Every top athlete knows that dedicated training is key to peak performance. And throughout the Bible we see how God raised up many outstanding leaders, yet He only deployed them in action after intensive training, sometimes lasting many years (eg Moses, Joseph and Daniel).
The greatest example of the importance of training is seen in the training of 12 disciples by Jesus. He recruited a group of strong and very different personalities. Over a period of three years He prioritised his time and effort into forming a world changing team who would faithfully represent Him and expand the ministry He had begun. Both in public and in private, Jesus was intentionally training his core group so that one day they have the right heart and skills to minister to great numbers of people. His disciples were constantly being taught and shaped in their thinking, their attitudes, their relationships, their actions and reactions. Jesus was an expert at discipleship training. When Jesus was no longer with them, the fruit of the way He had trained the disciples was plain for all to see. The religious leaders, with all their traditional training and qualifications, could not win against the disciples (Acts 4:13).
Today, if we are serious about reproducing world changing Christians and churches, we too must follow the example and training plan of Jesus. It’s the only way to keep the church pure and purpose driven and to spread the good news of the Kingdom of God throughout the world.
John Wesley and the early Methodists understood and practiced discipleship to great effect. So too has Pastor Cesar Castellanos and the huge church in Bogota, Colombia whose modelling of the G12 Vision has resulted in explosive Christian growth in so many nations. This is also our heart and vision at King’s Church International whether in Windsor or Robertson or London. That’s why we are always working to develop core teams of 12 and many hundreds of small group leaders.
In Mathew 4:18-22 we see three ways to recognise and develop disciples:
1. Jesus looked for those who would follow Him (Matthew 4:19)
a. Discipleship means following Jesus (Matthew 16:24)
b. Discipleship means being trained by those who are already proven disciples of Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:1; 2 Timothy 2:2)
2. Jesus looked for those who were prepared to be formed by Him (Matthew 4:19)
a. Training in life and leadership
b. Correction (Hebrews 12:11-13; Matthew 11:28-30)
3. Jesus looked for those who would be fruitful leaders (Matthew 4:19; Matthew 28:19-20)
Apply
Are you fully committed to following Jesus? Are you also following a faithful leader that you can be accountable to and actively discipled by, or are you just going along as an independent Christian? Before you can be a leader you must learn to become a follower. The most basic criteria for becoming one of Jesus's Twelve was a willingness to follow Christ, to walk with Him, and to choose to become like Him. Jesus called for all out commitment (Matthew 16:24) so the disciples left their previous way of life to make the kingdom of God their greatest priority. They saw that Jesus was different to anyone else. No one taught like Him with such authority, demonstrated such pure love nor worked such miracles. They believed that He truly was the Son of God so they willingly and totally became His followers. Discipleship begins when someone has a revelation of Jesus and commits to totally following Him. Discipleship also means being trained by those who are already proven disciples of Jesus. In other words, there is a human element involved (1 Corinthians 11:1) which comes with both a challenge and a safeguard. The safeguard is that you don’t just follow anyone unconditionally. You need to be able to see clearly that someone is consistently following Christ and the teachings of Scripture. But also, you need to be ready to follow a faithful leader if God has put you in a position to receive their ministry, whether it’s directly from a pastor or a trained cell group leader. For all his previous mistakes and imperfect humanity God prepared the apostle Paul to prepare others to be faithful disciples and leaders (2 Timothy 2:2). In short, the apostolic heart and vision was transmitted through generations of faithful leaders: Paul to Timothy, Timothy to reliable people and those reliable people becoming qualified to teach others.
Are you willing to be formed: trained in life and leadership? Do you receive or resent correction? Formation is essential to discipleship (Matthew 4:19 ‘come follow me and I will make you…'). All Christians are born again but disciples are made. Discipleship means: training the disciple to develop spiritual disciplines of Bible reading and study, prayer, fasting and giving; showing the disciple the importance of having a pure heart, positive speech, and godly attitudes and actions; helping them build the best relationships in family life; showing by personal example how to grow and serve as a leader of faith by focussing first on character not charisma. Discipleship also involves correction. This is good and necessary if you seriously want to develop in your Christian faith and leadership (Hebrews 12:11-13). Jesus was constantly correcting His disciples, especially Peter. But it was Peter who stood out as the main leader on the day of Pentecost. For formation to work in reality, there must always be a strong bond of love between the trainer and the one who is trained (Matthew 11:28-30). Everyone who has the role as a mentor also needs to be gentle and humble even when training and correcting. Biblical discipleship will never be a heavy deal when the mentor loves the disciple and the disciple is secure in the love of the mentor and knows that the process of formation is for their good.
Are you ready to be a fruitful disciple and disciplemaker? Jesus taught the disciples how to catch many fish, symbolic of many people, and showed them how to feed the multitudes for whom he had great compassion. Jesus sent them out to minister under supervision and when He was ready to return to heaven, He decided that they were now ready for the great task to ‘make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you’ (Matthew 28:19-20). From this small and imperfect group that Christ invested so much into, the good news of the kingdom of God spread throughout the world. And that will continue today as people like you and me develop as true disciples of Jesus who make disciplemaking disciples.
