REACH DISCIPLE GATHER EMPOWER MULTIPLY
”The clergy-laity distinction removed personal discipleship from the hands of common Christians (Dennis McCallum).”
The greatest joy of the Christian life is being used by God to bring whole-life, spiritual transformation to another. We have removed much of this joy by not understanding that true “disciple-making” is about everyday life and everyday relationships—and that it is for everyone. By making it a program that is part of our churches or a process that people are specially trained to do, we are holding back Christians from stepping into their true destinies and their greatest sense of purpose. By presenting disciple-making as something we “do” to others, as opposed to something that God does (which we can invite people into), we become performance-oriented and manipulative rather than contagious as we naturally influence others toward their own relationship with God.
Disciple-making flows naturally out of the relationships we are building through reaching and loving people.
Some Basics to Consider
1. Disciple-making takes place in every relationship we are in. Because we live our lives in an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ and his purposes, every relationship we are in influences people. This happens with or without our awareness or intentionality. It happens whether or not they are Christians. It happens whether or not there is even any interest on their part. It just happens because of who we are. Therefore, disciple-making is taking place in all of the following relationships:
• The young man, a neighbor, who works at the local grocery store and with whom I exchanged some friendly comments the other day.
• The friend I am meeting with to read a book on prayer. He is interested in deepening his spiritual life although he is not particularly interested in Jesus or the Bible at this point.
• The not-yet Christian who keeps coming to a house church gathering and particularly enjoys the time spent reading and discussing Scripture.
• The Christian whom I have invited into an intentional mentoring relationship because he wants to grow in his relationship with God and in the use of his spiritual gifts and influence.
Disciple-making takes place naturally, all the time, out of spending time with people—eating, sharing, playing, or whatever we do. It is the outflow of reaching and loving those we are called to.
2. Disciple-making becomes intentional, at some point, because of our love for others. Because we, ourselves, are in pursuit of God and his purposes, our love for others will cause us to naturally invite them into a more intentional pursuit alongside of us. They will remain our friends regardless of how they respond. Nevertheless, this intentional invitation is an important way that we demonstrate our concern for others.
3. We can only work where God is working. It is not our job to cause someone else to have an interest in God. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. What we can do is recognize when God is at work in someone’s life and see the opportunity to love them by purposefully inviting them to join us in a deeper pursuit of God.
4. We do not have to be the expert or know everything to disciple others. When we more intentionally invite people to join us in our pursuit of God, we do not have to have the answers. We want people to become disciples/followers of Jesus, not of us. Therefore, we point them to the same tools that work for us: prayer (talking to God) and the word of God (which they can learn from even before believing fully in it). We model our use of these two tools and invite them to come alongside of us and learn about God, from God, and through God. Once we fully grasp and can trust in this process, we really do discover that natural disciple-making is easy and for everyone.
The following are some guidelines that will help in the process of discipling.
The Disciple-Making Process
1. Reach out in love. Disciple-making starts with the type of reaching out discussed in the last chapter. The moment we are in relationship with and loving others, we are influencing them by our life and lifestyle.
2. Pray. We pray for people we care about because we want God’s best for them. Other-centered prayer and intercession are as natural as breathing when we are intimate with God and connected to his passion and purposes. They are the catalysts for God’s transforming activity to be released into the lives of others.
Jesus’ authority (all authority in heaven and in earth) is given to us as we are willing to join him in his mission. We step into that authority by praying for those God has put into our lives and expecting that he will be working.
3. Invite. As mentioned, there comes a time in many of our relationships where we are seeing God at work in some way, and we feel compelled to invite them to join us in a more intentional pursuit of God. This can happen in many diverse ways. But the key is that we are willing to risk, at the right time, this critical step. It is a step of love. It is a step about caring for others. It is a step in which we know that we are going to continue to extend ourselves to them in love and friendship regardless of how they respond.
4. Let God’s word work. Since we are not discipling people to follow us, they can begin using God’s word to learn from and follow. My experience is that people do not have to fully accept the Bible as God’s word to begin learning from it and accepting its truth. Sometimes we think that people will be put off by the Bible. But this is not my experience. If we are not “preaching” texts at them, but inviting them to look and learn for themselves, I find that there is a general openness to discovering for themselves what the Bible might have for them.
The Bible, indeed, is far more powerful than we realize. It has the power to transform hearts and lives, all by itself, through the energizing of God’s Spirit. Often, we just need to invite people to encounter it and let God work.
Ultimately, our goal is to see people become self-feeders. We do not want them dependent on us or other teachers, but on God and his word. Therefore, we like to use self-discovery studies (inductive-type) where people are reading, discovering, and applying truths for themselves (see Appendix A).
5. Invite them to reach others immediately. It is possible for someone who is in the early stages of learning to follow Jesus to invite others to do the same with him or her. There is no reason to wait before helping someone see the benefits of reaching and loving others. It is even possible that some who are not yet “converted and baptized” can lead others in an inductive-type study of Scripture and toward a deeper pursuit of God.
Alan Hirsch calls this “action-learning discipleship.” He describes it this way:
As soon as they are called he [Jesus] takes the disciples on an adventurous journey of mission, ministry, and learning. Straightaway they are involved in proclaiming the kingdom of God, serving the poor, healing, and casting out demons. It is active and direct disciple making in the context of mission. And all great people movements are the same. Even the newest convert is engaged in mission from the start; even he or she can become a spiritual hero.
6. When it is time, baptize publicly. We have found that baptism is a great opportunity for people to invite their family and friends to hear their story and celebrate in what God has done. When we suggest this to new Christians, they simply accept it and do it. We throw a “baptism party,” celebrate with food, and are excited to have more un-Christians than Christians present.
7. Build a deeper relationship. Discipleship continues to be about relationship more than anything else. If the person is becoming more and more self-feeding, then our role is to simply support them as they learn to walk out their life as a Jesus-follower. By vulnerably opening our lives to this person, we create a relationship space where they can be honest with us about all that they are going through and feeling. This will allow us to be more caring and helpful as we walk alongside them.
8. Teach a little (if you must), but model and empower more. There can be a place for some teaching of basic Christian principles if you are oriented that way. It is not necessary. God’s word will accomplish this. But if you must teach some basics, that can be beneficial. However, it is important to keep in mind that our goal is to move them into a place of self-responsibility for their spiritual life. Therefore we want to move from teaching them, to modeling for them how to learn for themselves, to fully empowering them as disciple-makers of others as quickly as possible.
9. Keep reproduction in mind. Everything about our disciple-making process is designed to help others begin the reaching/discipling process themselves as soon as possible. This facilitates natural multiplication and the exponential growth of God’s kingdom as he intends.
Finally, participatory gatherings, the topic of the next chapter, provide an additional tool for the process of discipleship to continue and for all to become fully functioning members of Christ’s body.