As I mentioned in the first post, Matthew 28:18-20 presents a succinct calling to discipleship, and forms the basis of my methodology.  In this post, I’m going to give the overview of how I pursue discipleship in practice.

Practice

First and foremost, I disciple in groups, and secondly, we meet formally on a weekly basis.  Lastly, I ask the people that I am investing in to serve in a ministry I am serving so we are walking alongside one another in context of service, and therefore are spending more time together than once per week.

When thinking about an individual, I am seeking to apply the centrality of Jesus in three areas of life:

Doctrine

If we are teaching to obey Jesus’ commands, we must first know Him. I typically work through Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology with the individuals I am discipling, and have found that it is a great way to develop a solid foundation and common language as we move forward together through life.

Most of the “teaching” I do focuses on processing and application, asking questions that direct applying doctrine to worship, prayer and evangelism.

Life/Character

This area focuses on the personal application of Jesus’ teachings, and the personal disciplines that follow.

For obedience to Jesus’ commands, I think George Patterson summarizes the basic commands well:

1. Repent, believe and receive the Holy Spirit
2. Be baptized
3. Celebrate Communion
4. Show love by serving the needy, forgiving others, and praising God
5. Pray
6. Give
7. Teach disciples to obey Jesus

I primarily use the REAP method of daily time in Scripture, and have found that alternating weeks of Systematic Theology and simply sharing REAP as a group on the other week gives a good rhythm to our time.

The REAP time is also used for confession, prayer and accountability for these basic commands (I also encourage smaller accountability in pairs that meet weekly).

Skills

This area focuses on the external application of the teachings of Jesus, and more specifically how the person is applying them into ministry.

This area is much less formalized because I tend to do it more intuitively, but I generally focus on personal disciplines like time management, finances, etc. and ministry skills like teaching, administration and others (I tend to focus on the ones I am gifted in…probably need to grow in that area).

I find that these conversations naturally happen as I am serving alongside the people I am discipling and I have the opportunity to observe them in ministry.  The key to doing it well is giving ownership to ministry, provide some oversight in the planning and execution, and then providing feedback after the particular task has been done.

In the next post, I’ll focus on the basic process of discipleship, but until then, how do you practice discipleship?

As I mentioned previously, I had the opportunity to speak on a panel at The Austin Stone’s Summer Conference called “The Kingdom is at Hand”, and the panel was a breakout for the practice of discipleship within the church.

It was a little surreal to be sitting on a panel with Josh Patterson and Carrie Langemeier, but I had a great time with them.  After the panel, I thought it would be a good idea to write a few posts on my practice of discipleship.

Foundations

The clearest call to discipleship is found in The Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20:

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This verse gives us five very specific things:

1. The imperative command: make disciples, or learners of Jesus
   
2. The context of discipleship: “Go”, which is not an imperative, but more likely “going”
3. The methods of discipleship: baptism and teaching to obey Jesus’ commands
   
4. The scope of discipleship: panta ta ethne or all the people groups
5. The power for discipleship: Jesus’ power and presence

This is the basis for my pattern of discipleship.  I am seeking to make people obedient learners of Jesus, by His power, as I am pursuing His calling on my life, who have a desire for His glory to the ends of the earth.

I’ll flesh out what that looks like a little more practically in a few more posts.

What is your foundation as you are discipling others?