Jesus Christ As The Center Of Discipleship

Discipleship is about engaging in the Word, following and obeying Jesus and going out to make disciples. An essential element in being a disciple is to be open to learning, to be teachable. It is a mindset to be continuously adopted and cultivated. For us to disciple others, we must be a better disciple ourselves. When making disciples, we are instructing others to be willing to be a discoverer. It applies to both spiritual growth as well as personal development, openness to new techniques, ideas and methods in all aspects of life. Our spiritual learning comes from delving into His

grown strong in the Lord. These are reliable disciples who are qualified to teach others.14 2

Today, as I attend school with the major heading as “Missions,” I hear a lot of talk about different methods in creating disciples. However, “Paul’s modus operandi for training was time on task” (pp. 59). In other words, disciples were made through time spent rather than strictly content. It sounds like relationship was a key aspect. Paul also focused on transferring these converts into true believers. It seems a lot in churches today, individuals are more focused on content rather than time. Therefore, they spend more time in the church “learning” than spending time with those that need “discipled.” With that, people in the church tend to “convert” others or brag about increased attendance, but have no plan to turn these individuals into true believers.

So discipleship can be summed up; to follow, to learn, to preach, to believe, to serve. All factors are

Some, like Moses and Oscar Romero, can define Christian discipleship as the call from God to preach holiness to each and everyone of His disciples of every condition. Others like Jesus saw discipleship as a duty to serve God because that was their purpose and grace. However, it is evident to everyone, that all who are faithful to Christ are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity. In the life of Thomas Merton, the battle of True Self versus False Self was always eating away at him. He one day decided to find freedom and harmony within himself and he found this when he visited the Church of Corpus Christi.

It is not our goal to “trade” members neither with other churches nor to increase our membership by reaching disgruntled members of other churches. Our vision is to reach young people who may not have a “church” background, teach and train them, equip them, and qualify them to go out and win souls. We believe that by doing this, we will build a strong army who can take our community, state, and the world for Christ. We want to reach young people ages 10-18 in our community. According to Warren, “If you want to build a healthy, strong, and growing church you must spend time laying a solid foundation.”

Nearly two decades later, I started to put the pieces of the puzzle together. It would start with a simple but powerful statement, “We are called to make disciples, not members.” That statement would lead me to reflect on and seek out a better understanding of what it meant to be a disciple. That, in turn, led me to study and reflect on the concept of servanthood. I realized that developing a more personal and authentic relationship with Christ required more than just attending worship, working in the church and simply believing in Him. I realized that living a Christ-like life required a different way of thinking, a different way of living.

Follow Me In the book Follow Me, David Platt explains what it means to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19) is an appeal to the reader to die to self and live to God. Platt shows several key factors on how this is portrayed in the life of a believer.

According to Early & Dempsey, “a disciple is a person, while discipleship is a process. A disciple is a passionate follower of Jesus Christ who is intimately involved in the mission of Christ. On the other hand, discipleship is the process of moving the disciple towards spiritual maturity and the mission of Christ. Being a disciple is God’s perfect will for every individual life; however, discipleship is God’s will for every individual church” [1]

While the goal of Christian education and discipleship is spiritual formation of the new believer into a true disciple who makes other true disciples, this concept has been watered down in the American church today by emphasis on programs instead of progressive spiritual growth in every member’s life. There are many

Disciple Making Is...: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence. In a

Each of the four Gospels contains points in ecclesiology. In the Great Commission, Jesus’ last instruction to the Apostles is to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing and teaching people (Matthew 28:19-20). For Jesus’ mission to continue and for his Church to grow, discipleship is necessary. Discipleship is a prominent theme in all four Gospels, for purposes of this essay, only the Gospels of John and Luke-Acts will be analyzed. The similarities regarding discipleship in these Gospels include images of the net and fishing, and the sheep/shepherd/sheepfold. The differences include the preparing of the Twelve to carry on Jesus' ministry in Luke, and service to the community and passing of authority in John's Gospel.

Christ is the central person in Christian discipleship. Without Christ, Christianity would not exist and there would be no followers of Christ. To be true followers of Christ, believers must be willing to learn of the ways and teachings of Christ. Christ is central to Christian discipleship because He is the teacher of His disciples. Through the Holy Spirit and Word of God, Jesus Christ calls His disciples to Him and then

Now that the steps of discipleship have been explained, here are some characteristics that should be evident in the life of someone who has been discipled. Let’s call him “disciple Dave.” Dave is someone who is Gospel focused. Dave loves the Lord more than he loves himself, and he understands the core truths of the gospel and can explain these truths to others. He does not necessarily know all the finer points of theology, but he understands the gospel in a ways that impacts his life. Dave is a good steward of his time, and he uses it wisely by involving himself in his community. Dave’s friendships with Christians are intentional, and he works to bring them closer to Christ. His relationships with non-Christians are intentional, and he models

This five-step process begins by creating a definition for what it is we are addressing as disciples. It’s important to ask the question “what is…” because it helps us distinguish from other topics that are closely related. For example, if we are talking about what discipline is, we would want to distinguish if we are speaking about the punishment of a child, the act of training in a habitual manner, or a branch of knowledge. Our world is a very complicated, intricate, and interwoven place. Though people often want things to be straightforward, they’re not always that simple. It’s important to define exactly what we’re talking about in order to understand the topic as clearly as possible.