What is Discipleship?

In the Bible, the use of the word disciple was in direct reference to those who followed Jesus.  It was beyond a belief in who He was and what He was doing - they went with Him where He went, learned from Him, ate with Him, taught with Him, performed miracles with Him.

Paul and Timothy were a great example of this model as well.  Paul was further along in his spiritual journey and Timothy was just coming into his spiritual abilities.  Paul took the time, effort and care to invest in a relationship with Timothy.  He trained him into becoming a more equipped and capable young man by teaching him what it looked like to be a follower of Christ.  He went on to lead a community of Christ followers, without the direct help of Paul, equipping and training others.

In modern terms, it was much like an apprenticeship program - a person follows after one who is experienced and skilled, observes and learns from them, then puts into practice those skills in their own work. And quite possibly, as they become more skilled, they can, in turn, teach others the craft.

Discipleship should be centered around Jesus and having a relationship with Him. He is the Lord, the Master.
Relationship with others is part of discipleship as well - "go, and make disciples" can't be done alone or without impacting others.  It translates, really, into being a disciple-making disciple.  Not only following Jesus, but pointing others to Him as well.

This process is life-long, as Ephesians 4:13 points out: "...until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

What has Jesus done in your life? How has following Him blessed you? As you have grown in Christ, what about your life has been different or improved?  How have you been refined? How have you gained more ability in manifesting the fruit of the Spirit? These are things that can be shared with others who might go through the same things you have already experienced. And beyond your words of testimony, your life can be an example to others of what it looks like to follow Jesus.

So, while we are on the road to maturity in Christ, we can help others through our experience, wisdom, hope and example. We can point them to Jesus.  That is discipleship. So be it!

Ekklesia - Following Jesus as Lord

In my discipleship group through INSTE, we are studying "the Church" this week.

Ekklesia - the assembly of those who have been called and follow that calling.  THIS is the Church. Not a building. Not just people who show up on Sundays. The gathering of people who have been called AND who follow that calling.

Who called us? Jesus did.  It's His bride, the Body of Christ, that we are talking about.  So, if He called us, that would mean it is Him we are following, right?

I think sometimes people stop at confessing belief in Jesus.  They accept that He is their Savior, but do they accept that He is also their Lord?

A lord is defined as: one having power and authority over others (Mirriam-Webster Dictionary). A great example of an earthly version of a lord that helped drive home the concept of lordship was Lord Grantham on Downton Abby. In watching the first episode, I saw the servants of this grand English house, most of them completely devoted to serving their “Lord” of the manor.  Everything they did from the moment they woke up to the moment they went to bed was in service of this Lord and his family.  (You can read more about this comparison here.)

I'm convinced that if every Christian who has confessed belief in Jesus Christ also lived each day as though He was their boss or Lord, "discipleship programs" wouldn't need to exist. We would be ever aware of expressing the fruit of the Spirit and pointing the people in our lives to our Master through their observance of what we say we believe by how we behave. They would want that fruit as well (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control - Galatians 5:22-23).

But until that is true for every believer - until they become disciples as well - our job and goal is to help people recognize that as the Ekklesia, the Church, our eyes should be fixed on Jesus, our Lord, and our actions should represent Him.  As we build each other up, through discipleship, this can happen!