Everywhere I go these days I’m coming across ministries, missions and individuals who are emphasising DISCIPLESHIP.  This is encouraging since it has been very much misunderstood, neglected and replaced by many other things in church life over the years.

After His resurrection at a meeting with his apostles in Galilee, Jesus gave them what has been described as the Great Commission: “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, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20).

The mandate that Jesus gave to the apostles and the Church was to work at multiplying disciples of HIMSELF all over the world until the end of time.  These true disciples would OBEY His teachings, follow Him through their lives and work to help others to become disciples of Jesus too.

I have written about this already on a number of occasions but there is a problem. The problem is HOW DO WE MAKE DISCIPLES? I ask my students this question in their first year and usually there is silence. This silence speaks volumes because it tells me that this has not been a priority of the churches they have come from, because if it was they would know!  I look around at churches of all denominations that I know and I can’t see them doing it.  Yes there are some churches that have a “Discipleship Course” that runs for new believers – but is putting people through a six week course the way to truly make disciples?

I teach Church History and it is clear that in the first century of the Church making disciples of Jesus was the focus. In the second and third centuries it was still happening to some extent. Believers were mostly still meeting in homes and this made personal supervision and follow-up easily accessible.... but also during this time everything was slowly changing.

Large buildings were being built in some places for Christian worship, leadership models were changing and discipling become more formal with new believers going through catechism classes before baptism.  When the Emperor Constantine became a ‘believer’ things fast developed even further. He released money for the building of vast Roman-style basilicas for Christians to meet in and this changed the dynamics of worship, fellowship, teaching and discipleship from then on.  We are still living with the effects of it to this day, even in modern Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic styles of church practice around the world.

After Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under Theodosius I (381) the Church had many in its congregations (including priests and bishops in the end) who were not even born again.  A new ROMAN model of the church was franchised and imposed across the Empire and it was Catholic (universal) – universally applied.  People were no longer baptised into CHRIST - they were baptised into the CHURCH.  Making disciples of Jesus had started to die out and the Reformation did not restore it automatically either.  Some groups like the Anabaptists and the Pietists did try to get back to the New Testament model of church but they were resisted and even persecuted by both Roman Catholic and Protestant church leaders.

That is history, and although many churches that preach the gospel have tried in various ways and with varying degrees of success to follow up new believers and integrate them into their programmes, many do not have any concept of how to make disciples.  So we come back to the question – HOW DO WE MAKE DISCIPLES?

1.  Making disciples is the ONLY MISSION OF THE CHURCH.  It is as simple as that.  The mission has not changed and it never will.  It will only come to an end when we come to the end of time.

2.  EVERY MEMBER of a local church is part of the mission.  The whole church should be included and involved.  EVERY MEMBER should be envisioned and mobilised in making disciples, not just some members, and not just those who feel like doing it.  Not just leaders and not just specialists.  EVERY disciple should be a discipler.  If this had been happening for the last 2000 years Church history would be very different.

3.  The PROGRAMME of EVERY CHURCH should be geared towards MAKING DISCIPLES. There is NO OTHER PROGRAMME and if a church’s programme does not help towards making disciples there is something wrong with the programme. The fact is that many church programmes actually get in the way of making disciples because they take up time, energy and resources which should be spent on making disciples.

4.  EVERY LOCAL CHURCH should ask themselves “How do we make disciples in the context of OUR city/town/village?”  The way they effectively make disciples of JESUS in Singapore will be slightly different to the way they do it in Sweden, or the way they do it in a village of Africa will be different to the way they do it in a village in France or Spain or Poland.  Jesus has promised to be with us in making disciples and as we make this the priority of our existence and wait upon Him in prayer, He will show us how to be successful in our own context.

5.  THE VISION or MISSION STATEMENT of every local church/group of believers should be about how they are going to fulfil the Great Commission in their local context.  The leaders of the church should keep this constantly before the people, lead by example and mobilise EVERYONE in the church to be involved.

