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In His Steps
practical disciple making in any context
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever presented Bible studies, helped with problems, and prayed with a new believer (or an old one), but nothing seemed to change?
Maybe the person you were discipling had been baptized and even goes to church, but you detect no hunger in him to know God. He makes no commitment to align his life with the will of God. You try not to be judgmental, but you can’t help thinking this person hasn’t had a change of heart. As soon as you stop pursuing him, calling him, and scheduling Bible studies with him, he drifts away. Unfortunately, this happens frequently.
When God gives a Christian the opportunity to disciple someone else, one of two things often occurs:
1. The Christian feels intimidated because he doesn’t think he is qualified or doesn’t know where to start.
2. The Christian feels frustrated because nothing he does seems to work, and he sees little or no change in his disciple.
Discipleship is the Great Commission. Discipleship is the primary job description of the biblical pastor and elder. Discipleship is the responsibility of every believer.
Despite the centrality of discipleship in the New Testament, we often relegate it to secondary status. This manual is meant to be a basic, easily-usable guide. I will not defend the case of the centrality of discipleship in the New Testament. I will not try to convince you of its importance in the growth of any and every church. This manual is written for people who already believe in the power of discipling and are looking for a practical way to disciple new believers.
SECTION ONE: RIGHT FOUNDATIONS
It doesn’t matter how great your discipleship program is if the foundations of the disciple’s faith aren’t laid on the solid rock of the Gospel.
Years ago, I lived near a pastor who occasionally ministered to members of the unreached people group I was focusing on. He and I saw each other regularly, and I was impressed by the number of converts he claimed to have led to the Lord. Since my ministry wasn’t seeing numbers like his, I wanted to meet these people and see if I could learn how to do things better. I tried for weeks to make an appointment with the pastor.
Finally, one day he took me with him to an ethnic community. We weren’t there long when he cornered a man, got into his personal space, and barraged him with structured questions. “Wouldn’t you like to have eternal life? Do you want to have your sins forgiven? Do you want God to bless your life and heal you?”
Intimidated by the confident, much larger pastor, the man dropped his gaze to the ground and whispered, “Yes.”
Then the pastor asked him to repeat a prayer with him. At the end of the prayer, the pastor congratulated him and added him to his number of converts. The poor guy looked bewildered, having no idea of what he had supposedly just done.
I left that village with a disappointment that went all the way to my stomach. Weeks later, when a friend asked the “convert” whether he had given his life to Jesus, the man said that he hadn’t. He didn’t want to offend the visiting pastor but hadn’t understood a thing that he was talking about.
In another situation, a ministry colleague of mine was boasting about all his ethnic disciples. Once again, it took a long time to meet one. When the day came at last, my friend brought his best disciple to my house.
I couldn’t wait for them to arrive. This was what I lived for: making disciples from unreached people groups. When they got there, to my dismay, the conversation focused only on small talk. When I brought up the question of the Gospel, I was surprised to hear that she believed in Jesus but didn’t believe that he died on a cross. According to her, that was just a superstition of the Christian old folks.
I gently explained that the cross was a non-negotiable part of the Gospel and that our salvation depended on the work of Christ on that cross. But she was content with her belief because it didn’t conflict with her current way of thinking. Besides, a full-time Christian worker had reinforced her false doctrine and called it a legitimate belief.
In both these situations, it’s obvious that you can’t go forward with discipleship if no one has covered the essentials of the Gospel. You need to establish square one before you can build upon it.
On dozens of occasions, I’ve seen the need to go back, sometimes even if the person has been baptized, and go over the “Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe,” (Romans 1:16, NIV)
This is square one. This is our foundation upon which we build. This is the essential reality, apart from which salvation is only an illusion.
What Is the Gospel?
The Bible clearly tells us: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes,” (Romans 1:16a, NIV).
How many “gospels” are there? There are many versions of the Gospel, but there is only one Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation.
I once asked a missionary class to give me written definitions the Gospel. I got eleven different answers. These people didn’t mean to misunderstand the Gospel. Most of their definitions included some truth. But they were never taught how important the Gospel is. It’s not the latest evangelism technique. It doesn’t solve all your problems or give you everything you desire. It’s not whatever you feel like including in a sinner’s prayer.
