Here is a great article on discipleship by Jason Weimer:
Discipleship is developing someone in the
character and actions of Jesus, and equipping them to develop others. It is
simply passing on to others what you’ve learned and been trained in. To be a
discipler, you first need to be a disciple. You need to be growing in order to
help others grow.
The next question one might ask is: How
exactly do I do this? How do I effectively pass on what I’ve learned to those
I’ll disciple?
There are five essential elements in
discipleship: Evangelism, Fellowship, Teaching, Training, and Prayer. These are the nuts and bolts of
your discipleship appointments, the mechanism through which you can pass on
what you’ve learned. We’ll take a look at each one individually.
Evangelism - It has been
said that “discipleship without evangelism is just counseling.” If we aren’t
taking our disciples out to share their faith, we become nothing more than a counselor
trying to help sort out their issues and problems. Jesus called us to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt
28:19), and the first step in making disciples is sharing the Gospel with those
who don’t yet know Christ. We need to be teaching our disciples how to share
their faith with others so they can effectively reach others with the Gospel. The
most practical way to teach someone how to share his faith is to actually go
out and do it. This can be by taking him out to a dorm or the student union and
doing spiritual questionnaires with people or just hanging out with a
non-Christian friend and having a conversation about spiritual things. But it
is essential that we take our disciples with us and share our faith together.
Fellowship - It is important to be a friend to the people we’re discipling,
so part of discipleship is developing that friendship. This can be inside or
out of the set “discipleship time,” but a deepening friendship is important in
developing an environment of vulnerability and growth.
Teaching - This element deals specifically with teaching someone
Scripture: what it says, what it means, how it applies to him or her, etc. It
can be teaching a passage that addresses a struggle or issue your disciple has
or simply a lesson on Biblical history or doctrine to help her gain a greater
knowledge of the Word and how it applies to her life. Teaching someone
Scripture helps develop heart, mind, vision, and character.
Training – this element involves training someone how to minister to
others. It could be training him how to
lead a Bible study, how to disciple someone else, how to share the Gospel, etc.
It is different from teaching in that teaching addresses your disciple’s personal
development, while training addresses how he can minister to others.
Prayer - Of course, prayer is a vital part of
discipleship. A discipler should pray regularly for his or her disciples, as
well as pray with them. This is the most vital of all the elements, because it
is the Lord who will cause our disciples to grow, not us, and we need to be
praying for them and praying that God will use us as a vessel to help them grow.
A discipleship appointment can be a
combination of all 5 of these elements, or just a few at a time. Sometimes it
is good spend the whole appointment sharing your faith with others, or teaching
on a critical issue in your disciple’s life, or even just hanging out and
playing sports or sharing a cup of tea. Most appointments probably will have a
mix of several elements.
In order to have an effective,
life-changing discipleship relationship, you need a healthy balance of all 5
elements coupled with a healthy dose of reliance on God. You need to be taking them
out to share their faith, teaching them from the Word, training them how to
minister to others, praying for them and with them as well as being a good
friend.
One of the most important things to
remember is that discipleship
is much more than just a regular appointment - it
is demonstrating the Christian life to your disciple on a day-to-day basis.
Most lessons you’ll teach to your disciples will be outside your regular
appointments - they will learn from you through seeing Christ in you as you
walk by faith. Jesus simply lived His life in front of the 12 disciples and
modeled to them how to live. Most people learn best by observing and
experiencing than by being directly taught. So, make discipleship more than
just a regular meeting on campus - make it an exciting experience and a deep
relationship!
Getting Started
Let’s briefly touch on how to get started and make
it long term. One of the best ways to begin a discipleship relationship is by
having a getting-to-know-you conversation. Ask what he or she struggles with,
what he or she is passionate about, what he/she is afraid of, what he/ she has
experienced in life, what he/she wants to see God do in his/her life through
discipleship, etc. Make note of what your disciple says. Write things down if
you have to. This will give you a good starting point on how to help her grow
and develop.
One great thing to include in your first meeting is
a “growth circle.” This is an exercise that will help you and your
disciple determine what areas of development you can work on and when to work
on those things. (Look for the “Growth
Circle” in the coming weeks.)
After you’ve done this, prayerfully formulate a
long-term plan of action from what you’ve learned and observed from him/her. A
semester is a good length of time to try to plan for. You might want to
consider using a chart like the one below.
Using a chart like this is a good way to look ahead and see what you want your disciple to grow in through the
semester and how you plan to help him/her grow.
|
Semester Discipleship Plan
|
|||||
|
Date
|
Prayer
|
Evangelism
|
Fellowship
|
Teaching
|
Training
|
|
9/3
|
Pray
together
|
|
|
assurance of salvation
|
how to share the Gospel
|
|
9/10
|
Pray
together
|
go sharing
|
|
eternal perspective
|
|
|
9/17
|
Pray
together
|
go sharing
|
|
|
how to transition to Gospel in conversations
|
|
9/24
|
Pray
together
|
|
go out for pizza
|
|
|
|
10/1
|
Pray
together
|
go sharing
|
|
authority of Scripture
|
|
|
10/8
|
Pray
together
|
|
|
Quiet Times
|
how to share w/ friends
|
|
etc…
|
etc…
|
|
|
|
|
|
