Begin with the End in Mind - Discipleship Pathway Part 4
Discipleship Pathway is a 6-part blog series that walks through the entire discipleship process; from someone who is far from God (the skeptic, the curious, the cynic) to someone who is close to God (the convinced, the sold-out, the on fire). We’ll be looking at each of the steps of a discipleship pathway.
Discipleship Pathway Part 4
Begin with the End in Mind
We all get the job description for Christians – “Go and Make Disciples” (Matthew 28:19). But the question I often get asked is, “How do you make disciples?” This is a great question and one that the church in North America hasn’t answered very well. We’ve made attenders and singers and listeners, but I wonder about our ability to make disciples.
In your church, you are called to help people become, grow, and live out as everyday Christ-followers. That’s what you want to see. Not just how many people showed up for church. It’s about helping men, women, youth, and children discover and live out their God-given destiny; having a front-row seat to their discovery of what it means to have a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, let’s talk about actually making disciples. How do you do it?
Well, the first thing is, to begin with the end in mind. You need to start by asking this question, “what does a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ look like?” And drill down until you can define it.
A fully devoted follower of Jesus is going to require you to look at the whole person and determine what actions and attitudes you should be seeing and be developing in that individuals’ life. We know that we never arrive, we are always on a journey to become more like Jesus. But what does that look like in your context?
Is it a suit-wearing, King James Bible-carrying, pearly white smiling, firm handshake gripping person that comes to every church event and sits in the front? Is that good enough? For many, the two-dimensional disciple ticks most of our boxes: √ shows up, √ looks good. But that can’t be what a fully devoted follower of Jesus looks like!
Let’s Talk Spiritual Disciplines.
What actions do you want to see? Prayer. Reading the Bible. Fasting. Listening to the voice of God. Good. Now, what attitudes do you want that person to have towards each action? We don’t just want them to read the Bible, we want them to read the Bible like a mirror; reflecting back to them what it’s saying and what they should do about it. Now we’re getting somewhere! A clear picture of the actions and attitudes will help men and women develop and deepen their spiritual disciplines. Paul didn’t just say in 2 Corinthians 9:7 to “give” (an action), he said “give cheerfully” (an attitude).
Let’s Talk Relationships.
This is another aspect of following Christ. We don’t do it alone. What type of life-giving relationships should a follower of Jesus have? Are you looking for surface level; I come, I eat, I leave? OR are you looking for vulnerability, authenticity and genuineness? News flash. That ain’t normal. People are going to have to be led (discipled) into this. They are going to need to test out the waters before they let their guard down. They are going to need to be called on their stuff when they put up walls. If you don’t have a clear definition of this, it will be hard to hold them to it.
Let’s Talk Serving.
This is another area of discipleship that needs to be defined. What does it mean to serve? What are your gifts? What is the purpose that God made you for? God has made every single person unique to do a job that only they can do. Discovering your “serve” is more than volunteering to clean up the pans after the potluck, it’s about discovering who you are and what God has made you to do. This is a lifelong discovery that doesn’t end until you and I leave this earth. Christ-followers must be continually pressed upon to seek out their next step in service to God. Discipleship isn’t about using people to do tasks; it’s about using tasks to develop people. If you can clearly define how a fully devoted follower of Christ serves his master, you will be able to call men and women to discover and live out their destiny.
Let’s Talk Evangelism.
Most discipleship initiatives stop before they get here. We think discipleship is learning about God. But the main outcome of following Jesus is to lead more people to do the same. Jesus, Himself said that “if you follow Me, I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). This means that we must talk and tell about all the things that God is doing in our lives wherever we find ourselves. But do we know how to have spiritual conversations with non-believers? Do we think that evangelism is sales? Or do we know how to partner with the Holy Spirit on a conversation He is already having with someone? Evangelism in this era isn’t about scaring someone out of hell, it is helping people become aware there is more to life than this and pointing them to the real Jesus void of all the trimmings of cultural Christianity.
If you want to make disciples, you need to think through “what does a fully devoted follower look like” in the areas of Spiritual Disciplines, Relationships, Serving and Evangelism. What actions and attitudes should we be seeing and developing in each of these areas? How can we identify the end goal and then close the gaps that we see? When we begin with the end in mind, we’ll achieve the goal of making disciples who make disciples.
Jeremiah works as an Effectiveness Coach with the ABNWT District of the PAOC. He is a passionate and creative leader who believes that the church is the hope of the world. He uses collaboration, innovation, and inspiration to challenge churches and their leadership to engage in the only mission Jesus ever sent his church on: making disciples.