Rich Kao

No pastor can pastor without some due pondering & praying of what it means to make disciples. 

I've grappled with how best to define a disciple.  Recently, I began pondering  Jesus' words in the Great Commission (Mt. 28:19-20) and how simply he defined it..."Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...[and], teaching them to observe all that I commanded you..."  There it is (in italics) nine words (eleven including "baptizing them").  Why make it harder than Jesus does?  As I have thought and prayed and meditated on these nine words, I've come to see a three step progression in Jesus' words.

Discipleship begins with 1) learning (being taught), progresses to 2) loving (obeying "all" requires love & passion) and consummates in 3) lifestyle (obeying).

Learning, Loving, Lifestyle.  That's the process of becoming a disciple. 

From this, my working definition of a disciple becomes:

"A disciple is someone who is born-again, water baptised and has committed themselves to Jesus' teachings so it reflects in their attitudes, heart, behavior and lifestyle."

I'll post another entry soon on a fresh "system" I've adopted of late in helping people become disciples.