The Gospel is non-negotiable, irrevocable truth. You can’t take out parts you think won’t be popular and still expect it to be the power of God for salvation. So what is it?
We can find much Gospel insight in the New Testament but only two definitions.
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, NIV)
This first passage includes three historic elements of the Gospel, a report of actual events. They leave no room for debate or negotiation if we want to communicate a saving Gospel.
Historic Essentials of the Gospel
1. Jesus died for our sins
2. Jesus was buried
3. Jesus was raised to life again on the third day according to scriptures.
In the next passage, we see the second definition of the Gospel, which includes the spiritual elements.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. (Colossians 1:21-23, NIV)
Spiritual Essentials of the Gospel
1. Sin has separated us from God and made us his enemies
2. We are reconciled to God through the death of Christ
3. We access this salvation through faith.
Summary
We need to include the three historic truths and the three spiritual truths in any Gospel presentation. Is anything else true about the gospel? Of course. They are many and they are beautiful. Our six non-negotiable essentials represent the basic structure upon which all other truths are built. They are the skeleton. All other biblical truths about the Gospel are like the flesh that gives meaning to the bones.
Without a skeleton, our bodies would be like jelly. We could support no weight and do no work. Simply put, we couldn’t survive. Without the skeleton to provide the essential framework, the Gospel is powerless to help anyone because it is not the Gospel of Christ. This is square one. This is where we all must begin.
SECTION TWO: SAVING FAITH
All Bible-believing Christians know that we are saved by faith.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2: 8,9, NIV)
I will not use this manual to try to prove that we are justified by faith. All of us who are interested in discipleship should have that tenet nailed down firmly by now. Instead, we need to look at saving faith. If it is the only way we can be saved, we need to get it right.
Have you ever felt something might be missing from people’s claims about faith but were afraid to mention it? Have you ever thought, That sure sounds easy. I already believe. Why don’t I see the changes in my life that the preacher is talking about?
When we say the words “faith” or “believe,” what do we mean? In most languages, English and Filipino included, these words simply imply an intellectual assent of truth They refer to something we have confidence in, something we acknowledge to be true, something we accept as reality.
Approximately 85 percent of the Philippines probably have that level of belief in the Gospel. Does that mean 85 percent of the country is saved?
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. (James 2:19, NIV)
Even the demons believe in God. We can be sure they are not saved. So what’s missing?
What’s missing is that the New Testament wasn’t written in English or Filipino. It was written in Greek. When speaking about salvation, The New Testament writers always used the Greek word pisitis for “faith” and pistueo for “believe.”
How does that help us? Let’s look at the definition given by W. E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (city: press, year).
Pistis/Pistueo:
1) A firm conviction or belief
2) A surrender to that firm conviction or belief
3) A change as a result of that surrender
Most modern languages stop at definition number one when defining faith. But the biblical definition is much more comprehensive. To simplify, remember this:
Saving Faith = Absolute Surrender
Even if we preach the true Gospel, we can ruin everything if we push people to surrender their lives before they are ready or if we allow them to believe that surrender is optional.
Summary
We are saved by faith alone. Saving faith isn’t simply believing that the Gospel is true; it is a surrender of one’s life. Without this element, there is no real salvation.
SECTION THREE: OBEDIENCE-BASED DISCIPLESHIP
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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Mt. 28:19,20, NIV)
This general command is directed to all Christians. It clearly states God’s will for each Christian’s life.
Discipleship Isn’t as Complicated and Confusing as We Often Make It
Jesus tells us to make disciples by doing two things:
1. Baptizing new believers
2. Teaching believers to obey all the commands of Christ
In the New Testament, Jesus commanded us to observe only two compulsory ceremonies: baptism and Holy Communion. When churches or Christians don’t understand the reason or significance of the ceremonies or simply don’t care that Jesus commanded them, the result is that they don’t usually do them.
Our understanding or appreciation is not the basis for our obedience. When we became Christians, we gave our lives to Jesus. If he is our Lord, we don’t have the right to negotiate which commands to obey. The Great Commission says to teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded.
Let’s start with the first part of the Great Commission.
