Philip mentioned Juan Carlos in his message Sunday morning.
The process of making a disciple is a lengthy and time consuming one, as it encompasses not just Matthew 28:19, but also Matthew 28:20: teaching them to observe all that I commanded you
That's a process that Jesus took three long (and I'm sure agonizing and frustrating) years completing.
And it didn't just happen through direct teaching, but through observation and example. Jesus stoops down and washes their feet, and then says, in essence, "This is what a disciple does."
I think making disciples forces us to completely change our perspective about what is important. Years ago I led a teen puppet team. My biggest regret about the time I spent doing that was that I was focused on the wrong thing; I was more concerned about having a finished product to share at churches than I was with the lives of the teens who were under my care. To accomplish less with the puppets, and more with the teens, would be a far better goal.
Trent...do you remember my "quilting" example I told you when we were at NBBI a couple years back? (I think I need to post that sometime). The process of making a disciple is a process which seems tedious and slow at first, but it is the only way. You refered to it as the "challenge of multiplication", and I think that's very appropriate, because when "discipleship" is treated the way Brian described it, it becomes an "addition" process (and I'm sure you can guess what the mathematicians would say about that!
).Trent Replied: I remember the quilt example vividly. You need to post it. Thanks for the reminder.
On Nov 20, 2005 Doug wrote: A few days ago a friend posted this Longfellow poem on her blog...
I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
And perhaps this is a bit of a stretch, but in a way discipleship is like breathing a song into the air, and discovering it again in the heart of a friend.
Trent Replied: Great picture. It works that way a lot I think. Those whom we have opportunity to disciple, often return the blessing a hundredfold.
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