God’s will for your life is pretty straightforward: go and make disciples.
The church is in agreement with our primary mission. But there is confusion about the “how.” How do we make a disciple? Well, believe it or not, the answer is simple and straightforward. If God gave us a Great Commission, don’t you think He would give us a game plan to make it happen? Of course he would! And He did.He asked Jesus to model how to make a disciple. The authors of the Bible did an excellent job recording Jesus’ strategy. I would strongly recommend that you read all four of the gospels to get the complete training manual. It is an exciting read and will get you moving in the right direction in disciplining your 12. I’ve written an overview to give you a head start.
Principle #1: Making Disciples is 100% relational.
Relationships, relationships, relationships. I can’t say it enough. This is the essence of making mature, fruitful followers of Christ. You can educate folks in a weekly Bible study, but you can only make a mature disciple through an intimate Christ-centered relationship.
Jesus made an obvious choice when he said ‘yes’ to starting the largest and most powerful movement the world has ever seen. He said ‘yes’ to relational disciple-making and ‘no’ to non-relational ministry. To put it another way, he rejected the 9-5 seminary professor job in order to live with twelve uneducated, clueless rascals. He chose relationships instead of leading a ministry.
Why does the church struggle with the Jesus model? Much of the discipleship efforts today are event-focused (weekly meetings and services) and information-based (lectures and discussions). These methods produce fruit, but only a small amount. We are wired to produce much fruit. Why is it so tempting to lean toward the non-relational models of ministry? Why do we prefer little fruit?
I think it boils down to the monster that is common to us all: selfishness. Committing to a weekly men’s accountability group or a Bible study is much easier than committing your life to a man. Being faithful to a slot on our Google calendar for 90 minutes per week is less painful than daily loving and persevering with a man who is struggling with pornography and alcohol. In order to experience the joy of disciple-making, you have the privilege of denying yourself and taking up your cross. Jesus made a huge commitment to the first wave of Christ-followers. He loved those men deeply and daily. And now you and I get to do the same.
Principle #2: Making Disciples is strategic.
Jesus knew how many disciples he had and he knew their names. That sounds obvious until we ask the two basic questions:
- How many disciples do you have?
- What are their names?
Can you answer both of those questions quickly? Most Christians can answer the question “What is your ministry?” Maybe you play guitar at your church, teach a Bible study, or serve as a deacon. But none of those responses answer the all-important question:“WHO is your ministry?”
The who is always more important than the what. Ministry is about people not activities. There is nothing wrong with enjoying your talents and passions as you serve in your local church, just make sure they play second fiddle to the main thing: pouring your heart, time, and energy into the men God has called you to disciple.
The crucial question that we all get to answer is: “WHO is your twelve?”
Now, you don’t need to have a literal 12 men you are discipling, you just need to know who they are. If you are discipling only 2 men, you are literally changing the world, just like Jesus did. The main thing is that you know who your “12” are. You may lead a Tuesday night Bible study that averages 8 men in attendance, but I doubt that you have a responsibility to disciple all 8 of those men. However, I am almost certain that there are 1, or 2, or 3 of those men that God has called you to disciple. Once again, it doesn’t matter how many, it just matters that you know WHO God has called you to disciple. Who are your “12?”
Principle #3: It takes a team.
You can’t make disciples by yourself; God’s method of discipleship is the body of Christ. You are a unique member, and you are just a part of the body. Jesus assembled a disciple-making brotherhood so that each man could help disciple each man. I receive something uniquely powerful from each man in my SPAR group. In my life, I receive much needed encouragement from Paul, compassionate pastoring from Jonathan, and life-giving truth from Mark. I need it all. I need the fullness of the Body of Christ found in the brotherhood if I am to grow to maturity.
So, what about one-on-one discipleship? It is a good supplement to team discipleship. It does play a role, but it is a secondary role. There are times when it is crucial to call a brother and ask for an hour of coffee time to discuss a specific area of the man’s heart. Even then, Proverbs 11:14 tells us that “in a multitude of counselors there is safety.” The weaknesses of individual discipleship is:
- You are getting only one perspective of Christ
- The relationship can morph into a counselor to counselee connection.
The team approach is also powerful when one of the brothers hits a painful season of life. When my buddy David was going through his divorce, he needed a lot of brothers to help him wade through the unforgiveness, shame, and daily loneliness. If one or two brothers try to carry a wounded man by themselves, they will burn out. It takes a team!
Principle #4: Discipling others is about your own personal sanctification.
