3 Steps to Simple Discipleship
Discipleship remains my greatest passion to date. Everything I’ve done in my career has been driven by discipleship. Whether it’s through ministering in my dorm room or IF:Gatherings, discipleship is at the core of everything I do.
I know it’s easy to think you’re not qualified to disciple anyone, but none of us are. I still get intimidated when my daughter asks me questions about God, and I went to seminary school.
So, discipleship is not about how much you know; it’s about how much you love.
God built an incredible way to change the world, and we get to be part of that. Most, if not all of us, are aching to see the world shift. We often think bigger, but the beauty of it all is that God had a different plan. This was His means to do it.
#1 Follow the path Jesus paved for us.
God’s plan was that the world would change through relationships. Most of us love Jesus, not because of a book, sermon, blog, or an event, but because of a person. One or more people could have looked in your eyes and listened to your story. Maybe they told you their story, and they told you about Jesus.
We often think we have to go big when we share Jesus, but that’s not what He shows us in scripture. Jesus spent a few years in ministry on this earth, and He just hung out with a bunch of guys for three years. Jesus ministered to His disciples, eating together, and teaching them how to love people. It was a seemingly small, simple step. But this is what’s supposed to shape the way we do life and ministry.
We have a very important mission in the midst of this complicated world, and Jesus lays it out so simply in Matthew 28. He tells His disciples to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything” Jesus had commanded them.
Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He left the mission of the kingdom of God in the hands of a few people. This was God's incredibly brilliant big plan. A few men with whom Jesus had spent three years would tell other people about Him so that those people could be with Him. We see people follow this Great Commission throughout the Gospels, and it was so simple.
#2 Give Jesus away
I love Jesus, my kids are learning to follow Jesus, and I lead IF:Gathering because of one woman – Michelle Bose. I met her during freshman in college when I didn't know how to live out my faith. In fact, I didn't even know for sure that I wanted to. And yet, Michelle pursued me and didn’t let me go.
I would go to her house week after week, and she would make me cookies. Every once in a while, we’d go get Sonic together. And those Sonic runs and chocolate chip cookies changed my life.
We seem to have forgotten the power of these simple acts, but the beauty and magic of discipleship is that it's really that simple. Almost everybody you know is dying to be seen. They want to know that someone cares about them. They want you to sit with them and hear their story.
Now, you don’t need to bake cookies for someone. You can simply invite them to run errands together. We change the world by making people feel known, loved, and seen. And as we go, we point them to Jesus.
The hope that Michelle gave me wasn't in herself. As a college freshman, I kind of wanted her to be cooler and do something more fantastical with God. But we just sat there on our living room floor, and she opened her Bible. Michelle opened a passage she was learning from, and we would read it together. I thought it was a bit boring at the time. But in reality, it taught me to just be with God.
You can invite the person to a coffee date. Ask questions and get to know the person. Then, you can open your Bible and teach them to be with Jesus. Teach them to know His Word. Even if you think you don't know the bible well enough to teach someone else, you can learn together.
There’s so much power in just reading and discussing the Word of God. That will change lives. So, be with Jesus, know His Word, and then give God away. In so doing, you’ll teach the person you’re discipling to do the simple, beautiful thing you've been doing with them. You'll teach them to give away Jesus.
We often complicate what it looks like to change our world, but Jesus made His mission really clear for His disciples when he was ascending to heaven. It was clear that we were to go and show people what it looks like to follow Jesus.
It’s up to us to show others what it looks like to follow Jesus. We get to show the people we disciple how to love, give, and be like Him. Then, they’ll go and give that away, just as the Apostles did. We know what it looks like to follow Jesus because we've had that done for us.
We know what it looks like to follow Jesus because we can read the gospels and see what His life was like. We get to give that away to other people, and at a minimum, we get to figure it out together.
#3 Understand the values of discipleship.
There're different tools and resources that show how we should view discipleship. And honestly, it can be so simple. We want to teach the people we're discipling to be with Christ. We want them to know who they are in Christ and what Christ has given them. We want them to know their identity, their worth, and what it means to sit with Christ. We want them to open their Bibles and spend time with Jesus.
Then, we want to teach others to know His truth. This simply involves helping the person you’re mentoring or discipling understand the Bible, equipping them with the ability to open that Bible and understand it in a simple way.
Our ultimate goal is to give away God. You don't have to be a seminary graduate or understand the bible perfectly to be able to give away God. In fact, you should be talking to whoever you're mentoring or discipling about giving Jesus away pretty quickly.
New believers are the greatest evangelists on the earth. People who’ve recently known Jesus often want to immediately tell everyone about Him, and that is a wonderful trait. We tend to wait too long and think we have to be more qualified to do this. But that’s not true. Do this all the time. This will encourage those you're mentoring or discipling to do the same.
Questions to ask ourselves as we disciple others:
· How do we help others enjoy Christ’s presence?
· How do we help them know His word, understand what He wants for our lives, and know how to deal with difficulties that everybody faces constantly?
· How do we give away God?
This is how we spread the Word of God and give Jesus away. You can do this. You do not need anything more than what you have. You've got a Bible and prayer. Ask God who you should approach, and then pursue them. You may get a few “Nos,” and it doesn't matter. Someone will be so grateful that you reached out to them. Somebody is aching for this.
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