Renewal Ministries Fellowship

DISCIPLES Making DISCIPLES

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...Teach them to do everything I have commanded you." (Matt. 28:19)

A disciple (Heb. תַלְמִיד talmid) in Jesus' day was someone who had been chosen by a rabbi and made a life-long total committment to:

leave behind all else to follow this rabbi with the ultimate goal of becoming like him, doing all the things that he does;
continually learn from their rabbi, memorise what he said and take upon themsleves their rabbi's yoke (interpretation of scripture) and traditions;
immitate how their rabbi lived in every way;
raise up other disciples.

Jesus is our rabbi and He has chosen and called each one of us to become like Him. Have we responded to Christ by making such a total, lfe-long committment to Him and so become His disciple?

Only a disciple of Jesus can disciple others in following Jesus. Our persuit is not just to know about Jesus but to know Him so intimatly that our lives reflect His: "...it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal. 2:20b).

To become a disciple of Jesus is not just to accept the truth of what He said but also to re-build our lives on this truth; to imitate how Jesus lived on the earth; and to open up our hearts to His scrutiny and transformation of our thoughts, motives, and attitudes. None of this is possible without the work of the cross in our lives, by which we die to this world, sin and self, and are born again into a new life in the Spirit of God.

Talmidim (disciples) would wrestle together with the scripture to comprehend how God's word was instructing them to live in each area of their lives. They lived together in community with their rabbi who observed every aspect of their daily lives and was continually asking "why did you do that?" This questioning was to develop discernment in the talmidim of how the scripture applied to that aspect of their behaviour.

Likewise, our being a disciple is greatly enhanced by living in community with one another, having our lives open to Christ to question and speak to us through one another. As the writer to Hebrews instructed: "encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness" (Heb. 3:13).

To effectivly make disciples we need to both live as a disciple and invest in others to train them to live likewise. Jesus set us the example of training a group of disciples together. This training includes digging into the scriptures and practicing living them out in our daily lives.

As you invite others into this exciting life of being a disciple of Jesus the most important text you can have for your study is the Bible (preforably in your mother tongue). You can access online Bibles here.

Many also find scripture-based materials helpful for their discipleship group. Let the Holy Spirit guide you into which to use at what times as He alone knows where each person's heart is at and what is most needed to help your group all become more Christ-like and bring more people to Christ. All of the wonderful materials linked in the column on the right (Discover Jesus & One with Christ) are freely available to help you and your disciples become more like Jesus and make more disciples.