Everyone Discipling Someone

Discipleship is the reason any church should exist. To glorify God is to prioritize what He commands. Through the Great Commission, we are confident of our marching orders. 

We are making disciples who take personal responsibility for Kingdom activity. It’s more than the leadership attempting to fulfill the Great Commission.

We envision a day when everyone is discipling someone.

The Great Commission tells us to go and make disciples. It does not expect us to stay and wait for people to come to us. Ours is a moving faith. It is an intentional experience. Jesus’ method was to call disciples to Himself – not wait for someone to approach Him. That is why, as His followers, we must be proactive in discipleship.

He did not tell us to make converts. He called us to make disciples. While evangelism is necessary, it is not ultimate. If our church is full of people who converted to a faith that has yet to move them into obedience, we are not fulfilling the Great Commission. When someone receives the gospel, the job is incomplete. Conversion is not the finish line – it is the starting line. When someone comes to Christ, the work on our part can actually begin.

If there is a true profession of faith, there must be a true progression of faith.

Discipleship is key. We need intentional disciples willing to use their lives to make more. 

Discipleship is not an element of our strategy; it is the strategy. It is not a point on the page but the page itself. Everything we do ought to flow from this one command: make disciples.

We won’t stop at one nation because Jesus beckons us to all of them. In disciple-making, we partake in the Great Commission in our city and to the ends of the earth. When conversion happens in Greenville, we must continue with discipleship. When conversion occurs on the other side of the world, we must continue with discipleship.

Disciple implies that someone is a student. We are all in the process of learning, and none of us will ever graduate from it in this life. We all have more to learn, and we all have much to share.

We baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit because disciples are not ashamed to declare allegiance. This public step indicates the level of one’s commitment. We once were dead, but now we are alive. We are raised to life through biblical faith by the love of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son, and the guidance of the Spirit.

We teach people to observe everything Jesus taught. We don’t shy away from the things that could get us canceled in today’s culture. We won’t hide from the truth that this world and our souls need. We also teach for the hope of transformation, not just the quest for information. Biblical faith must be applied to be validated. 

And as we undertake this process of making disciples, we know that Jesus Himself is with us. We never have to question His presence if we prioritize what He entrusted us. We are to make disciples who take personal responsibility for Kingdom activity.