A couple of weeks ago, I had my first discipleship meeting with a couple of members of the Youth. It went really well; we spent some time talking about what we wanted to study in this discipleship group, picked a book that would help with that, and then spent some time looking into a passage of Scripture. I left it feeling good about where this was headed.
I also left wishing I had started this much sooner, especially as one of them will be going away to college in about a year.
The Command We All Know
You would be hard pressed to find a member of The Way Fellowship Church who does not know about the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). It is even part of our motto: To love, follow and share Jesus, so that others may come to love, follow, and share Jesus. Intellectually, there is no denying that making disciples should be ingrained into the very nature of who we are as a church.
So why are we not doing it? Why did it take so long for me as a ministry leader to start discipling people outside of the normal gathering times?
I think when many of us look at this command, we can be overwhelmed by it. As is often the case when we are overwhelmed by something, we start to come up with excuses as to why this does not apply to us. Here are some of the ones I have heard and even used myself, along with some answers to them:
- Discipleship is for the pastors and leaders: We often think that you have to have had some form of formal training to disciple others. We think that since our pastors and leaders have had this training, the role falls on them. While it is true that we as leaders must be able to disciple, it is not something that is limited to us. Paul in Ephesians 4:11-13 puts it this way: “And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.” Yes, only a select few will be pastors, teachers, and leaders, but the work of the ministry is for all who are a part of the church, as is the Commission itself.
- I don’t know how: No one is asking you to be an expert right out of the box. The important thing is to recognize there are those who may need guidance in their faith and to partner with them. As you start teaching them, you will find your own faith grows exponentially, as you have to know more than you teach. You can even find ways to practice in safe spaces where people can support you, like leading a discussion in a community group. We have been having different people within the McAllister group lead the discussion on each chapter of Gentle and Lowly, and it has been great seeing people who would not normally step into a situation like this grow through that experience.
- I have never been discipled, so I have no frame of reference: Someone, at some time, shared Jesus with you, or you would not be a part of this church. On top of that, if you attend on Sunday mornings and are part of one of the community groups or been part of a Bible study, you have been discipled. We often do not recognize those who discipled us, because at the time they did not specifically call what they were doing discipling. But if it was helping you to grow in your faith, that is what it was.
- I don’t have the time: This was my excuse for a while. It wasn’t that I had no free time to disciple; it was that I had to add an extra hour at least to whatever time I was going to set aside for it due to the distance I live from the church. In the end, though, I had to realize that I make time for the important things in my life, and if I was not making time to disciple others, then it was not important to me. And honestly, I found I did not want to be telling Jesus that one of most important commandments He gave us just did not matter to me. Right now, I can only devote about an hour or so one Saturday a month to discipling, but that is one hour a month more than the two I am discipling were getting before that. Every little bit counts.
- I have never been trained: There are many resources available on discipling, including some books on our recommended reading list on the website. Several of those books would be great for discipling, and some even come with study guides that can be purchased to help when you don’t know what questions to ask while studying. You can also just read the Bible itself and teach what you read there. Along with those, any of us in leadership would be more than willing to sit down with you and help you figure out how to disciple others in a way that will work for you. Please do not hesitate to ask.
I think one of the reasons we as Christians are so hesitant to disciple others is we think it is a lot more complicated than it really is. Even just meeting with someone for coffee and sharing what the Lord has done for you can count as discipling. Yes, it would be great if you could spend part of that time digging into the Word or going through a good Christian book, but if that feels like too much for now, start with just the coffee. Set an intentional time to meet with someone or a small group of two or three and share what God is doing in your life and revealing to you through Scripture. You could even just take notes on the sermon Sunday and meet to discuss them and what you learned from hearing God’s Word preached.
Discipling does not need to be some long, complicated process. It just takes the commitment to set aside time to pour into the life of someone else. If you are not currently in a discipleship relationship with someone, I would challenge you to find someone with whom you can meet on a regular basis with the purpose of building each other up in the faith. I promise you that you will not regret it.