According to an AI Google search, disciple making is “the process of helping people follow Jesus by sharing God's truth and forming relationships with them.” Now, I’m not a big fan of AI, but I think this definition captures the concept and task pretty well.
Mark Dever (senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church and founder of 9Marks ministry) has written that discipleship is “me following Jesus,” and discipling is “me helping others follow Jesus” (see Dever’s short book on “Discipling” for less than $10 at Amazon HERE).
Both Google’s AI and Mark Dever include the content and the relationship aspects of disciple making (or discipling, as I will call it for the rest of this post). There is a body of truth, which includes knowing and obeying Christ, that must be communicated. And there is a relationship between disciples that must be forged and maintained, which facilitates discipleship and also demonstrates and exemplifies what a disciple is by life-on-life interaction.
However, many Christians seem to think of discipling as a more personal and individual aspect of their Christian experience. It is often assumed (i.e., not stated explicitly) that real spiritual growth, authentic Christian relationships, and meaningful discipleship happens apart from the gathered church.
I want to argue the opposite here, and I want to encourage you to prioritize the gathered church in your own discipleship as well as your discipling efforts.
First, discipling involves the communication of God’s truth.
While you may be a great resource for Bible knowledge and the right application of it, you are insufficient by yourself. There is actually (if we’re honest) a great deal of theology and Bible that you don’t understand, and even the stuff you do understand has not yet been applied as well in your life as we all hope it will be in time.
This does not make you a deficient Christian. At least you are no more deficient in spiritual maturity and wisdom than most every other Christian who has lived before or those who are living now. Deficiency is a reality for all Christians. It is the confession at the core of our need for Christ, and it is a major reason for our need of other Christians.
If we are to become better disciplers, we must lean into and even expose our deficiencies, not ignore them or work around them. We can actually teach younger and less experienced disciples better when we invite the whole church into our discipling efforts. Every faithful local church makes the whole counsel of God’s word the central substance of what is preached, sung, prayed, and observed each Sunday.
If you want to put rocket fuel in your discipling efforts, then invite others to participate with you in the gathering of the church each Sunday, and then make the substance of what is taught and observed the central feature of your personal conversations.
Discuss the sermon from last Sunday with someone else, read the passage for the upcoming Sunday together, and consider how the biblical truths you are learning apply to your lives (at home, at work, at play, etc.).
Discuss the meaning of the songs you sang together, and consider the way these melodies and lyrics contribute to your personal understanding of God’s nature, Christ’s work, and the Holy Spirit’s power.
Discuss the prayers that were prayed publicly during the church service. Use the substance of these prayers to help you pray better with your friends, family, and co-workers.
Discuss baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and consider how the practice of those ordinances shape the individual experience of conversion and the communal experience of unifying under shared beliefs and practices.
Second, discipling involves building relationships with others - relationships that center on learning and applying Scripture.
It may seem counterintuitive to say that relationships can be constructed and maintained well among a whole congregation, but we ought not think of this activity as either communal or personal. Relationship building is both; and there is quite a lot that can be added to our relationship building when we are open and inviting to fortuitous interactions… especially the sort that occur among the gathered church.
You may have a huge portfolio of life experience, and you might be able to demonstrate all sorts of faithful discipleship words and deeds through various circumstances of life. However, there are any number of Christians among a local church who can add significant experience and exemplary faithfulness that you alone do not have.
If we are to become better disciplers, we must eagerly and frequently invite others into our existing relationships. Younger and less experienced Christians will benefit from observing elderly and mature believers as they display the fruit of decades of faithfulness. They will also benefit more when they see you learn and grow from your own relationships with others. Your interaction with fellow church members each Sunday will exhibit more of what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ than you could ever explain in a thousand meetings at a local coffee shop with your unchurched friend.
If you want to see your discipling efforts multiply beyond your wildest imagination, then invite others to participate with you in the gathering of the church each Sunday, and then make it a priority to invite other church members into your life and theirs.
Arrive early and stay long after the service ends. And invite those disciples who come along with you to do the same.
Look for ways to introduce young and inexperienced disciples to some older and more mature church members.
Make lunch appointments with groups after the service (i.e., not just you and the person you are discipling).
Invite prayer from other church members about the things that concern you and the person you are discipling.
Bring the person you are discipling along with you when you have conversations (before and after the service) with other church members you know.
Talk with the person you are discipling about the trials, the successes, and the activities of other church members. Point out the way they are trusting the Lord through hardship, the way they are expressing gratitude for God’s provision, and the way they are centering their life’s efforts around knowing and obeying Christ and also making Him known among others.
So much more could be said about all of this. The point I’m trying to make here is that personal or individual discipling efforts are good and worthwhile, but these are designed by God to be supplemental to the central discipling efforts of the whole church.
One guy might be able to score a touchdown by sheer skill and grit, but a whole team working together is always the better strategy.
If you have been thinking about making disciples as an individual sport, then please reconsider. There is a whole team ready to join you, and you will find that God Himself has instituted and commissioned the church for precisely this task.