Understanding the Great Commission

When Jesus commissioned his disciples he gave them an important mission to accomplish. This mission, that is the mission of all believers of all times, is recounted most fully in the version given by the apostle Matthew. This is what we normally call the Great Commission:

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and 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 that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matt.28:18-20)

Welcome to one of the most important and exciting functions in serving our Lord Jesus Christ! Welcome to discipling a new believer. We have all been commissioned to take part in this vital ministry of helping a new believer to grow in his spiritual life. To make disciples implies teaching them to obey, supporting them, coming alongside and helping them and training them to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, our Lord.

We have all been given a part to play in the great commission of bringing people to Christ and helping new believers to grow spiritually and be fruitful. Making disciples involves being available, it implies giving encouragement and support and teaching them to obey the word of God, all by spending time together with them. It involves helping a person to develop his or her personal relationship with Jesus Christ, our Lord, and helping him or her to become a leader or a coach who trains other disciples!

You will discover that it is a great privilege and a great responsibility to disciple another person. You are called to be a mentor, a person that helps and supports the other person in his or her walk with the Lord. You will help this person to have a secure foundation in life. You will help him/her develop a Christian lifestyle of serving God, giving God top priority in every area of their entire life. This appendix will help you accomplish the task given to you in the Great Commission. It will also help you to grow and develop as a Christian, as a spiritual person. There is nothing more exciting than walking together with new believers through the different stages of joy, surprises, discoveries and struggles in their life with Jesus Christ.

Your task is to encourage, support and stimulate growth in this new member of your cell group. You are there to be a faithful friend and intercessor. No one expects you to be perfect. You are like the rest of us, we heading towards a wonderful destination, we are walking with God and continuously learning from him.

You are not a master-teacher or an expert. You don’t know everything, and you can’t do everything by yourself. If you believe that you have all the answers, then you are disqualified for this job. In fact you are not supposed to look at this as a job at all! You are a brother or sister in Christ helping a new family member to learn to master life. The most important thing you can do is to be a listening friend. To be a good listener is more important than being a good instructor!

Sometimes you will be asked questions that you can’t answer. You must expect that to happen! But don’t panic! The best thing to do is to admit that you don’t have the answer, but you should also promise to try to find the answer before the next time you meet, from the Bible or from your personal mentor.

Sometimes you will feel the need for prayer very strongly. Don’t be afraid of asking for prayer, not even from the person you are mentoring. To learn to pray for others is very important in our spiritual development, and the new believer will grow if you involve him/her in praying for you.

It is so important that at no point do you allow yourself to act or pretend to be more spiritual than you really are. Don’t give the impression of having more experience than you really have. You will find that the Holy Spirit will use your transparent life and your honesty to work good things in the life of the new believer. Don’t rob the Holy Spirit of this opportunity to help the new believer by pretending!

People find it easier to change when they have a model to imitate. As a coach you will be a model to your disciple, you will be the living example for him/her to follow. Don’t be frightened by this challenge, but live close to the Lord and he will help you. Be honest, open and transparent, allowing the Holy Spirit to use you to lead your disciple into a deeper life with the Lord.

What do you think?

How will you describe the mission you have been given as a believer?

Get to know your disciple

Hopefully you already know the new believer you are going to help. You could be the one who brought him/her to the Lord in the first place, or perhaps this person came to the Lord through another person, but you have been given the assignment of helping the new believer to grow in the Lord. Anyway, it is very important that you develop a friendship and close relationship with one another.

In addition to meeting together weekly to talk about the teaching in the discipleship course “Finding your place”, you should also keep in touch during the week. Developing a friendship is important for sound spiritual growth. Try to help the new believer to spend time with some of the other believers in the cell group as well.

At the very least you should try to keep in touch by telephone if possible, but even more important is just being together to have fun! Think about what you can do together or with other believers. Perhaps you can get involved in some sports activities or just help with some practical things where needed.

The deeper the relationship you develop with the new believer the better. As you get closer to one another, Jesus will use you to support, help and strengthen one another.

When and where should you meet?

You could meet anywhere that suits both of you! Talk to one another to find out what is the best time and place for meeting together undisturbed. You should plan for at least one hour together each week. You could meet early in the morning before you go to work or school. You could meet for lunch or for an evening meal during the week or at the weekend. Sometimes it is practical to meet an hour before the cell-group meeting or worship service. The important thing is that you meet regularly in a peaceful place where you will not be disturbed.

Your prayer life is important

Maintaining your own spiritual life with the Lord in the Word and in prayer is essential if you are to be a good mentor. Your prayer and devotional life is the most important factor determining spiritual growth. If you are to succeed in guiding, leading, instructing and helping the new believer to grow spiritually you yourself must be led by the Spirit of God. It is only when you spend time with God in your prayer closet, seeking God, waiting on God and hearing from God, that you will be equipped to help others to grow in the Lord. As a mentor and spiritual guide you need to spend time in prayer and preparation before you meet with your disciple. This time with the Lord should not be left until the very last minute before you meet! Neither will it be sufficient for you to pray for your disciple once a week. No, you need to pray for him/her every day! Begin to keep a prayer journal, noting down your prayer requests and the answers God gives you! The prayer journal will help you to be goal oriented and will release (a fresh) zeal for/in prayer as you note down answered prayers and the progress your disciple is making.

Teaching a new believer to obey the word of God

I assume that you have worked your way through the course “Finding your place” yourself. At least you must be a few steps ahead the person you are leading. The idea of this course is to give a basic presentation of what Jesus Christ taught his disciples to obey. When you are going to help a new believer to obey all the commands of Jesus Christ, your success will be dependant upon your own obedience to Jesus Christ. Your life is therefore just as important as the teaching in this course! You will probably need to refresh your knowledge of the teaching of this course. It is vital that you know the teaching and that it has become a part of your life through you putting it into practice. You are even more vital than the printed material in this process of teaching others to obey.

People change their lifestyles for many reasons. Sometimes the reason for change is spiritual, but the reason could also be social or psychological. I have seen young men convert in order to be able to marry a Christian young lady. External change may seem similar to genuine repentance, but the person involved does not have to have been born again by the Spirit of God just because a change has taken place. The statement “I want to be a Christian”, may simply mean “I want to change!” But it doesn’t necessarily mean that the person commits himself fully to Jesus Christ as the only Lord and Saviour.

True repentance and commitment to God come when the Word and the Spirit are allowed to do a work in people’s lives. People will open up for the convincing work of the Holy Spirit more easily when they see their mentor living out and practising the message! The learning process and the application of the Word of God that leads to a genuine new life, will happen faster and go deeper when your disciple has a model to imitate and an example to follow in you. Don’t be scared by this challenge! You probably don’t feel that you are a perfect model. That doesn’t matter! What matters is for you to know that Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, will give you what you need to be a good guide and mentor! You only need to be available to him and receive the help you need to be a good example for your disciple through prayer.

What do you think?

Have you learnt to get daily nourishment from the Word of God?

How do you spend time with God in prayer?

What do you feel is your greatest challenge in helping a new believer to grow and be able to help others?

Continue to learn this entire paragraph by heart:

And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick and heal them.” (Mark 16:15-18)