Disciple: Follower. One who takes another as teacher and model.
[Collins English Dictionary]
What does it mean to be a discipler?
Be a role model for other Christians, as someone who clearly teaches Biblical principles, whilst living in a way which accords with those principles and demonstrates how they can be applied to daily living.
What is involved in being a disciple?
Root: 'discipline' (suggests effort, commitment and perseverance)
Give up everything and follow Jesus (Luke 14: 33) Bear fruit (John 15: 7) Emulate God's character - love (John 13: 35) Trust and respect (John 2: 11) Teachability (Luke 11: 1) Hold to teaching (John 8: 31)
Can you think of particular instances where Jesus clearly demonstrates the role of discipler?
Jesus was a perfect example of how to 'walk the talk'. The main way his disciples could learn from him was to model the way he lived his life, as well as believe his teachings.
James 1: 22 "Don't merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
No good just to have solid teaching - need to live out and clearly demonstrate the values you hold (James 2: 17) Jesus taught "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father" (Matt 6: 6) and he often withdrew to lonely places to pray. Jesus taught "Seek first God's kingdom" and he prayed "Yet, not my will, but yours". Jesus taught "Do to others as you would have them do to you" and serve others, and he washed his disciples feet. Jesus taught "Love your enemies" (Matt 5: 44) and pray for those who persecute you he went to the cross, praying "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do".
What do these passages show about the key elements involved in discipleship? Invest time (Matt 9: 10) Be a role model (Matt 14: 23 - Jesus went off to pray) Teach the truth (Matt 7: 28) Love and serve (John 13: 5 - Jesus washed disciples' feet) Equip disciples (Matt 10: 1) Take the initiative - don't wait for people to come to you. We are commanded to 'go' and make disciples (Matt 28: 19) Choose people who God leads you to. Jesus selected 12 apostles, and clearly didn't invest the same amount of time in everyone he met. Patience. John 12: 16 - Jesus' disciples didn't understand the significance of a lot of what he said to them, but he didn't get sacked off with them.
How do we disciple people at the moment?
What tools/strategies do we use? How much time do we invest in people? How do we meet people and develop/sustain discipleship relationships?
How do we deal with issues of co-dependence, over-dependence and rejection?
How can we apply Biblical models to the way we go about discipleship in the course of our campus ministries?
