Simple Kingdom: Discipleship

By Mitch and Ingrid Tulloch

Unless otherwise noted all other Scripture texts are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) ©2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2024 by Mitch and Ingrid Tulloch

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the author. 

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

1. What is a disciple?

2. Becoming a disciple

3. The cost of discipleship

4. The benefits of discipleship

5. Growing in discipleship

6. Making disciples

7. The urgency of the kingdom

A disciple's song

About the authors

Foreword

A foreword by Dave Pedersen, National Director of the Association of Vineyard Churches in South Africa (AVCSA)

This offering on discipleship by Mitch and Ingrid Tulloch, called Simple Kingdom: Discipleship, is so very refreshing!

When Jesus chose His disciples, which was an intentional, prayerful choice, He did so, says Mark, that they might "be with him and have authority" to be the people who do the stuff of the Kingdom of God. 

Mitch and Ingrid bring this out with energizing inspiration. This book is a catalytic firelighter for launching discipleship relationships and lifestyle changes. It is not a program but an appetizer, and an invitation to a life and lifestyle of knowing Jesus and making Him known. It is an exercise in leading by inspiration, not obligation. The message of this book calls us forth to love and lead like Jesus.

Another way of seeing it is as an antidote to hypocrisy! The book challenges the legalistic imposition of the Gospel which is often attached to overplayed accountability and presents the Gospel rather as a proposal of marriage!

By the time I reached the last chapter, I was more in love with the One who lifts, liberates and leads so that the world can have hope!

Thanks, Mitch and Ingrid!

Dr. Dave Pedersen

Fountain Vineyard, Gqeberha, SA

ND Vineyard SA

Introduction 

What does it mean to follow Jesus and be his disciple? How does one grow as a disciple? How can we disciple others, and who should do this? 

In the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 the Lord instructed his eleven followers to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe everything he commanded them. To fulfill this great task that Jesus has given us, we must first understand the purpose and goal of discipleship. This book attempts to deal with this subject simply, and Biblically. 

Who this book is for

Our book is intended both for those who want to become better followers of Jesus themselves, and for those who want to help others become good disciples. So whether you're a pastor, a homegroup leader, or just someone who loves Jesus, this book should be helpful to you. 

A note on the writing

Although our book was a collaborative effort by Ingrid and me, only one of us (Mitch) was tasked with doing the grunt work of writing everything. As a result, the book has been written mostly in the first person for the sake of simplicity of expression. In a few places however, Ingrid's personal thoughts have also been expressed on certain important matters where she knows a lot more than Mitch :-) 

Acknowledgements 

We would like to thank the following individuals who freely gave of their time and insight by reviewing draft chapters and providing much helpful feedback: Martin Buehlmann, Leader Emeritus of the Vineyard Movement in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Vineyard DACH); and Dave Pedersen, National Leader of the Association of Vineyard Churches in South Africa (AVCSA). 

Mitch also thanks our friend Bonnie (Bonzo) Sheppard for her scrutinous weeding out of his numerous typos and grammatical mistakes in draft chapters. 

BuildPlant.org

This book can be freely downloaded in PDF format and/or be read online in its entirety on our website buildplant.org where you will also find other titles in our Simple Kingdom series of free books. 

Cheers,

Mitch and Ingrid Tulloch

info@buildplant.org

1: What is a disciple? 

There's a certain saying that Jesus frequently used in his teaching. So often, in fact, that it's recorded four times in various forms in three different gospels. So it must be important. Here are the passages I'm referring to:

"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master." (Matt 10:24-25)

"A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher." (Luke 6:40)

"Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him." (John 13:16)

"Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.'" (John 15:20)

By examining each of these passages in turn, we can start to learn what it means to be a disciple. 

Let's begin. We'll keep it simple.

Like his teacher

The Matthew and Luke scriptures give us a simple definition of what a disciple is:

A disciple is someone who is like his teacher.

In other words, being a disciple means being like Jesus. 

OK! But what does it mean to be "like" Jesus? In what ways should we try to be like him? 

That's a good question. I became a Christian in the days of the Jesus Movement, and back then being "like Jesus" meant young guys wearing sandals letting their hair grow long and walking around with dreamy eyes and a gentle smile on their face. "Hey look, man! That guy looks just like Jesus!" 

Of course, that's not what Jesus meant when he told his disciples they should be "like" him. But we'll leave this question for now and return to it in a later chapter. 

Fully trained

We now know what a disciple is: someone who is "like" Jesus. But this raises a new question, namely, how does one become like Jesus?

