Discipleship

"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you..." - Matthew 28:20

Becoming a disciple of Christ is a lifelong process.  The word sounds like "discipline" because it comes from the same root word.  Being a disciple of Christ means you are disciplined to follow His commandments.  That's why He tells us to teach baptized believers to "observe" the things He has commanded us.  Discipleship is doing what Christ wants you to do.

When is the process of discipleship complete?  Not in this life.  I believe it is complete when we see Him (1 John 3:2).

Building disciples should be the goal of everything a church does with believers.  Worship and preaching services, classes, fellowship times...all of it should make a child of God a stronger disciple.

One of the ways our church disciples people is through a class that takes place during our mid-week service on Thursday nights.  I am taking two couples through a book called 7 Steps to Joy.  (It actually takes about 10 weeks to go through the course.)  It is a simple book that covers eternal security, baptism and several practical aspects of the Christian life.  One of the greatest feelings in ministry comes when you are teaching someone the Bible and "the light comes on."  I love seeing the look in someone's eyes when they grasp a truth from God's Word.  It's harder to see it when you're preaching because of the size of the crowd.  In a small group, it's much easier to catch.  I'm having a blast on Thursday nights.  The 7 Steps book is pretty basic, but it's amazing the stuff we talk about based on questions the students ask.  Tonight's topic was "the Church" and we ended up hitting on things like the Passover and communism in the book of Acts!

If you know anything about the Bible, make the effort to pass that knowledge on to someone else.  It's the pinnacle of ministry and the culmination of the Great Commission.

What does your church do to build disciples?