What Is Discipleship?

Pastor Pete Beck III • July 12, 2019

The Great Commission launched the church into its mission – to go and make disciples, teaching them to obey everything Jesus taught. (Matthew 28:18-20)

Discipleship, then, is the church’s business.

So what exactly does it mean to make a disciple? I am glad you asked.

For many, discipleship is equated with studying the Bible, which is certainly an element of it. Looked at it from this angle, discipleship is mostly about growing in the knowledge of God and the Scriptures. For many others, discipleship is centrally connected to character development or becoming more like Jesus. It must be acknowledged that God is greatly concerned with developing every one of his children into the image of Christ, His Son. This is the essence of transformation, but not of discipleship.

Jesus called his disciples with these famous words.

… “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”   Matthew 4:19 (NLT)

Discipleship begins when we respond to Jesus’ call to come to him. (Matthew 11:28-30) In fact, we can begin discipling someone who is in the initial stages of coming to Christ, before they have truly come to know and believe in him. That is what Jesus did. Those who come to Jesus are expected to follow him. This means we take seriously his teachings as recorded in the Bible and try to live by them. By necessity, following Christ should be done in the context of being part of a local group of disciples called the church.

We cannot do this without the assistance of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sends to every person who puts his or her faith-allegiance in Christ. Therefore, not only do we follow Christ’s teachings, we also follow the leading or promptings of the Holy Spirit. Disciples have a living relationship with God through the Spirit. Lastly, disciples become fishers of people, which means we work with the Holy Spirit to go find others and call them to become disciples, too.

Simply put, disciples are followers of Christ who share the gospel and make other disciples.

What some call the “five-fold ministry” – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers – have been delegated the responsibility to equip the rest of the church to do the work of disciples.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12  Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-12 (NLT)

This means that churches and ministers of the gospel are called to teach and prepare followers of Christ to be disciples. This happens through teaching, modeling, calling alongside in ministry situations, and launching.

Since disciples are also expected to make disciples, I do not really think that we can call ourselves successful disciples until our disciples have made disciples of their own.

Timothy, my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus. 2  You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. 2 Timothy 2:1-2 (NLT)

If churches took this responsibility seriously, how would our meetings be different? At LifeNet we seek to develop people as disciples. It is a learning process, and we are certainly far from perfect at it, but at least we have begun. Pray that more churches will embrace the call to make disciples as their first missional priority.

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How Can I Transition from Spectating at Church to Being a Player?

By Pete Beck III • December 3, 2024
Christianity is not a spectator sport. The Reformation renewed some very important truths of the faith that had been lost over time, one of which is the priesthood of the believer . This doctrine means that in the New Covenant there is no clergy-laity distinction. Everyone is called to ministry. All followers of Christ are called, equipped, and expected to partner with the Holy Spirit in the adventure of using their spiritual gifts, time, energy, finances – everything – to fish for people and encourage them to become followers of Christ and fishers of men in their own right. Every football and basketball season an interesting phenomenon takes place. People personally identify with their favorite teams. When their team is doing well, they feel good about themselves and become enthusiastic, vocal, and visible fans. What is so intriguing is that many of us think that we somehow acquire greater worth and prestige, if our team excels and does better than the other teams. It is almost as if we were the ones who are competing. All big sporting events are filled with such fans who get satisfaction out of watching others play the game. So it is with many people who attend churches. We all know that playing and spectating are vastly different. When we spectate, we can imagine ourselves making better decisions and better plays than the players on the court or the field, but the reality is that we are not playing. Jesus has invited his followers actually to participate in the greatest adventure of being his Spirit-filled and empowered representatives. Unfortunately most of us who call ourselves Christians are merely spectating fans. We may agree with the concept of being involved in the Great Commission, but we have fallen into the trap of being passive, sitting on the sidelines, hoping that someone else will lead our family member, neighbor, or friend to Christ and teach them how to follow him fully. Many Christians think that evangelism is inviting someone to church, where they will hear the preacher talk about Christ. We do not see ourselves as the one who can best share the gospel with them. However, the truth of the matter is that we cannot transfer our responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission to someone else. God does not give us the option of merely being fans or spectators. God asks us to be players – disciples and disciple makers. Not everyone is equally gifted in this area, but we are all asked to participate. Some may win thousands to Christ, while others may help only a few become followers of the Master over a lifetime. Sadly, a great number of those who call themselves Christians have never led even one person to faith in Christ. In some cases they have given up trying. This ought not be. Could this be because we do not even talk about Jesus in a serious way with anyone outside of church meetings? Suggestions Ask God to forgive us for succumbing to laziness, fear, and the spirit of the age that tells us to keep our faith to ourselves. Ask the Holy Spirit to stir in us the fire of enthusiasm for Jesus and the Gospel. Ask him to give us a love for those who live around you who do not yet know Christ. Familiarize ourselves with the Gospel. (I recommend The King Jesus Gospel by McKnight. You can read my summary by clicking here or you may wish to read my articles on the subject .) Pray for opportunities to speak meaningfully to people. Make it a priority to get to know the people in your neighborhood, at work, at the gym, at school, and wherever you have the opportunity to connect. As we spend time in conversation, we will begin to see how Jesus and the Gospel can help them. Our care for them may give us a platform from which to speak about Jesus to them. Visit people and have them over to our homes. The more time we spend with people, the greater the opportunity we provide for the Holy Spirit to work in the relationships. Offer to pray for people on the spot when a genuine need for God’s help surfaces. Join a group (or start one) whose focus is fishing for people and making disciples. In many cases this will be what some call a “missional” church, as opposed to an event-oriented spectator church. We need to be encouraged in the work of the Great Commission because, although it is rewarding, it can be difficult and discouraging at times. Never, never, never, never give up. Our heavenly reward will be great!
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