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.
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