1. BAPTISM
a. The simplest reason new believers are baptized is because Jesus told us to do it. If for no other reason, that should be enough motivation.
b. The second reason is that baptism is a testimony to the reality of what has happened in the newly born spirit of the believer.
i. “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection,” (Rom. 6: 3-5, NIV).
Identification is an important doctrine of our salvation. Through our identification with Christ, we are credited with the righteousness of Christ. This identification with him is demonstrated in the spiritual realm when we are born again. Our “old man” dies (identification with the death of Christ). We are baptized (identification with the burial of Christ). We are given a new life and we become a new creation (identification with the resurrection of Christ).
The word baptism, in New Testament Greek, means to immerse something so that the immersed object loses its identity and takes on the identity of the thing it is immersed into. For example, I could immerse a white cloth in a cup full of purple dye. When I take the cloth out, it has lost its old identity (color) and has taken on the new identity of the dye it was immersed in.
That’s how it is with baptism. We are immersed in Christ. In the spiritual realm, we lose our own identity and identify ourselves with Christ. When we are baptized, we testify of this change.
c) The third reason we are baptized is as a symbol of our commitment.
“And this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God,” (1 Peter 3:21a, NIV).
Baptism is not a ceremonial cleansing. It is the pledge of a good conscience toward God. A pledge is a symbol of commitment, a visible indicator that we have publicly made this commitment in good faith and that we will abide by it. When we are baptized, we make a visible commitment to follow Christ for the rest of our lives, regardless of how difficult or easy it becomes.
2. OBEDIENCE TO THE COMMANDS OF CHRIST
The next way Jesus tells us to make disciples is to teach people to obey all that he has commanded. Note that he doesn’t say to teach them his commands, but rather to teach them to obey.
This is the challenge. We are to teach people to obey all the commands of Christ within the context of their personal lives. It doesn’t do any good to tell a believer to love her neighbor. We need to teach her how to love her neighbor.
Jesus tells us that we are to obey all his commands. We know that the two greatest commands are the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. This means that if we love God with all our being and our neighbor as ourselves, we have fulfilled all the other commands.
This suggests the huge importance of understanding and functioning in the love of God. When we can receive God’s love, we can freely give it to others. But on a more specific side, there are about 70 general commands of Christ in the four Gospels. It’s pretty hard to memorize them all and obey at a moment’s notice.
Let’s start at a more basic level and condense the commands of Christ down to seven basic commands that we can focus new believers on. The following commands not only help establish the lordship of Christ in the lives of believers but also help reinforce the function of the body of Christ as a church.
1. Repent and believe. To repent means to change, which is the third part of our definition of saving faith.
2. Be baptized.
3. Love. “Love your neighbor as yourself”. According to Luke 10:25-37, my neighbor is he who is in need.
4. Give. James 2:15-17 gives us specific details of how to obey the command to give. James is teaching people how to obey, following the command of Christ, and making disciples through his writing.
5) Pray. Teach new believers to use the Lord’s Prayer not as a memory prayer, but as a structure when we don’t know how to pray. (Mt. 6:5-15)
6. Meet together/ Holy Communion. This is another issue that confuses evangelical Christians. We are not used to rituals or ceremonies, since they are not part of our normal worldview. Because of theological liberties Roman Catholic doctrine has taken with Holy Communion, we sometimes are uncomfortable observing the same ritual while not understanding its significance.
a. Again, because Christ commanded it, we should observe it.
b. It provides a regular opportunity for remembrance. Our human nature is forgetful and tends to take things for granted. Every year, we have days to remember our mothers, our fathers, our war veterans, our national heroes. We do this so we don’t forget their sacrifice and example. That is the same principle that Jesus conveys in Luke 22:19-20. It is healthy periodically to pause and consider the great sacrifice Jesus made for us.
c. It also provides a regular opportunity to examine our lives, reveal our sin, and make things right, (1 Corinthians 11:23-28). Healthy spiritual introspection helps us to identify harmful sin in our lives that can damage us, those close to us, and the church itself if we do not deal with the sin in a timely manner.
d. It provides a regular opportunity for fellowship with other believers in a spiritual context. This cements the importance of our faith within the setting of the body of Christ.
