Discipleship Defined
Discipleship is not:
-one super anointed man teaching everyone
-controlling relationships
-only a series of classes that make us smarter
-activities for christians to have something to do
Discipleship is relationship.
Discipleship is a relationship with Jesus
-The gospel/good news must be central to everything we do as christians
-Our relationship with Jesus needs to be central to everything that we do. Jesus is our why. Jesus is our motivation.
Discipleship is a relationship with each other.
-as the gospel changes us God calls us to live with people
-discipleship is pointing each other toward Jesus as we work to be like him
Discipleship is a relationship with those far from christ
-realizing the power of the gospel we should desire to want to share this truth with others
Build a church or make disciples?
I love the church. As a pastor I spend many hours thinking of how we can get more people in the church. Programing, classes, outreaches, meetings and a bunch of other stuff has and many times continue to fill my schedule. As I read scripture however I find that I am not supposed to build the church.
Jesus tells his disciples that He will build His church.
18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18
If this is true what is my job?
Jesus gives us OUR job description in Matthew 28:19… 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Our job is NOT to spend all of our time creating activities for Christians. Our job is NOT to create great Sunday programming. Our job is NOT to spend countless hours in meetings creating policy for church leaders. Our job is to make disciples. Our job is to help people who are far from Jesus find and walk with Jesus.
Jesus gave Christians very clear instructions to make disciples. As a Christian who loves and wants to obey Jesus we MUST make disciples. If we have not and are not making disciples we might need to ask ourselves if we are really Christians.
The Goal of GBCK small groups
We have been working non stop to try to create a culture of discipleship. In an another effort to get people to understand what discipleship is all about we will begin to post a series of videos through facebook, twitter, blogs and any other medium possible to create this culture that will lead to changed lives.
Here is the 1st video that I made.
Discipleship is Relationship
The function of a single lego piece is to be connected to another piece. If it is not connected to another piece it does do much. 
Lego is all about connecting.
Lego can teach us how discipleship is supposed to happen. Legos know that they need to be connected.
We have to understand what legos already know. We need to be connected to Jesus and connected to each other.
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35
Discipleship is about relationships that push each other toward Jesus.
Discipleship as all about us working to connect with others so that we can connect them to Jesus.
Discipleship is not about 1 super religious person teaching others how to be a christian. Discipleship happens as we process our lives with Jesus and each other.
How to create a discipleship culture?
A few weeks ago I gathered our youth staff and through this question out to them. I love our team and the way they contribute to creative solutions to some pretty complex questions. Here is a list of some of the ideas that we generated and will begin to execute this year.
- Once a month training after Youth service
- once a month training in service
- pulpit
- individual small group outings
- combined groups
- scripture on discipleship (weekly)
- T-shirts
- advertising of small groups
- sports league
- community outreach (rice crispy treats)
- continual follow up
- fliers with all the groups
- sign up card
- video training
- testimonies
- pictures
- pictures of activities
- small group awards
- reward for new members and those who invited them
- prayer and fasting
small groups
There are a bunch of books on small groups and even more people who talk about how they do small groups. Some people think that the purpose of small groups is to care for the congregation. some people think that small groups exist to provide a place for Christians to “do life” together. some people view their small group as a place for bible study.
All of these things are great. I think they are biblical and serve part of being a christian. I also think that these ideas toward small groups serve some churches very well.
but…
this is what i think the main purpose of small groups are. TO MAKE DISCIPLES. small groups serve as a venue where every believer can reach those that God has placed in their lives. the goal of a small group should be to see every small group member start their own small group. As people begin to fall in love with Jesus and respond to the Gospel the response should be a desire to see those in their lives begin to do the same.
the goal is to make disciples not to do small groups. if some day there is a better way to make disciples i hope we will be smart enough to do that and dump small groups.
discipleship culture
“when the culture is is right, almost any method will work. when the culture is toxic, even the best method will fail.” 
Steve Murrell
loved this thought from the Accidental Missionary. Most leaders are smart enough to come up with some great strategies, but the majority of these leaders are not patient enough to create the culture needed to see these strategies succeed.
the question that remains then is how can we create a culture? here are some of my thoughts:
1. do it. I have to learn to model the culture personally. I have to go out and make disciples. I have to take individuals through essentials. I have to recruit people into encounter weekend.
2. talk about consistently. our methods needs to be talked about at every meeting and to every person. people have to hear us asking the same questions over and over again.
-have you done essentials?
-have you been through an encounter weekend?
-are you in a small group?
3. learn to say no. practically every day there are opportunities of a lifetime to make the church magically grow. most leaders jump on these opportunities of a lifetime and jump off of the focus to make disciples. if the opportunity is not helping every member to make disciples dont do it. events dont make disciples.
4. trust. a culture of discipleship is more than a few pastor making disciples. this is going to mean trusting people to make disciples. even though they might make more mistakes than disciples I have to learn to trust anyways. are people in the church honored that they get an opportunity or are they burdened that they have to do something? if the answer is the later maybe we took to long to trust people.