The Luke passage gives us the answer: it involves training. And it's not something that happens overnight; it takes time to become "fully" like Jesus. (A lot of time, actually. And probably more than most of us will ever have in our own lifetimes.) 

And the idea that disciples need some form of training is actually quite evident from Jesus' words that a disciple is not above his "teacher." 

But if training is needed to become a "fully-trained" disciple, then the question arises of who does the training, and what form that training takes. But that's another question that we'll pass over for now and talk about later. (But I'll give you a hint: it's not you, at least not in the way that you think it might be.)

Servants and messengers

John quotes Jesus' saying twice, which clearly emphasizes how important it is for us to understand its significance. But in the Gospel of John, Jesus expresses his saying a bit differently. Because instead of saying that a disciple is not greater than his teacher, he says a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. Get the contrast? Disciple vs. teacher, servant vs. master, and messenger vs. sender. What does it mean? 

I think what Jesus is doing here is using complementary words to express more fully what it means to be a disciple. In other words, a disciple is also a servant. Which means he has a master. Which means he's supposed to do what his master tells him to do.

And a disciple is also a messenger. Which means he's been given a message to deliver. And it's his responsibility to deliver it clearly, confidently, and without alteration. We're getting closer to understanding what a disciple is, aren't we? 

Not greater

Finally, there's one part of these four scriptures that we've overlooked until now. Namely, the bit about "not above" or "not greater." What does Jesus mean by this?

I think what he means is that our *only* goal as Jesus' followers should be to be like him, nothing more and nothing less. It means we should have no other ambition in our life than to simply follow in his footsteps doing his will. "It's enough," says Jesus, "if you become just like me." 

So. How does one get started on the path of discipleship? That's what we'll examine next. 

2: Becoming a disciple

At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus called Simon Peter and several others to become his first disciples with these simple words:

"Follow me"

Becoming a disciple today happens in the exact same way: Jesus invites you to follow him, and you decide to do so. You then become his follower. 

But what does it actually mean to follow Jesus?

Following Jesus

To understand what it means to follow Jesus, let's look more closely at how Jesus called his first disciples. We'll start with Peter and Andrew as told in Matthew 4:18–20:

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 

Observe that Jesus not only invites Peter and Andrew to follow him, he also states the purpose for them to become his followers: so they can learn to catch people (like how they had been using their nets to catch fish). 

But they're not going to be building a following for themselves. Being a disciple isn't about collecting people for your own purposes, it's about winning them for God. It's not about building your own ministry, it's about participating in Jesus' ministry. This is important!

Note above that I specifically said "so they can learn to catch people." That's because being a disciple means you're a learner, with Jesus of course being the teacher. Remember that the goal of training a disciple is to make him like his teacher (Luke 6:40). So catching people is something you can learn to do by following Jesus.

How does this work in practice? Well, look at the lives of Peter and the other first disciples. They followed Jesus all around Galilee and the surrounding areas, listening to him preach and teach in synagogues and watching him heal the sick and demonized people. They watched him as he did these things, and they learned how to do them from his modelling.

Then he summoned them and gave them an assignment. He sent them out to do the same kinds of things that he had been doing:

And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. (Luke 9:1–2)

The twelve disciples (also called apostles because Jesus had specifically called them by name and sent them out) probably took deep breaths and swallowed, and then they "departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere" (verse 6). When they returned they "told him all that they had done" (verse 10) and Jesus took them aside for a debriefing session. 

At this point in their becoming disciples, it wasn't really a mission. It was more like training—similar to a practicum or work experience program for high-school students. But that's what disciples are: students. And once disciples are fully trained, they can become teachers. But there's a catch there, something to watch out for that we'll talk about later. 

Be like Jesus

The point however is that being a disciple means we have a job to do: help Jesus gather people into God's kingdom. And the way we do our job is the same way Jesus did it: that is, by healing the sick, casting out demons, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. 

Which means we're now ready to answer the question we raised in the previous chapter, namely, what it means to be "like" Jesus:

Being like Jesus means doing the stuff that he did.

And that he continues to do, in us and through us, his Body. Because we can only "do the stuff" of the kingdom under his authority and empowered by his Spirit. We can't do any of this stuff on our own. 

What Jesus wants most

Hold on just a gosh darn moment there. Are you telling me that doing personal evangelism and praying for divine healing of sick people is all that being a disciple is about? What about helping the poor? And teaching children in Sunday School? And serving on the building committee for our church? And organizing prayer chains, and...