7. Make disciples. In the New Testament, evangelism is considered part of the discipleship process. We don’t see the wide distinctions we make between the two ministries today. But just to avoid confusion, let’s include both discipleship and evangelism in this command.
SECTION FOUR: DISCIPLESHIP FOR CONVERSION . . . AND BEYOND
Have you ever noticed in the New Testament, particularly in Acts, how so many believers came to the Lord as a result of listening to the teaching of the Word? That’s right—Bible studies, sometimes in a synagogue, sometimes in a home, sometimes in the open air or a neutral location.
The apostles didn’t seem to shift into full-blown evangelism mode just because unbelievers attended the ongoing discipleship of the believers. Discipling for conversion is a biblical principle and a practical evangelism method. By teaching seekers about the Christian life and not dwelling only on verses dedicated to the conversion of their souls, we prepare them to be better disciples.
When we teach obedience to the commands of Christ, we expose unbelievers to a dimension of faith they’ve never seen before. Imagine how it must feel when a seeker sits in on a Bible study and hears sincere disciples humbly discussing forgiveness of those who have offended them, helping those in need of practical assistance, or giving sacrificially to the poor. When people see us living our faith in real life, outside a church building, our faith becomes much more attractive and real.
We should allow and even encourage seekers to attend our meetings. We shouldn’t feel the need to give them an evangelistic message all the time. Let the power of the Word work in their lives. Let the reality of your daily testimony have its effect. Let the Holy Spirit prepare the soil of the seeker’s heart so that when he is ready to give his life to the Lord, he has been prepared by the Lord and is not merely submitting to clever evangelism dialogue.
What happens when a seeker who has been fellowshipping with you wants to be a disciple and follow Jesus? We hope that by this time he will understand that a disciple is someone who is committed to obeying all the commands of Christ. First, ask him if he believes in the Gospel and is willing to surrender his life in obedience to Jesus. If he is ready to do that, baptize him and welcome him as a new disciple.
But say for instance that he refuses to forgive someone who has hurt him. Or maybe he isn’t willing to be baptized. We can work with that. We can still fellowship with him, teach him, and encourage him, but until he is willing to obey all the master’s commands, we can’t call him a disciple. That is a standard we have to maintain if discipleship and the Great Commission are to keep their relevance and meaning.
This is not necessarily a bad situation. We are discipling this person toward a saving faith and a life of obedience to the Lord. That’s a good thing, and it takes a different amount of time for each person.
SECTION FIVE: THINGS TO REMEMBER IN DISCIPLESHIP
Almost all of a child’s core personality is developed by the time he is seven years old. Certain aspects will be added and developed by life experience, but the core essence of who he is as a person is there at age seven. It doesn’t change significantly afterward. This is called the formative period.
A disciple’s formative period is about one year. Most of his expectations of discipleship will be imprinted in his value system within the first year of his faith. Therefore, it is important that we project the right expectations.
If our actions, inaction, or words display delayed obedience or questioning of the validity of some commands, we project mediocre values into the new disciple’s understanding of what it means to be a Christian. There are no installment plans in the Kingdom of God. We can’t say to him, “Lord, save me today and I’ll obey the commands that are convenient for me. I’ll work on the hard ones later.”
We would never say that out loud, but 60-85 percent of our communication is through our actions. Communication is not what we say; it is what they hear. We have to communicate the expectation that if they are a believer, they are expected to obey all the commands of Christ. Anything less is a disservice to them and allows them to form an inaccurate perspective of the Christian life.
If after a couple years of tolerating negotiable obedience, you decide to change your discipleship method and ask your disciple for complete obedience, he won’t be willing. He has gotten comfortable with a different set of expectations.
Modeling
A vital, biblical element of discipleship is modeling. We need to demonstrate what it looks like to be a disciple. Even if you are the best Bible teacher in the world, your life will have a much larger impact on people than your words will.
You don’t have to be perfect or feel pressured to pretend to be perfect. You simply work out your life of obedience to the Lord you as an example to others who follow you.
Imagine you are teaching the commands of Christ and you focus on giving. How much impact will your teaching have if your disciple knows you are a selfish miser?