I am sure there is a lot more to creating a discipleship culture, but this should keep me busy for a few years.
Faith, Connection, Life
At gbck we have designed a 3 step discipleship process. This process has been designed as a guide for making disciples.
Here is our process:
1. Develop my faith. Here are 4 practices to help us develop our faith:
-Sunday worship experience
-Essentials
-Encounter weekend
-Water baptism
2. Deepen my connections. Here are 2 practices to help us deepen our connections:
-Small groups
-Team grace
3. Devote my life. Here are 3 practices to help us devote our lives:
-Personal evangelism
-Community micro-missions
-World Missions
influence and inspire
One of our major objectives this year at gbck is to create a more distinct culture of discipleship within the church.
As we work to create this culture, we have summed up the job of our small group leaders into 2 words.
influence: motivating people to follow Jesus through our leadership.
inspire: motivating people to follow Jesus through our example.
The role of small group leaders is to influence and inspire people towards faith, connection, and life.
check back tomorrow as I unpack faith, connection, and life.
my disciples?????
In the context of discipleship we sometimes attempt to take claim of the people that God has allowed us to work with.
We create this scary culture of claiming people as “our disciples”
We must remember that we are ALL disciples of Christ and no one else. As much as we need each other to grow in Christ, ultimately it is Jesus that changes the heart of men.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
Jesus’ Authority
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:18-19
Jesus was given all authority. This means that no authority was left for anyone else. Not for the demons, diseases, or people.
Demons and diseases: There is no terminal illness, fear, or addiction that is more powerful than Jesus. If we believe in Jesus we should also believe that this stuff is no match for the power of Jesus.
People: Jesus has every right to determine our plans, use our lives, or alter the path that our life is on. In a discipleship context we must be sure that we DO NOT assume the role of Jesus and begin to plan the lives of others.
Our job is to listen, ask questions, sometimes provide an opinion, but ultimately people need to hear from Jesus and make a decision.
mansfield: keltic theology
still processing meetings with a pretty smart dude.
Day 3 of our meetings Mansfield outlined 7 ministry philosophies that he found in the ministry of St Patrick as Ireland saw transformation. I love the missional components in these ideas.
Here they are with my 2 sense:
Tap into heritage
-what good is in the history of our target people?
-at some point people care about who they are
-understanding people means knowing their past
Understand their pain
-what is the greatest challenge our target people face?
-compassion is essential in reaching people
-we must learn how to demonstrate true care and love
Affirm their righteous hope
-What are the deep desires of our target people?
-we need to know what people hope
-a persons hope is their passion
Understand that if God is reaching someone they are in some kind of trouble
-without God all people are missing something
-God usually needs to make us desperate in order to get our attention
Create a vehicle for relationship
-how can people build community in our context?
-relationship + community = discipleship
Figure out how to package content so that it is culturally relevant
-what are the needs of the culture?
-Are we explaining truth so that people can understand it?
Understand that our church culture is our net
-What are the cultures we are creating in our churches? Serving? loving? compassion? growing? learning? genuine relationships?
-Do we have negative cultures? overworking? control?
-Culture takes constant clear communication of vision and values. In 1 word can you describe what your church is about?
everyones job
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and
some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. Eph 4:12
I am a self admitted control freak. I like stuff done my way, and if you can’t do it my way I am the type of person that will do it myself.
This mindset finds grasping this scripture fairly difficult. According to Paul my job as a vocational pastor is not to pastor people. My job is to prepare God’s people to pastor people.
Gods people and not me will be the one to build the church.
What does this mean:
-I have to stop doing stuff by myself
-I have to be willing to allow people to learn stuff that I think I am good at.
-I have to learn to trust others to do ministry
-Even though it will take twice the time the bible teaches that the proper way to build a church is through others.
a few good blogs
Came across a few good blogs this week. Here are the links:
-Phil Cooke with a good word for communicators.
-Super blogger Seth Godin strikes again with a great post on focus.
discipleship vs leadership
Being the incredible intellect that I am I was able to cram a 4 year college degree into 7 years. 
I don’t really remember much from school, but I did realize that the terms that we use are important. Each field whether medicine, law, speech, art, or whatever you study has a set of terms that needs to be learned if we wish to participate in that field.
In church we also have a bunch of terms that we use. Discipleship and leadership are two terms that a lot of people use. I think there is a difference between the two.
Here is what I am thinking:
Discipleship: Every believer is called to make disciples. Discipleship is about living life with others and teaching them how to seek Jesus for answers in their lives. Discipleship is the foundation for good leadership.
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up Eph 4:11-12
Leadership: Discipleship precedes good leadership. Disciple makers with the ability and gift to manage, encourage, motivate, and mobilize groups of individuals are leaders.
Not all disciple makers will become great leaders, but all good leaders are good disciple makers.
discipleship and prayer
Jesus taught His disciples how to pray by first modeling prayer to them. He never forced them to pray, or dictated a schedule to them.
