Discipleship
Discipleship
by Evans Kwesi Walton.
Discipleship/discipling
is a life-long journey, which demands commitment and self-denial from both the
disciple and the discipler. Jesus Christ is the greatest example for all who
want to commit their lives in discipling others. Jesus Christ called twelve men,
His primary aim was that they will be with Him and His secondary was to send
them out to the harvest field. Jesus keenly chose some men who will be with
Him, not just a bunch of people around Him doing nothing. It was purposeful
with intent; it was not just a group of men who were idling, in fact, the men
He chose were men who were engaged in various occupations. The churches in
Ghana are not doing well in terms of discipleship, because they have neglected
the command to make disciples. In this paper, I am going to look at the meaning
and the importance of making disciples, the essential elements of making
disciples, the challenges encountered in making disciples and the place
disciple making should have in the Church.
“The concept of
disciple is not original to Jesus. [The] Jewish rabbis of the first century had
disciples.”[1]
However, Jesus’ concept of disciple was different from the rabbis, in Mark
3:13-14, Jesus called twelve men so that they might be with Him and that He
might send them out to preach. Unlike the rabbis of the first century, men seek
after them to be their disciples,[2]
Jesus as the greatest example has laid done principles for us to follow in the
area of discipleship. True Christian discipleship is identifying men and women
whom you will be committed to teach them to emulate the life style of our
master Jesus Christ. Greg Ogden says it this way, “A disciple is one who
responds in faith and obedience to the gracious call to follow Jesus Christ.”[3]A
disciple is one who is able to make disciples of others; a disciple is not
passive but active to reproduce. Jesus told Simon Peter, I would make you
fishers of men meaning I will teach you so that you can teach others, instead
of throwing your nets into the sea; you are going to throw your nets in the sea
of the world.[4]
A disciple is one who is humble, when Jesus washed the feet of His disciples;
it was a sign to show them to do likewise as he the master has done. As we look
at the meaning of discipleship, it will be helpful to look at the importance of
making disciples.
Discipleship,
stated in my introduction is a life-long process that a believer must go
through in order to reach maturity with the aim of discipling others. According
to Judith Mutie, discipleship prepares future leaders of the church both
spiritually and [cognitively].[5] The
maturity of a believer comes because of discipleship. Discipleship is a command
from our Lord Jesus Christ to all believers, thus when one disciples other
people it brings joy in a sense that he has obeyed the command of Jesus Christ.
Discipleship builds the body of Christ through multiplication.[6]
Discipleship was Christ’s passion to spread the good news, so should be our
passion, Christ did that by investing in the apostles so that they can go and
multiply.
It is like
giving birth to a child and telling the child to take care of him/herself, that
child might end up dying. When we give birth to spiritual children and we do
not disciple them, do not lead them to a total commitment to Jesus, do not help
them to become spiritual adults, we reap a variety of negative consequences.
Therefore, it is important for believer to emulate the master by making
disciples of the kingdom.
Jesus Christ
gives a classic element of disciple making He asked, “for which of you, desiring
to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has
enough to complete it?” (Mark 14:28). Discipleship requires denial of one’s
self both the discipler and the disciple, because it is not something you do
for a week and you are done. That is why Jesus told those who desire to follow
Him to deny themselves, He also told them that the foxes have holes but the Son
of man does not have a place to lay His head. It involves time; our Lord Jesus
spent time with the twelve “[He] could have spent all His time in evangelism.”[7] Prayer
is another element of discipleship; you pray in order to identify those who are
not born again since God gives salvation to all men. Prayer directs you to
someone the Lord wants to reach out to for salvation. Prayer helps the new believer
to understand the word of God and make commitment to obey, and intend to
reproduce the process to other people.
Jesus in His
command to His disciple in the gospel of Matthew said …“teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matt. 28:19-20). Teaching is one of
the core elements of making disciples; the aim of discipleship is to help the
disciples to emulate Christ by teaching them the word of God. Paul told Timothy
that, what he have hear from him in the presence of many witness he should
entrust it to faithful men who will
intend pass it on to others (2Timothy 2:2). Discipleship requires supervision;
you do not want to assume that because you have inculcated something into the
life of your disciple he is going to come out victoriously. Fear or challenges
may come his way and he may be prone to give up, hence it is important to
supervise your disciple.[8]
Life style is one of the elements in disciple making, the discipler must lead
by an example. Jesus demonstrated this pattern clearly, on several occasions He
would move away by Himself to a desolate place and spend time with God, till
one day when he came down from the mountains, His disciples asked Him to teach
them how to pray. Exemplary life is important in disciple making.
Let us not
forget that there are challenges or obstacles that we will encounter in
disciple making. When someone become a believer we get all excited and we tell
them the blessing and the promises of God that they will receive, neglecting
the fact that our new life in Jesus Christ will come with a cost or challenges.
Jesus said; if anyone wants to follow me let him pick up his cross daily. The
disciple must know the challenge that comes with his commitment to follow
Jesus. In our contemporary world today, we live in a sophisticated context
where people do not have time to study the word of God and to mature in Christ
Jesus. Evangelism is a component of
discipleship, but many people assumed that it is the work of the pastor not
them. If we consider the commandment of Jesus Christ which says, “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,” (Matt. 28:19), then it is a command to all
believers not just the pastor.
