Years ago I was called to be the pastor of a new church. I knew the mission was to make disciples but I wasn’t real sure how to go about it. I knew Jesus had twelve men that he ran around Israel with but that was about it. I was clueless.
Through some trial and error, influence from others, and consistent study of the life of Christ, I began to grasp some idea of the strategy Jesus used to make disciples. How on earth I did not get the strategy of Jesus sooner, I do not know. I am just thankful I finally figured out the strategy for making disciples comes from the Master disciple maker!
Over the years, I have been swinging very hard at making disciples the way Jesus did it. I have not hit a grand slam yet, maybe not even a single, but I am more committed than ever to living a life committed to the mission of Jesus Christ. I want my life to be spent on helping disconnected people become fully connected disciples of Jesus Christ.
I have come to realize that Jesus took disconnected people and invited them to take a first step to discover who he was. Once someone became a seeker, Jesus then encouraged them to take a next step and become a follower. If a person became a follower, Jesus would then lead them to become a student or a disciple. Jesus used a small group environment to help his disciples learn how to live and lead like he lived and led. Once a person had been trained as a disciple, Jesus would send them out as a leader to help other disconnected people become disciples. This simple strategy literally created a movement called “Christianity”.
One of the most challenging things in my life has been trying to figure out how to get a bunch of people to work together to make disciples. It is as if there is an enemy working overtime to try and stop this from happening. At this point in my life, I’ve decided there is no turning back. I have decided to get up every day and do what I can to help the church fulfill the mission of making disciple of all nations. I hope you will join me.
