Discipleship: Growth According to God’s Description

The Need

• Discipleship, though a universal mandate, demands a personalized approach. 
• We all begin as spiritual infants, yet our journeys diverge significantly. 
• Shaped by unique environments, dispositions, relationships, and experiences, each person carries a distinct story. 
• Consider: 
  
  • What were your formative religious experiences? 
  • What inherent traits define you? 
  • How have your relationships molded you?
  • What past burdens do you carry? 
• While collective ministry efforts are valuable, Scripture and personal experience reveal God's intimate and tailored work with each individual.

The Word: Matthew 28:18-20

What would you do if Jesus left His specific directions for you in your mailbox?

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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18-20).

• The Great Commission given to all disciples has turned into the Great Suggestion reserved for the serious few.
• The Great Commission intended for obedience has been altered to the Great Omission associated with negligence.
• The Great Commission urging us to make disciples has drifted to the Great Decommission enabling us to make excuses.
• The Great Commission calls us to make disciples – not converts.
• Evangelism is necessary, but it is not ultimate.
• If our spiritual strategies focus solely on evangelism to the neglect of discipleship, we are doing these immature believers a seismic disservice. 
• Our churches have been overrun by spiritual infants caring for one another because many have never matured in their faith. 

The Task

• At its core, a 'disciple' is a learner. 
• Long before Jesus, discipleship as a concept involved learning through immersion: observing, equipping, and practicing within a guided environment. 
• A disciple became a close follower, learning by watching their mentor's life. 
• Discipleship acknowledges our ongoing growth; none of us are fully formed. 
• We need simple, adaptable, and repeatable processes. 
• Essentially, discipleship is the intentional investment of one believer in another, focusing on instruction and imitation. 
• In practice, this means: 
  
  • understanding someone's spiritual state, 
  • identifying areas for growth, 
  • and guiding them towards that progress.
• Discipleship will not happen by accident.