This may be the most important principle of all. Many men miss this one. God’s primary reason to enroll you into his army of disciplemakers is for the purpose of your sanctification, your growth, your faith being purified by the fire. Not theirs, but yours. Relational disciple making is a messy, painful, challenging endeavor. Why? Because our selfishness, pride, and need for God is being exposed.
Some quit and give up. Some say it is too hard to make disciples, but it’s really not. The hard and difficult part is acknowledging the unbelief, selfishness, and judgements that are revealed in us as we disciple others. James 1:2-4 says that “we become mature, complete, and lacking nothing” as we allow God to refine us through hardship and trials.
If you sign up for making disciples like Jesus did, you are signing up for hardship and trials!
The question is this: do you want to become a mature man of God? If so, there is a sure fire way to make it happen: disciple your twelve!
Principle #5: Guaranteed fruit: just give it time.
It takes big faith to disciple men. Sometimes you see quick spiritual growth in a man, but sometimes you don’t. Oftentimes God will call us to unconditionally love and serve a man for several years before he begins to show fruit in his life. We never give up on a man. Why? Because God never gives up on us.
Also, keeping a long-term perspective is what Jesus modeled. Can you imagine how immature and ill-equipped the 12 disciples were on day one of their adventure with Jesus? It did not matter. Jesus knew that disciple making is a long term endeavor with guaranteed results.
And he was right. In three years those unschooled dozen were transformed into the most powerful ministry team the world has ever witnessed. Couldn’t Jesus have produced this band of world-changers in 6 months or less? Probably not. God’s work of sanctification in the life of a man takes time. But the wait is worth it.Three years. It is really not a lot of time when you have an eternal perspective. I can think of a dozen East Texas men who stumbled into our movement with all kinds of addictions, unbelief, shame, and perversion. None of them were free from their self-induced pain in a short period of time. But at the three year mark all of them had a remarkable testimony and an effective ministry to others.
Keep your hand to the plow. As Winston Churchhill said, “Never, never, never give up.” You are guaranteed a harvest– 100% guaranteed. If you are humbling yourself and deeply loving your twelve day after day after day, there is a day of celebration coming.
I love the promise found in Galatians 6:9:
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Will you commit to your twelve for 36 months? This can be a challenge for those that have served in the traditional church where one commits to leading a Bible Study for 12 weeks or a ministry team for 12 months.
If you choose to make this bold commitment, something will happen inside of you. You will receive the gift of becoming free from your selfishness. This is a wonderful gift. In order to truly commit to loving your twelve for the long haul, you must die to yourself. And that, my friend, may be the greatest part of the Jesus model of disciple making. The fruit of your efforts is simply a bonus.
Principle #6: Make disciplemakers, not disciples.
I love the Great Commission. It is simple and clear about our mission as believers: we are to go and make disciples of others. Simple, right? Not really, because Christians that are making disciples have forgotten that the Great Commandment also applies to the ones they are discipling. Are you following me?
Let me put it another way. In the same way that Jesus is commanding you and I to go and make disciples, He is also commanding those that we are discipling to go and make disciples. Because of this, I think it can be healthy to paraphrase Matthew 28:19-20 like this:
“Go therefore and make disciples that make disciples, in all nations, baptizing them, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
This is the innocent mistake of many ministers and disciple makers in the church today: not asking their “twelve” to go and find their twelve. The great joy of making disciples is watching them experience the joy of making disciples. What if we refused to disciple someone who refused to disciple at least one other person?
The next time you meet with one of your twelve, ask him these questions:
- Who are your twelve? (remember, the number of people is irrelevant)
- What is the fruit and challenges you are seeing as you make disciples?
- How can I help you disciple your twelve?
If you are struggling in your disicplemaking efforts, it may be because you are producing a selfish consumer Christian. Look your disciples in the eyes and tell them the good news: your Christian life is NOT about you– it is about others! I will commit to doing all I can to help you find your twelve, and disciple your twelve to disciple their twelve. It won’t be easy, but it will be the most exciting thing you've ever done!
Remember the call of Jesus? “Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus discipled the twelve so that they could disciple their twelve. I love the ripple effect of discipling disciplemakers; it is the only way we will transform our communities.
2 Timothy 2:2 lays it out plain and simple. Here is my paraphrase:
As I am discipling you,
Go and disciple faithful men,
Who will then go and disciple others.
The greatest joy in the kingdom is having spiritual grandchildren and great-grandchildren just like Paul and Timothy. This is God’s will for your life.
Come join us in changing the world- one disciplemaker at a time!