Yes of course, all those things are important too as we all have "gifts that differ according to the grace given to us" (Romans 12:6). After all, Tabitha was a disciple and her main ministry was knitting sweaters (Acts 9:36ff). 

But I'll bet she also tried to win her neighbors to Christ, and she probably prayed for healing when a fellow widow was ill. 

What Jesus wants most however is for more of us to respond to his call to discipleship, to follow in his footsteps doing the things that he did. After all, he didn't just train twelve disciples; he trained many more. And when he was appointing seventy-two others to go do the same things that the Twelve had been sent out to do, Jesus told them:

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Luke 10:2) 

There's a double note of urgency in what Jesus said here. First, he says pray earnestly—earnestly! The underlying Greek word used here expresses the idea of begging for something that is very much needed, as in "Please, sir!" And the Greek verb translated above as "send out" isn't the same as the word used earlier in Luke 9:2 where Jesus "sent out" the Twelve. Luke 10:2 instead uses a word found elsewhere in the Gospels when referring to driving out demons. So what Jesus is actually saying here is something like this:

There aren't enough of my followers who know what it really means to be a disciple. So I beg you, please pray earnestly that God will push more Christians out of their comfort zones, out of the pews and into the streets, so they can gather more people into my Father's kingdom. 

Because the meat is in the street, as Wimber used to say. And the time is short, too. But we'll talk about that later.

Anyhow, before you sell your house and quit your job and run off to be a missionary or whatever, maybe you should begin by counting the cost. 

We'll examine that next. 

3: The cost of discipleship

Let's examine Matthew 4:18–20 again where Jesus called his first disciples:

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 

When Jesus invited Peter and Andrew to follow him, they left their livelihood (nets and other fishing equipment) and began following Jesus around Galilee. Was this irrational exuberance on their part? What about their families? How were they going to support themselves? Are they crazy?

The same thing seems to have happened with James and his brother John, for they left their father Zebedee in their boat and immediately followed Jesus (Matt 4:21–22). And later on Matthew, who worked as a tax-collector, rose from his table and left his business behind in response to Jesus saying "Follow me." I can just imagine the chaos as Matthew probably left money on the table which people rushed forward to grab! 

Were these people nuts? Or just highly irresponsible? It reminds me of a song I used to sing back in the latter days of the Jesus Movement:

They say I am a dreamer, blind and cannot see

That life consists of living only to earn money

Well, if that's what I am Lord, won't you care for me?

I only want to be like the man of Galilee

It also reminds me of how my own dad reacted after I met Jesus, quit university right before the end of my final undergraduate year of Physics, and turned down a four-year scholarship I had been offered to pursue graduate studies in Astrophysics at a prestigious university. I had left everything for Jesus: my career plans, hopes and dreams. And my father's reaction? "You're nuts!"

What's wrong with all these people? Why did they drop everything and decide to follow Jesus?

A calculated decision

While some Bible expositors suggest that Jesus' words "follow me" had some kind of divine power over their hearers, I don't think that's true. In Luke 9:59 for example, Jesus invited a man to follow him, and the man responded by saying he needed to go bury his father first. So clearly Jesus' invitation didn't have the same kind of effect on that man as it did on Peter and the other first disciples. 

To really understand what made Peter and the others "leave everything and follow him" we have to try to harmonize the different stories in the four Gospels. But this is not easy, for the Gospel authors have sometimes rearranged the order of events to support the thread of the narrative they were trying to communicate. For example, in Matthew the healing of Peter's mother-in-law occurs after Peter receives his call to follow Jesus (see 4:18–20 and 8:14–15). In Luke however, the healing story precedes Peter's call to discipleship (4:38–39 and 5:1–11). 

One can't be certain of course, but I think perhaps the full story of how Peter started following Jesus may have gone something along the following lines:

Peter's brother Andrew had responded earlier to John the Baptist's call to repentance. Peter was aware of this, but his own heart was hard as he didn't want to admit his sins. Andrew later brought Peter to meet Jesus, but at this point Peter continued to run his fishing business while he listened to the stories that were circulating about the marvellous things Jesus was doing. The stories aroused his curiosity, but they also aroused his conviction of sin because he had seen that Jesus was clearly a more godly man than himself. 

But then his mother-in-law got ill with a serious fever and Peter, at his wit's end, went and found Jesus who had been teaching in the synagogue (Peter probably played poker Friday evenings and slept in on Saturday mornings) and begged Jesus to come and help. Jesus quickly came and healed her, and Peter started thinking deeply about his life as he saw Jesus healing other sick and demonized people who came to Peter's house that evening. 

