Discipleship 101

What is Discipleship?

A disciple is a follower of Jesus who is actively learning to do what He does, to love what He loves, and to hate what He hates.

Journey of Becoming More Like Christ

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)

Discipleship is about helping somebody die to their old life so they can step into their new life in Jesus.

Process of Replacing Yourself

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father." (John 14:12 NLT)

You can’t lead forever. Jesus discipled twelve guys to take over the ministry after He left. Discipleship ensures that the ministry doesn’t end with you.

Partnership With the Holy Spirit

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7 ESV)

We cannot change people; only God can. Be diligent and prayerful, but let God do the work.

Not a Program

Discipleship is not a program. There is no curriculum. We cannot teach somebody how to follow Jesus. We must show them. Discipleship is “caught, not taught.” Discipleship requires a genuine, growing relationship with Jesus and our disciples. To make a disciple, you must first be a disciple.

Jesus said, “Come and see” (John 1:39 NLT).

Who Should I Disciple?

How can we identify potential leaders in our Life Group and people whom we should disciple?

Disciple the FAT

Faithful: A person who is full of faith, reliable, trustworthy, and obedient.

Available: A person who is willing to make LG a priority.

Teachable: A person who is humble and desires to learn and grow.

Knowledge vs. Obedience

Knowledge-Based Discipleship

Result: Information transfer. A lot of people know a lot about God, but it doesn’t impact their lives. They are hearers, not doers.

Obedience-Based Discipleship

Result: Obedience. People learn how to apply the Word of God to their lives and how to share it with others. Everybody is a witness, no matter how much or little they know.

Obedience-based discipleship is about pointing people to the Word of God and challenging them to obey it. When people hear, obey, and share the Word, they become the Word to a lost world.

How To Encourage Obedience

Simplify

There are two common problems hindering action. We either move too quickly from one topic to the next, so we don’t have time to practice it. Or, we spend so much time talking about something but never actually do anything with it. In both cases, it’s purely intellectual.

When leading a Bible study, once you’ve covered the main point of the passage and you sense discussion is no longer productive, it’s okay to stop and move to application and prayer.

TIP: Don’t study confusing or controversial passages. Study passages that are easy to understand but hard to live out (i.e., love your neighbor/enemy).

The goal is not a long discussion. The goal is application; obedience.

“I Will” Statements

Challenge everyone to end with an “I will…” statement: “I will do…” or “I will tell…”. This challenges people to apply what they learned and to share it with others.

Tips For Meeting People Privately for Discipleship

Ask questions. Get to know them deeper, and share more about yourself. Share testimonies.

Come with a plan, but be flexible. Bring a resource with you to each meeting (see The Discipleship Arena). Read and discuss it together, but don’t feel like you have to get through it if something else is more relevant or urgent.

Find out their goals and what they want to learn more about. What do they want to grow in? Focus on those things first.

Teach them how to read the Bible and pray by doing it together. Read through a book of the Bible together. For suggestions, ask the staff or a mentor. Or read something together that you recently read in your devotional time.