When a person
hears the word of God and he becomes a believer, he is established and groomed
into maturity in Jesus Christ; but there is a challenge whether this person is
also going to make disciples or not. Sometimes this person might face a
difficulty, which may cause him to give up, but on the side of the discipler,
it will bring a great disappointment. Another challenge is that many people
will not accept the fact that they gave up all to follow Jesus. People want
their community to know what they have; this nullifies the purpose of giving up
all to follow Jesus Christ. Discipleship is not about fame and how many people
you have led to the Kingdom of God. Most often, the human flesh and pride wants
to take over and boast over what they have achieved.[9]
Does the Church
have a place in disciple making? Obviously yes, but how is it taking place? Jesus
said go and make disciple, which implies that wherever we go or find ourselves
we make disciples. The church is not the physical build where people gather and
worship God, but it is the gathering of the saints in Jesus Christ. The
churches in recent times have misunderstood what it means to make disciples. It
might also be that the Church have miss appropriated the command of Jesus
Christ in the Gospel of Matthew 28:19-20. Discipleship should be done in and
outside the Church but many believers tend to live their Christian life in
isolation. God is calling all believers in the body of Christ to reach out to
people wherever they go. Sometimes God call some people into full-time
ministry, others not into full-time but He places each individual in a
particular context. God wants the Gospel to go to the market places, we may not
find ourselves to be in full-time ministry, but we maybe in a business forum to
make disciples for Christ.[10]
Someone
once said we need more sanctified shoe salespersons, more anointed accountants,
more behaved personnel, and businesspersons that are more holy. God sovereignly
equips and calls every one of us to a specific ministry. Sometimes it is
full-time, sometimes it‘s within the context of a secular job. From experience,
I have realized that some Churches in Ghana frown on believers who associate
(associating here, does not mean they get involve with their sinful behavior
rather building acquaintance with them in order to bring the Gospel to them) themselves with unbelievers, with the notion
that these people are not truly born again. Disciple making on the other hand
is a tool to grow the church quantitatively meaning numerically and qualitatively
meaning spiritually.
We
see the early church growing daily in the book of Acts. They were gathering so
regularly and daily for teaching, fellowship, communion and prayers and sharing
love to one another and so on (Acts 2:42-47). When believers are discipled,
they become effective witnesses and win souls; as a result, the church grows.
In addition, along with the growth come all other benefits like, there will be
people to do various things in the Church and to function with a variety of
gifts for the glorification of God and for the edification of the believers.
The Church is supposed to train women and men who will go out and train women
and men into maturity. Our Churches today have numerous of actives throughout
the week; but the question is how many of them are geared towards discipleship
to help nurture the believers, establish and equip them for the expansion of
the Kingdom?
Our
activities in the Church is more humanly structure that everything else is
given ample time but when it comes to the word of God, the pastor stands up and
says, you know we are behind time and so within this fifteen minutes I am going
to share with you from the word of God. The Church is losing its focus of
existence, and it is about time that it rise up and take her mandate. The
Church should become like a man who goes and scatter seeds and expecting it to grow;
believers are to be discipled and sent out to produce fruits by the Church. The
church needs to be stewards of what God has entrusted to them by making
discipleship the first priority in the Church. Paul in his letter to the
Thessalonians rejoices of their faith, which has spread abroad and encourages
them to continue firmly in their faith. Now the question is can our church today
boast or rejoice about their discipleship program in the Church. We ought to be
people who will not be ashamed at the coming of the Lord. He has given us much
and much expected of us.
Conclusion
Discipleship
is a process not a onetime thing; it requires denial of self, and commitment to
God. Discipleship is the life-wire of the church without it the Church dies. My prayer is that the church realizes they are
drifting away from their primary purpose as someone once said that the primary
purpose of the Church is to glorify God by winning souls for Christ. Many
believers are drifting away because there is no one to disciple them when they
became new babies in Christ. God has called every believer to make disciples as
we go; therefore, it is not only the responsibility of the pastor to make
disciples. God has placed each one in a location where He expects us to be light
to those around us. The way a businessperson may reach out to a colleague
businessperson will be different from the way the local Church pastor will
reach out to the community.
The writer of Hebrews
says, “You have been believers so long now that
you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again
the basic things about God's word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot
eat solid food.” (Heb. 5:12). The church today is going backwards in disciple
making compare to the early Church. Discipleship should take priority in the
Church than any other thing, if we do not want to shrink when the King of kings
appear.
[1] Vinay Kumar Samuel, The Meaning and the Cost of Discipleship
(Bombay: Bombay Urban Industrial League for Development, 1981), 13.
[2] Ibid, 13
[3] Greg Ogden, Discipleship Essentials: A Guide To Building Your Life In Christ
(Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Connect, 2007), 24.
[4] A.B. Bruce, The Training Of The Twelve (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications,
1971), 13.
[5] Judith Mutie, “The importance of Discipleship”:
February 28th 2012.
[6] David wabule Masai, “The importance of Discipleship”:
February 28th 2012.
[7] Bill Bright, Witnessing Without Fear: How to Share Your Faith With Confidence (San
Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life Publishers, 1987), 158.
[8] Robert E. Coleman The Master
Plan Of Evangelism (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Fleming H.Revell Company, 1993),
94.
[9] Greg Ogden, Discipleship Essentials: A Guide To Building Your Life In Christ
(Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Connect, 2007), 29.
[10] Vinay Kumar Samuel, The Meaning and the Cost of Discipleship
(Bombay: Bombay Urban Industrial League for Development, 1981), 54-55.
