Tuesday, 23 July 2019

Discipleship

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There are many pitfalls that may contribute to failure but we must never give up on the core value of discipleship. One key ingredient is essential for making disciples: Only a person who has been discipled himself and who knows how to make disciples can successfully lead discipleship groups. A person may be capable of leading an enjoyable small group meeting, but if he has not been discipled himself and is therefore not capable of discipling others, he will likely produce a small group that fails to focus on personal discipleship. Perhaps some measure of intimacy might increase through such a group and this in itself has some merit, but it falls far short of what is required to change lives.

Those of us who desire to follow Yeshua in faith-based obedience need to understand that we can never get past these impasses until we learn to successfully disciple a group of people. That success, if measured by an objective evaluation, must show that those who were mentored are characterized by walking in obedience to the commandments of Yeshua. Believers must be taught how to identify with the death and resurrection of Yeshua and to walk in the power of the Spirit to enable obedience to His commandments. Conformity to Yeshua and obedience to His commandments has to capture our hearts. We need to see how this will enable us to fulfill our destinies!

Many leaders have not been discipled by this definition so they face an up-hill struggle to teach others a lifestyle that they do not possess. These leaders will need to learn to become disciples alongside their discipleship group. I reiterate: The key to success is a discipled leader who is capable of making disciples. Ideally, this person starts one small group with people who are zealous to succeed in becoming obedient to Yeshua for a lifetime. From this group new group leaders arise, who will in turn create new discipling groups. The leader not only leads but mentors the people in his/her group. I believe that anything less will not work. Discipleship requires personal relational skills and a clear curriculum focused through small group ministry. We should all recognize that this is the example that Yeshua gave us in his own ministry!

This excerpt was taken from my article.