What is Discipleship and Why It Matters
Discipleship. What comes to mind when you hear that word? I was recently in a group conversation where this topic was brought up. And as we talked about discipleship for several minutes, a couple of points became clear. Number one: almost every Christian agrees that discipleship is very important! (Probably not breaking news) Number two: people have vastly different ideas of what discipleship is. What I hope to do today is discuss why people have such a varied understanding of discipleship, then draw our attention towards biblical passages and examples of discipleship, before discussing how this applies to you and me.
What is Discipleship?
If you were to ask this question to a group of Christians, most would say that it is something we should do. But we would likely find their answers covering a wide array of ideas. These are some probable answers:
Church Classes
Bible Studies
Small Group discussions
Conferences/Trainings
Accountability partners
From these answers, can you tell where most Christians think the burden for discipleship lies? In other words, who is responsible for discipleship? Most of these are church programs—where the church hosts a group or puts together a training or conference. And the focus of these programs is typically gaining knowledge and understanding of the Bible. As a result, the pastor or elders bear the burden of preparing the teaching. Which means that most people see the pastor and/or elders as being responsible for providing discipleship. It is then the responsibility of the church members to attend these programs. So, I think it is safe to say that most Christians place the responsibility to provide discipleship programs on their pastors/elders, and it is then the individual Christian’s responsibility to participate in the programs. Now, these programs are usually well-intended and can bear some fruit, but we must ask: Is this how the Bible defines and portrays discipleship? To answer this question, we need to first examine what it means to be a disciple.
Disciples
The Lexham Bible Dictionary tells us that “the Greek term for disciple usually referred to an adherent of a great teacher or master.” The idea of disciples is not a new one. We can look back to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, Elijah and Elisha, Moses and Joshua. The purpose of being a disciple was to learn from a master and then become a teacher of others. In this way, the thoughts and ideas of a master were carried forth and passed on by their disciples. Disciples sought to follow the master’s teaching as closely as possible. Thus, we can say that a disciple is “[s]omeone who follows another person or another way of life and who submits himself to the discipline (teaching) of that leader or way.”
Jesus uses this existing master-disciple paradigm and transforms it to fulfill his purposes. He calls and trains his disciples before sending them out. But rather than the disciples becoming masters themselves, they were to point future disciples to Jesus. Thus, these future disciples are followers of Jesus, just like the original disciples. Yet, we find that being a disciple of Jesus is not simply an individual endeavor—it is very much communal in nature.
Old Testament Basis
In Deuteronomy, we find this concept of passing teaching from one generation to the next. (Bold emphasis mine)
Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long…4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Moses is teaching the people, who are then to teach their children, so on and so forth. Here, we see the concept of fourth-generation discipleship: Moses, you, your son, your son’s son.
New Testament Fulfillment
We find this concept echoed in the New Testament: (Bold emphasis mine)
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
The chain here goes from Paul, to Timothy, to faithful men, to others. Before this, we find the famous command from Jesus to his disciples.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The intention is a self-perpetuating chain of disciples, where each new disciple then begins to make disciples—not of themselves but of Jesus. This is, as Robert Coleman writes, The Master Plan of Evangelism. In this way, the Kingdom of God spreads throughout the world!
Biblical Discipleship
And this brings us back to our first point—what is discipleship? In its most basic sense, discipleship is the process of making disciples. Within the context of Christianity, discipleship is the process of making disciples of Jesus. Therefore, it is vital to consider how Jesus made disciples. The example we find in the gospels is one of a shared life with intentional teaching through both words and actions. Many of the teachings of Jesus resulted from a situation or circumstance that he and his disciples encountered as they lived life together. This means that Christian discipleship MUST include close, personal time together. Much of what the disciples learned from Jesus did not come from his teaching but from his actions, which he then explained to them. We might say that much of discipleship is caught, not taught.