Jesus knew that prayer was about a hunger to have a relationship with the Father. Until the disciples desired this relationship He could not teach them how to pray.
-Do you pray or talk about prayer?
-Are you modeling a lifestyle of prayer?
-Do you have a deep desire to be close to the Father?
-Is your motive for prayer relational or religious?
Helping others learn how to pray begins with me living a life of prayer.
our job
If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. Matthew 10:14-15
Our drive and ambition sometimes causes us as Christians to force Jesus on people.
We may have great truth that could transform an individuals life, but if they do not what to hear it I can not force it. My job is not to “sell” or manipulate people to Jesus.
Our job is to be obedient and available for those who want Jesus. Jesus promises that He will ultimately be victorious, and that those who do not know Him will face judgment.
Rather than getting frustrated with people we must understand that we are only to love and be available for them so that when Jesus changes their heart they will call us first.
9 things a leader must do
Read a good book. I liked this book because it was short but full of insightful stuff.
The book outlines 9 things a leader must do.
In light of this I came up with 9 questions I need to ask myself constantly.
Here is my list:
1. Am I living my life driven towards a vision that absolutely gets me excited?
2. What negative things do I have in my life?
3. Is the stuff I am doing today setting me up for where I want to be 20 years from now?
4. What can I do to make a negative situation better?
5. What is a tangible step that I can do now to help me get to where I want to be 20 years from now?
6. What are the negative things that I hate and will not tolerate?
7. When others fail, what can I do to help them succeed?
8. Do I have a heart of humility?
9. Am I making a decision based on what is right or based on what is popular?
its about the 1
Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this 
parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:1-7
When we do things right we do all the right motions, but we do so simply because it is what we are told we are supposed to do.
When we do the right thing we take the time to see what is happening around us. We understand that the heart of God is not about just doing ministry.
The heart of God is to minister to His people. There are a lot of people who will pastor a church, lead a service, or lead a small group that is great at ministering.
What the world needs though are people who really know how to pastor God’s people. When we take the time to minister to that 1 person heaven rejoices.
Jesus was never worried about the right motions, but He was very interested doing the right thing. He took the time to be with the people who needed Him regardless of what the religious people thought.
life with others
“Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was
staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
John 1:39
Many of us live very private lives. We will have our circle of friends, and individuals who are not in this circle need to go find their own circle.
The first step that Jesus took when making disciples was he invited these young men into His home. They were not invited to a sermon or service, but they were invited into his home. They were able to see how he kept his place and how he interacted with his family.
Jesus welcomed these men into his most private circle and lived life with his disciples.
We must understand that discipleship is about sharing our lives with others.
life modeled
Immediately after His sermon Jesus continued to demonstrate, model, and live life with His disciples.
The crowd listened to the sermon, but the disciples where able to see first hand the life of Jesus.
Here are some stuff the disciples saw:
-man healed with leprosy Matt 8:2
-the paralyzed servant healed Matt 8:13
-a storm calmed Matt 8:26
-deliverance Matt 8:28
-Jesus healed another paralytic
-recruited another person to His team Matt 9:9
-answered some tough questions Matt 9:14
Jesus knew that He had to do more than simply preach at His disciples. He knew that the disciples needed to see God do the miraculous in Jesus’ life.
Too often discipleship turns into a one 2 one preaching session where a new believer is forced to listen to some guy on talk about how he thinks life should be lived.
Discipleship is doing life with others. Discipleship is not preaching how life should be lived.
large crowds & small groups
Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed Him.
Matthew 4:25
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him, and He began to teach them, saying:
Matthew 5:1-2
(Note: Also check out Mark 1:35-39)
Should the church be large? Should discipleship be done in small groups? Are people cared for in a large church? Are small churches fruitful?
Many people spend a lot of time trying to answer these questions. I believe that we need both. Jesus did some things to draw large crowds. I am pretty sure He knew that if he healed the sick and started to preach a lot of people would show up.
When the people showed up though Jesus made a deliberate choice to spend time with a small group of individuals. He then went on to teach this small group about life. He did not talk to them about structure and how to do ministry, but he taught how to do life.
Here are some lessons we can learn about Jesus’ discipleship methods:
-Discipleship is about the large crowd and the small group.
-When the crowds show up we must focus on the few leaders that God has called.
-We must learn how to do life with our leaders, and not just do ministry with them.
-Jesus never was enamored by the large crowd, even if the disciples were. Mark 1:35-39
At once
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. 
They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-20
Discipleship is about turning from our ways and following Jesus at once.
Peter and Andrew left what they were comfortable with and followed Jesus. These 2 men chose to walk away the very activity that was consuming their time and attention to spend time with Jesus at once.
In our lives we often times leave Jesus to spend time on our activities because we feel that our activities are more important that Jesus.
Whether it is our family, our ministry, our church, or our jobs, we must be willing to leave our activities to follow Jesus.
