Make disciples!

Now we are at the heart of the commission we received from Jesus: To make people His disciples! This is why we are sent, this is why we preach and testify to all people, to bring people into a relationship with Him as His disciples. To testify and bring testimonies is not a goal in itself, but a means to achieve the goal: To win people for Jesus so they become His disciples.

What does it mean to be a disciple?

A disciple is one who has accepted a call from the Master. It is He Who chooses/calls people and it is He Who takes the first initiative. Jesus has taken an initiative towards us, and when we accept His call, we take the first step into a relationship with Him as His disciples and with others who are His disciples as well. Jesus asks us to enter into a lifelong relationship as His disciples, where He will teach us His ways.

A disciple is a person who is undergoing training, someone who has made a decision to be taught by Him, to follow Him, to live with Him and to obey Him. A contract is made, a binding settlement, where Jesus has taken responsibility for us, and where we have given ourselves to Him wholeheartedly and committed ourselves to follow Him – for ever!

Jesus calls His disciples to stay together and no one can be a disciple on his own – all by himself! It was at the congregation in Antioch the followers of Jesus were called Christians for the first time. Nobody deserves the title of disciple if they do not live in a conscious and determined relationship as a disciple with Jesus, the Christ!

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (Mark 1:17)

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

How do we make people His disciples?

The recipe Jesus gave us for making people His disciples was very simple: “Be a witness, preach the Gospel to people and ask them to get baptised. When they have been baptised, they have to be taught to keep all I have commanded. The one who believes, gets baptised and receives the teaching you give to them, will be saved.”

When the Gospel is proclaimed, people have to be given time to respond and accept the Good News. The only answer Jesus required of people is to say yes, get baptised and to receive further teaching.

When we have preached the Gospel to the people, we make them disciples by teaching them to obey everything Jesus told us, as is taught in “Finding Your Place” in the four books.

Follow Jesus

Knowing and following Christ

The kingdom of God

Living according to the word of God

How to be a mentor

Build on the foundation

Turning around to a new way of life

Believe the gospel

Get rid of the old life

Being filled with the new vitality of the Spirit

Touched by God through human hands

Resurrection to a spiritual and supernatural life

Set free through eternal judgement

Living fellowship

A new motivation: Love

Embracing the cross

What sort of church is Jesus building?

How does Jesus build his church?

How we serve one another in the church

Living in blessings

Talk to the Father!

Find the blessings of God in your trials

Live generously

Give God’s way

Make friends!

In these simple principles you’ll find the essence of all that Jesus taught us. To make people His disciples is to lead them into a personal experience of all this. To make people His disciples is to help them grow into mature Christians who can win people and teach them to become faithful disciples and followers of Jesus.

Practical discipleship

To be a disciple has many practical consequences. No one can be a disciple in theory – that would be a contradiction in terms. When we are disciples of Jesus, it will have consequences in our lives. We do not live our own little life in isolation, but have entered a fellowship of disciples where we all serve the Lord together.

Tomorrow you will find a list of skills found among those who are disciples of Jesus. All of them have practical consequences. You should make use of this list to test yourself and have it as a guide for what you want to develop in the people you make His disciples.

Exercise:

In what way(s) are you a disciple?

What is the most valuable experience to you in being trained as His disciple?

Are you ready to hand over what you have been taught?

Continue to memorise these Bible verses:

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matt. 28:18-20)