Most of our ideas about discipleship today center around teaching. And indeed, teaching is necessary. However, I would suggest that we often view teaching as simply knowledge transfer. Therefore, our mode of discipleship only involves giving a disciple more knowledge, expecting that this knowledge will result in them becoming more like Jesus. Yet teaching encompasses far more than transferring knowledge. True teaching encourages inquisitiveness and questions, critical thinking, and challenges. It fosters an intrinsic desire to know, learn, and apply knowledge by providing examples of application and demonstrating usefulness. And it allows for vulnerability and doubts.
Here is where the New Testament concept of the Church as a family is helpful. In this view, we consider new Christians as babies in the faith. And just like physical babies, they need lots of attention and care. They need to be fed. They need someone to clean up after them. And they need to be taught intentionally. This is why individual discipleship is so important! If we simply tell baby Christians to attend this training, or read this article, or to just show up to church and Bible study, we give the impression that Christians should be self-sufficient from the very beginning. But we would never do that with physical babies! When a baby is hungry, we get them something to eat…we don’t just tell them where the food is. When they’re crying, we comfort them…we don’t just tell them that God has a plan and it will all work out. And we would never think about leaving a baby alone for hours, let alone days, at a time. Unfortunately, we often do these things to baby Christians—expecting them to be solely responsible for their growth and maturity. This is where we too often fall short in Christian discipleship. We tend to view a new Christian as having crossed the finish line instead of just starting the race. But this is not the message of Christianity, nor is it helpful for discipleship. Rather, we must help baby Christians grow into mature Christians—just as we help our physical babies grow into mature adults. The key difference between the two is this: physical maturity is characterized by increasing independence, whereas Christian maturity is characterized by deepening dependence on Jesus.
What It Means for You
We have seen that discipleship is to be carried out to the fourth generation. In practice, that looks like this: you are discipling someone who is then discipling someone who is then discipling someone else. This requires us to be intentional in how we disciple others. We must be concerned with who our disciples are discipling. To this end, I would like to offer a few principles for discipleship.
Be Intentional
Someone supposedly said, “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.” With that in mind, I want to challenge you to be intentional in discipleship. Spend some time in prayer and thinking about how you can begin moving towards fourth-generation disciples. For some of us, this means that we need to stop being the “Bible Answer Guy” and begin encouraging people to read the Bible for themselves. For some, it means being a bit uncomfortable and seeking out new relationships. And for others, it means being intentional in current relationships.
Commit to Spending Time with Mature Christians
Nearly all of us have access to years and years of Christian wisdom, and yet, we tend to overlook this God-given resource. I want to encourage you to seek out an older single man or woman or couple at your church and get to know them. Tell them that you want to learn from their relationship with God and the wisdom that they have accumulated in their walk with Christ. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised by the result. So, who will you ask this Sunday?
Commit to Discipling a Younger Christian or Non-Christian
Every Christian should have at least one person whom they are discipling. This could be a family member, a friend, or someone else. Discipleship does not just flow from the older to the younger—often, the person you are discipling will ask you questions and see things from a different perspective. This gives room for both of you to grow as you seek answers and clarity from the Scripture. Additionally, the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else. This challenges us to read and study as we prepare to meet with our disciple. Who are you committing to disciple this summer?
Join a Community of Believers
Christian growth does not happen in secret, by ourselves, away from everyone else. Rather, in God’s wisdom, He created us for relationships and community. And He uses other people to help mold and fashion us into the image of Christ. (Romans 8:28-29) Discipleship is a natural outworking of Christian community (the Church) that also feeds back into that community. As you are discipled, you grow in your spiritual gifting and maturity. Out of that growth and maturity, you become more Christ-like, attracting others to the community and making more disciples. So, let me encourage you to become part of a community, trusting that God will provide opportunities for discipleship.
Conclusion
Nearly all Christians will agree that discipleship and making disciples is important. The differences lie in who should do it and how the process is carried forth. My sincere hope is that you can see that making disciples is a responsibility of every Christian, whether babes in Christ or mature believers. And that the process of making disciples is one of intentional time together, one-on-one and in community. This is God’s plan for growing His Church and bringing the Kingdom of God to a lost and hurting world. My challenge and prayer is for each of us to live out intentional discipleship for the remainder of 2025 and beyond!
