The process of discipleship is the same for all believers Discipleship should always be our central measure of faith. Jesus commanded his disciples and all his follower in what he referred to as the ‘Great commission’ to go to all nations and make other disciples for him. Those followers were to go baptizing people in the name of the father, the son and of the holy spirit. They were also to teach those they baptized how to worship and obey God.
Discipleship therefore can also be said to be partnership with another person with an objective of helping that person understand, know and respect the word of God, so that he can also help others do the same. When one is then made a disciple he also does the same to another person and the process become similar to each and every person converted. Thus the process is the same to all believers as illustrated below. First, discipleship isn’t a method, that is one doesn’t have to be a member of a certain church or be a member of a certain bible study group or pray in a certain method.
It doesn’t require any of such but only requires one to obey and follow the teachings of the word for the responsibility is the same for all. According to the book The Training of the Twelve it when Jesus call us to be his disciples we do this through one another. Learning how to obey and love God and also loving one another. By allowing other disciples to challenge us we encourage ourselves to walk and to be more aligned to God. this means we need one another in growing each other’s faith.
This also means that honest relationship with others is an important aspect to Christian life. Just as Jesus was teaching his disciples so Christ authority is for the whole earth. Since the process is the same the we must not reach out only certain places but we should cover all the nations and all the ethnic groups in the world. All cultures and religions are not beyond the Great Commission and Jesus exalted every nation and every culture. Jesus also lays absolute claim on each individual according to his absolute authority (Bruce, 1981).
In addition, on how to be a disciple who makes disciples we see that Jesus required all his disciple makers to become teachers at the same time being continual learners. It is said that disciple makers also are required to bear their own crosses and by not doing so Jesus said that one is not fully committed in making other disciples for him. The book also shows how Jesus requires his disciples to teach to other people what he have commanded. We also see that when we are baptized in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit we, this means that each member becomes active in the conversation signified by the baptism.
When a member accepts to be a disciple he/she new ways become related to the work of the one and the only living God. He therefore become to the new believer Our Heavenly Father, his son Jesus Christ to the new believer becomes Our Lord and the spirit become Our dwelling. Through baptism therefore, we submit to the three and all the believers should pledge the allegiance them. This clearly shows that by understanding the commission and the practice of disciple making all the process is similar to all the believers.
Another reason to show that we discipleship process is the same to all the believers is that discipleship is not about one person and Jesus but it should be relational and respond fully to the great commission. According to the book Transformational discipleship, believers should always allow others to collect and challenge them which is a good way of encouraging them to walk in Christ. The book also argues that we all require each other in the journey of discipleship.
It is also seen that when one gets saved and receives instructions from another person hel she becomes a true disciple of Jesus, regardless of his status whether mature or immature. An immature believer can actually be called a believer, Luke in pointed the people who burned their magic books Ephesians were disciples for that short period of time. Jesus commanded his followers to go and make disciples, to go and spread the word. This shows the process should pass from one disciple to another and by so doing the word reaches out to many.
In the other hand, according to the Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples, the reason to why discipleship should not be one person and Jesus only is because Jesus Himself stayed in the gospel for more than three vears preaching to the masses of people. Primarily he spent most of his time with his twelve disciples. He took them places teaching them and to them he invested his life. For more than two thousand years Jesus ushered in spiritual kingdoms.
As Jesus gave and invested his life to his disciples so should o his disciples so should we give our lives to others using Jesus strategy for it is the best one. People can grow and can be developed in many ways, in church and in other places like in campus. In school for example bible study meetings, seminars, cu meetings can help students grow each other spiritually. Through this an environment is created whereby people can engage in each other through fellowship and large-scale meetings (Geiger, 2012). The third reason to show the similarity in the process of disciple making is because the benefits are the same and far reaching to all.
On the book on How People Really Grow the benefits of discipleship reach out the local church the local people and all the believers in the world. When we divide one another in each other’s life the benefit of authenticity relationship will emerge to us. Another benefit is that the discipleship movement will have a long term growth. It is assumed that if you start a group of ten leaders, and each leader is mandated to disciple only one person at the end of a given period of time we will have a total of twenty leaders.
If those twenty also disciples two others each what will result is a long term growth of the process (Nation, 2012). Another benefit of discipleship making is the movement longevity. Jesus started with twelve disciples and for over two thousand years’ millions of people have changed and became disciples. in our case here longevity would mean that in years to come our campus or our church would be thriving with many believers because of the current leader’s investments.
According to the book The Training of the Twelve, biblical disciples should multiply their faith by taking what the word of God has taught them and teaching others on the same. Disciples also should learn how to be accountable by strengthening the faith of the new believer and by so doing preventing him from going backing of from the word of God. The benefits of the discipleship extended to all shows that the process of discipleship is the same and hence the accomplishment of the commission and the discipleship practice (B, 1891).
Lastly, discipleship making process and understanding the commission is the same to all believers in that it is only one Jesus who gets the credit. This means that the process of iscipleship is not about you but it’s about lesus. It is He who gets the glory not us because our work is to disciple and he transforms someone. According to the book on How to Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples, when you disciple one person do not do it alone for the Christ is in you.
It is argued that when Jesus was with disciples he invested his life in them. Whatever His disciples did they did it to the glory of Jesus. That’s why when we give our lives to others we should do it like Jesus did to hi twelve disciples and should always keep in mind that everything we do the glory is to Him (Collins, 2013). In addition, when the disciples take what God have given them and passing them to others, they should make sure what they are leading those new believers according to the what Jesus have commanded them to do.
According to the book Transformational Discipleship, when a believer does the work of making disciples he should do it in the way that Jesus told his followers to be doing. Thus by doing it all the glory and honor goes to Jesus Christ. It is said that during the last supper Jesus told the disciples when Judas was not there that whatever they do may the son of man be glorified. Jesus also taught his disciples that the greatest concern is that the lords glory.
This therefore shows that when we exercise continue to win more and more believers we should all be aware that the glory of Him comes first and by understand that the discipleship process is well accomplished (Collins, 2012). In conclusion, the above illustrations show that the process of making disciples is the same to all the believers. The paper views the discipleship work not like a method but like similar to all in that one does not have to be a member of a certain church or a certain group of people to understand the commission and the practice of discipleship.
It only takes one to obey and serve him in their own ways. The research on this paper also shows that the discipleship process is a relational process in that you it is not about one individual and Jesus but about one individual and others. it is therefore according to this paper to for one to reach out many other disciples. The paper also reveals the benefits accrued to all people as a result of this process. It is seen that the benefits are equal to all regardless of when one became a believer. Lastly this paper shows that after a believer disciple another all the glory goes to Jesus because he is the one who transforms.