You get the point. The gospel is more than words. We teach with our lives as well as our words. Let’s look at a few biblical examples describing this principle.
Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. (1 Corinthians 4: 15-17, NIV)
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. (Hebrews 13:7, NIV)
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:9, NIV)
If we want to bear lasting fruit, we will have to be consistent over a long period of time. There isn’t any quick and neat way to make discipleship happen. You can’t do it well from a distance. Discipleship depends strongly upon relationship.
Relationships take time and can be messy and uncomfortable. Jesus, in his relationships with his disciples, experienced frustration and even anger. You, too, will feel tension and conflict at times. But this is the method that Jesus not only commanded but also modeled.
If we want to do a good job of discipling, we need to learn from his example. Jesus’ consistency of teaching, integrity, honesty, and purpose over a long period of time made good disciples who became apostles. The same principles will help us to become better at discipling too.
We won’t be 100 percent successful. Even Jesus had a disciple who betrayed him. Sometimes even baptized believers will fall away. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve done something wrong or that his disobedience is your fault.
We need only to be faithful. We are responsible for the labor, and God is responsible for the increase. There are some things that only God can do, such as drawing people to himself and revealing spiritual truth.
When we try to control our disciples, all kinds of bad scenarios present themselves. Religion at its best is a system by which we worship and serve in an organized manner. Religion at its worst is a system of control that manipulates people, using guilt, because it doesn’t trust the doctrine of grace to motivate them to do the right things.
God doesn’t ask us to do everything. He is the one who changes hearts, convicts of sin, and gives the gift of saving faith. He simply asks us to teach his disciples.
We can do this. It doesn’t have to be complicated. When we concentrate on quality, it can multiply into quantity. But quantity can never multiply into quality. Let’s keep things simple. Discipleship is God’s method. When we do God’s methods in God’s ways, we have good reason to expect God’s results.
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April 2009
A
Mid-Life
Pilgrimage
A little more than a year ago God began leading me to fan back into flames some areas of giftings he had given me but that had grown dormant through lack of use. I began a research/teaching project in the form of a manuscript. The subject of Ephesians 2:10 fascinated me: “You are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for you to do.”
If I was the handiwork of God created specifically to do special things that he had prepared for me a long time ago two things were missing…. First, I sure didn’t feel like God’s workmanship and second, I really didn’t know what God wanted me to do at this stage of my life. The concept of functioning according to God’s design for me began to take shape and the project eventually became a kind of pilgrimage. Months later as I began to understand how God had hardwired me and equipped me, much of the mystery of God’s will began to evaporate in the light of God’s design.
There is nothing like the feeling that you are doing what you were born for and you are proactively cooperating with the way God designed you to function. Life becomes simpler and focus more natural. I’m posting the first chapter of my manuscript for anyone who wants to take on this same adventure of discovery with me. Click on the link, “books” , if you are interested. Naturally I welcome your thoughts. You can share them with me through this website by emailing me at at the "CONTACT US" link.
Tom
March 2009
The seasons God engineers into our lives are often mysteries of transition that we don’t fully understand. It’s easier to cooperate when we “get it”, but even when we don’t, surrender, not the approving knowledge of all the details, is usually the best catalyst for growth. As we proactively use the gifts God has given us and function according to the way he has designed us, we move toward fulfilling the specific works he has prepared in advance for us to do on this earth. (Eph. 2:10)
Since the middle of 2008 God has been making it clear to us that we should be preparing to reenter the ministry full-time. The more we identified our self-imposed limitations on what we considered legitimate options for the fulfillment of God’s will in our lives, the more clearly we began to see what God’s true purposes were.
After thirteen years of building a sustainable and reproducing church planting model in the southern Philippines, numerous
opportunities have arisen for us to reenter that work with a larger scope and vision.
During our last mission we focused primarily on one unreached people group and one ministry organization to reach them. Now we have the opportunity to assist efforts to all thirteen of the unreached people groups of the southern Philippines. Missionaries that we have personally trained and worked with are now working in places like Pakistan and Indonesia.
The opportunities to help train, mentor and facilitate the next generation of Filipino (and other) missionaries are exciting and real.
We invite you to join with us on this journey and experience the new adventures God has in store for us together.