Discipleship seems to be a "buzz word" in Christian circles today.  You can go to all kinds of Discipleship seminars (for a fee!), you can get tapes, you can hear all the experts.  Many of these programs are probably very good and, hopefully, very Biblical.

However, "one on one" discipleship HAS changed me, my life, and our church.  Back in 1991  Kansas City Baptist Temple  brought a team of about 50 people to our church for four days (at no expense to our church, by the way).  During those days, they showed us a pattern for one-on-one discipleship.  The basic premise is that someone who is new to the Word or the church is guided by someone who is a little further down the road to help them study the basic doctrines of the church and to learn more about the Bible and living the abundant Christian life.  It is such a SIMPLE plan... isn't it?  It is the plan that Christ used while he walked on this earth.  Though he spoke to thousands, he invested His life into the lives of 12 men and left them with a commission  (The Great Commission)   to Go and Teach ALL NATIONS.  This isn't an option - it is a command given by our Lord.  And once we as a church started making discipleship the heart and core of our ministry, God began to open doors for us.  We have been privileged to be allowed to take discipleship teams all over the United States and the world.   (Discipleship Trips)
 
 

The Discipleship (one on one) ministry that goes on during the week at our church, has changed us from a fairly good church filled with fairly good people who came to church to do their Sunday "thing", to a church filled with people who see that THEY can be used to take the Gospel to anyone, anywhere.  We now have a purpose - a very fulfilling,  rewarding, and attainable purpose in everything we learn and participate in at church.  We have learned that at times in the past, we were very busy doing good things, but we weren't doing the MOST IMPORTANT things!  In the past, we would have people join our church, enjoy coming for awhile, but then eventually leave through the back door, never really having gotten connected with the ministry of the church.  We would all smile and be friendly and "get involved" doing all kinds of busy work, but never take the responsibility of discipling (or teaching), someone new in a personal, one-on-one way.

Now, things are really different!  Sure, there are still a few people who will come into our church and decide it is not for them.  But the vast majority who visit really ARE seeking spiritual growth.  By taking them by the hand and connecting them to a more established believer, many things are accomplished.  First of all they learn doctrine - what we believe and why.  Secondly, they get established in the Word of God.  They get to learn their way around the Scriptures and learn to find answers for themselves.  Thirdly, they become established in the fellowship of believers and in the local church.  That means they get to know REAL people who struggle just the way they do.  They begin to understand that the local church is the vehicle Christ designed to accomplish His work on the earth after He came the first time.  Lastly, they become established in the work of the Lord - that is the work the Lord did when He came to this earth - evangelism and discipleship.  The one-on-one discipleship gives the new believer a confidence that THEY CAN share the gospel, that THEY CAN teach one other person what they believe and why, that THEY CAN train someone else to share the gospel and bear fruit that remains.  (For you pastors out there, a side effect of this discipleship ministry has been a drastic drop in counselling demands, freeing our pastors to labor in the Word.  Isn't that what a pastor is supposed to do anyway?)

Discipleship is more than evangelism, though that is certainly the first step.  It is teaching, like Barnabas taught Saul, investing his life in him, until Saul reached the point of maturity and became a discipler, too.  Evanglism alone is addition, but when you disciple the evangelized, you become a multiplier.

I have never met a believer who did NOT want to be fruitful, have you?  Most of us just have never figured out quite how to do it.  Well, discipleship gives us the tools to train someone who will eventually become trained to train someone else.  As a fairly new grandmother, I will tell you I LOVE my kids, but there is NOTHING like a grandchild!  What joy!!  So to draw this illustration into discipleship... once you disciple someone and they reach the point they can disciple someone else... you become a spiritual grandparent!  Not only do you get the joy of having a "spiritual child", but you get to see them experience the joy of "spiritual children", too!  It really is an awesome plan, isn't it?
 

If you have further questions regarding the discipleship ministry or if you would be interested in learning more about how to start it in your church, feel free to either contact me or contact the pastors at my church to get information regarding the conferences that are offered to explain it.  There is never any financial cost to anyone who wishes to start discipleship, but there IS a cost to discipleship.  (Mark 8:34-36)    However, the rewards are out of this world!