Distinctive Discipleship
Generalized approaches can never adequately address distinct disciples. In order to see legitimate discipleship take place in your life and in the lives of those around you, we cannot depend upon widespread methods hoping to address the specific needs of everyone.
Author
Travis Agnew
Lead Pastor
Discipleship
Distinctive Discipleship
Generalized approaches can never adequately address distinct disciples. In order to see legitimate discipleship take place in your life and in the lives of those around you, we cannot depend upon widespread methods hoping to address the specific needs of everyone.
Travis Agnew
Lead Pastor
CONSIDER
Answer these following questions:
- Who first introduced you to Jesus?
- How many years have you been following Jesus?
- Do you have a hopeful turn to come about soon in your spiritual journey?
Even in these simple questions, we process a simple truth – we are all in a different place spiritually. We each have unique turns that we need to make in the near future.
STUDY
- Acts 4:1-13
- Not only did Jesus make a complete difference in the disciples, but he also made a specific change in each one of them. Write down who they were before and after discipleship.
- Pre-Discipleship
- Peter: Matt. 16:21-23; 26:69-75, John 18:10
- John: Mark 3:17; 9:38-41, Luke 9:51-56
- Post-Discipleship
- Peter: Acts 5:27-32, 1 Peter 2:21
- John: John 19:26-27, 1 John 4:7-8
DISCUSS
- Take a moment and make some bullet points of the most essential elements in your spiritual life thus far. These items can be people, places, trips, or events. They can be positive or negative.
- Now that you have written down those items, categorize what they are.
- Event - Do you have a milestone when God changed your life?
- Environment - What regular faith gatherings shaped who you are today?
- Equipment - What spiritual disciplines trained you to grow in godliness?
- Engagement - How did you invest in another with what you learned?
- Encourager - Who is that friend who walked with you towards Christ?
- Example - Who is the example you aspired to follow?
EVALUATE
- The origin of the Distinctive Discipleship model comes from the Apostle Paul’s instructions to the Colossian church. As he instructed these believers, he taught concerning the amazing riches of beholding the glory of Jesus. In Colossians 1, he provided the framework that we will be using.
- To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me (Col. 1:27-29).
Within these three verses, we find six guiding principles with which to make disciples:
- Delight - Christ in you, the hope of glory - Discipleship must be motivated by the wondrous delight of knowing Jesus.
- Disobedience - warning everyone - Discipleship must warn against disobedience in any sinful leanings specific to the individual.
- Doctrine - teaching everyone with all wisdom - Discipleship must wisely equip the follower to possess increasingly competent biblical doctrine.
- Development - present everyone mature in Christ - Discipleship must address areas of calling with the intention to bring about ministry development.
- Discipline - for this I toil - Discipleship must train in areas of spiritual discipline for continual growth.
- Dependence - struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me - Discipleship must continually acknowledge the complete dependence upon Jesus for the believer’s maturity.
