Making Disciples

Every church must return regularly to a basic question: What are we here to do?

Programs, events, buildings, and calendars can fill our attention. Jesus gave His Church a mission clear enough to guide all of them: make disciples.

That mission is larger than a church strategy. It reaches into families and across generations.

The people who helped you follow Jesus

Mamma Lula and Pappa Buford were my great-grandparents. You know my Pappa was a boss with a name like Buford.

They loved Jesus and shaped my family more than they could have known. Pappa Buford was a contractor who built the church where my dad’s family worshiped, and he sang in a Southern gospel quartet. More important, he and Mamma Lula showed my dad, in word and deed, what it meant to follow Jesus.

I would not have been raised in church without their influence.

Many other people invested in me, shared what they knew, challenged me, and modeled a faithful life. I am who I am because ordinary Christians took responsibility for helping someone else follow Jesus.

Who has played that role in your life? Could someone one day say the same about you?

The Great Commission belongs to every Christian

Jesus told His followers:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19–20, ESV)

This command is not limited to professional ministers, missionaries, seminary students, or an unusually spiritual few. It belongs to everyone who follows Jesus.

The Great Commission is personal: Am I helping someone follow Christ? It is also corporate: Is our church forming people who trust Jesus, obey His Word, and help others do the same?

Every ministry and program should eventually answer that question. Activity is not the same as disciple-making.

What discipleship is

Discipleship is the intentional process of helping someone become more like Jesus by passing on what we know, have experienced, and are learning about Him.

You do not have to know everything before you begin. That day will never come. A Christian who trusted Jesus last week can tell someone what he or she has learned about sin, forgiveness, grace, and new life.

Discipleship happens in the context of a relationship. You share what Jesus is teaching you, listen to another person’s questions, open Scripture together, pray, and model obedience. You are not presenting yourself as the finished product. You are inviting someone to follow Jesus alongside you.

Begin by following Jesus yourself

You cannot make disciples without being a disciple. Turn from sin, trust Christ, and keep learning to obey Him.

Spend regular time in Scripture and prayer. Stay connected to the church. Practice confession and repentance. A disciple-maker’s influence comes from a life that is being shaped by Jesus, not from having an impressive amount of information.

Pray for one person

Jesus prayed through the night before choosing the twelve disciples (Luke 6:12–13). We should also begin with prayer.

Ask God for one person you can invest in. It may be a new believer, a younger Christian, a family member, a coworker, or someone who is curious about faith.

Pray for that person by name. Ask God for wisdom, opportunity, and a genuine love that seeks the person’s good rather than an impressive result.

Extend a clear invitation

Once a person comes to mind, ask. The invitation does not need to be complicated:

“Would you like to meet once a week or every other week to read the Bible and talk about what we are learning?”

Be specific enough that the other person knows what you are proposing. Choose a Gospel or another short book of the Bible. Agree on a rhythm and a place to meet.

If the answer is no, keep loving and praying. Disciple-making cannot be forced.

Lead by example

If you ask someone to read a chapter, read it too. If you encourage prayer, pray honestly. If you discuss obedience, be willing to name where God is correcting you.

Discipleship is not a lecture or a performance. It is a relationship in which truth becomes visible in real life.

A simple meeting can include four questions:

1. What does this passage say?
2. What does it show us about God?
3. How should we respond?
4. Who else could we share this with?

Think beyond one generation

Mamma Lula and Pappa Buford could not have seen every life their faithfulness would touch. They invested in their family, and God carried that influence forward.

That is the quiet power of disciple-making. One Christian helps another follow Jesus. That person helps someone else. Over time, God uses ordinary relationships to shape families, churches, and generations.

Ask God for one person. Open His Word together. Share what you are learning, and show what obedience looks like. The Great Commission moves forward one faithful relationship at a time.

Adapted from a sermon by Jarrett Stephens.