6.  IT TAKES TIME to make disciples.  Jesus spent 3 years to show the 12 how to be followers of Himself.  Is it going to take us less time than it took Him?  Why do we think that we can fulfil the Great Commission by putting new believers through a six week discipleship course and then think that it’s all done?  It’s a long term project.  The mission is not going to change - but the methods of fulfilling it need to be constantly reviewed and updated.

7.  IN PRACTICAL TERMS how do we make disciples of Jesus?

a. The first step to becoming a disciple is to believe the gospel message of Jesus. Therefore the gospel has to be shared/preached - by all means and methods.

b. Individually every member of the church is encouraged to share the good news of Jesus with those they have natural contact with.  They should look for, and pray for, opportunities to naturally share what Jesus has done for them personally.  Many people do not feel confident to do this, so this is something that can be worked on and developed within the church/group.

c. Groups of believers can work together to share the gospel so that by all means some might be saved.  A large church could have many groups doing things to reach out to the community, from showing the love of Jesus to the homeless in their city, to inviting nonbelieving friends in their town to an evening meal, or putting on a Christmas show in their village.  The possibilities are endless.

d. When someone responds to the gospel, the person who has led them to Christ continues (long term) to spend time with that person in natural ways such as going out for coffee once a week, doing a regular sports activity together - whatever fits that person’s schedule and interests best. During this regular time they will share what's going on and apply God's word to their lives. The ‘discipler’ will involve and welcome other members of the church in helping to disciple them too as appropriate.

e. The new disciple will eventually, and in some cases quite quickly, be making disciples too, and for this they need the help and support and involvement of the whole church - but that’s not a problem because they are all geared up to doing that… it’s their priority, their mission… to make disciples of Jesus!

Finally let’s put even more flesh on this:

Jim works in an office (it could be a shop or a factory or a building site).  It’s not easy to be a Christian where everyone else is quite godless.  They tell dirty jokes and every other word is a swear word… but Jim does not join in with that.  At the same time however, Jim is friendly and fun to be around.  He has also learnt some clean jokes that he can share when needed!

Jim prays every day for the people in his office, especially for his supervisor and for the company as a whole.  He works hard, gets his job done to a high standard and is ready to step in and help anyone who asks him.

There are times when being a Christian in that context is very hard, but Jim has his Christian friends and knows that he can share the burden with them and they will pray for him – as he will also do the same for them.

People at work soon get to know that Jim is a Christian and although some of them occasionally make some stupid comment, most of them respect him for his beliefs - so long as he does not try to impose his beliefs on them!

One day Alex, who works in the same office asks Jim if he can have a quiet word with him and ends up sharing a big problem situation that he is going through.  Jim promises Alex that he will not to tell anyone else about this and also that he will pray for him.  Over the next few weeks Jim prays and occasionally quietly asks Alex how things are going.  Alex comes through the situation and because of this, he wants to know more about Jim’s faith.

Jim tells Alex his story of how Jesus has changed his life and eventually Alex decides that he wants to let Jesus do the same for him.  Jim invites Alex to his home group who welcome him in a kind and friendly way. Here Alex will join in with the group as they study God's Word together and apply it to their lives. Alex can ask as many questions as he likes and  the group will contribute to the process of discipling him.

Making disciples of Jesus is not as complicated as we might think, but it does take time and effort and it is a challenge to us all to be good examples of what a disciple of Jesus is.  The apostle Paul said “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1Cor 11:1).

If we are not involved in being disciple makers of Jesus we are not fulfilling the Great Commission and we are missing the whole point of the Church’s Mission.  There needs to be a sea change in the Church’s thinking about this.  I am not advocating that churches now have a discipleship SCHEME.  It’s not a new project or an added extra to the programme.  As we have seen, making disciples of Jesus – IS the programme.

Things will not change overnight, but even if your church is not making this a priority, it can still happen at an individual level with each of us taking time to be available to help and encourage those around us to grow together in our relationship with Jesus.

Jesus said:

"If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed."

John 8:31