Sometime later Jesus was teaching a crowd by the lake, and he asked Peter who was nearby cleaning his nets if he might use Peter's boat as a platform. Peter obliged, and over the next few hours his conviction of sin probably intensified as he listened to Jesus teaching the crowd. "I know my brother Andrew wants me to follow this man," he may have thought to himself, "but I'm not ready yet because Jesus can probably see right through me what kind of man I am." 

When Jesus finished teaching, he told Peter to let down his nets to catch some fish. Peter replied, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." Note that by calling Jesus "Master" Peter was recognizing that Jesus was someone who had God-given authority and power that one should respect. At this point the miraculous catch of fish occurred, the boat started to sink, and Peter fell at Jesus' knees and cried out, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" Jesus quickly replied with gentleness instead of condemnation: "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." Peter, realizing with wonder that Jesus loved him and that his sins had been forgiven, joyfully gave his life to God and started following Jesus. (Matt 4:18–20, 8:14–17; Mark 1:16–18,29–31; Luke 4:38–39, 5:1–11; and John 1:35–42)

I'm reading a lot of course into the text, but there are some gaps in the Gospel stories, and I think the above reconstruction of Peter's story is at least plausible. 

My point however is that Peter must have made a careful, reasoned decision when he responded to Jesus' invitation to follow him. Having heard what Jesus had been teaching, and having seen what Jesus could do, Peter must have given some thoughtful consideration before becoming Jesus' disciple by weighing the pros and cons of following him. Then, as Gunnar Payne once said to John Wimber while he was patiently explaining to John the way of salvation, "The apple will fall when it's ripe." 

Peter's time had clearly become ripe. 

Counting the cost

Jesus in his teachings makes it clear that there's a cost involved in becoming his disciple. And the more you want to follow in his footsteps, the more it's going to cost.

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:25–33)

Those are strong words. Hate my own father and mother? Hating myself, yes, that I can understand, like dying to self. But also my wife and kids? Paul says husbands should love their wives just as you loved the church. Surely you must be exaggerating, speaking in hyperbole, right?

"Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (vv. 34–35)

I'm trying to hear you, Lord, and I'm trying to understand. What else do I need to know concerning the cost of being your disciple?

"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." (Matt 7:13–14). 

Lord, I do want to follow you, I do want to be your disciple, to be like you. What exactly do you mean when you say that the way is hard? 

To understand this, let's examine again where Jesus says that a disciple (servant) is not above his teacher (master) only this time we'll consider the verses in their context:

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. (John 15:18–20)

"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his household." (Matt 10:24–25)

That doesn't sound like fun. Is there some kind of upside to following Jesus?

4: The benefits of discipleship

In the previous chapter we looked at the cost of following Jesus. But what about all the benefits? Anyone who is contemplating starting a risky new venture should begin by performing a cost/benefit analysis to see whether it's (a) worthwhile and (b) doable. 

So. Having examined the downside, let's now consider the upside. What can you gain from following Christ? 

"Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. (Mark 10:29–30)

This. I can personally testify that what Jesus promises here is 100% absolutely guaranteed to come true—in this life, at least. With persecutions of course. 

(I can't vouch for the age to come though as I'm not there yet. But I do have 100% confidence that I will receive the promise of eternal life—not because of what I've done, but because of what Jesus has done by laying down his life as a sacrifice for my sins.)

How do Jesus' followers receive a hundredfold in this present age? I once heard John Wimber say, Why would anyone not want to become a Christian? Your marriage gets better, your health gets better, your business gets better, even your kids behave better. What's to lose?

The same has been true in my own life. My earthly father cared for me but was distant because he cared most of all for himself. I grew up as a result lacking in confidence and unsure of my place in this world. By contrast, my heavenly Father has always stayed near to me, healing my broken manhood and instilling confidence in me to seize and take hold of life's opportunities (like getting married to the most wonderful woman in the world.) 

Truth is, without God my whole life would have been a total mess or ended even worse. I can honestly say that my life is a hundredfold—no, a thousandfold—bigger and better by knowing God than not knowing him. And it is Jesus' death on the cross that has made it possible for me (and for you) to meet the living God and become his son or daughter, to be born again into the family of God. 

Be crazy for Jesus

This man—

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." (Matt 13:44)

was clearly not crazy. Because if you knew there was a guaranteed-to-be-winning lottery ticket worth many millions in a vacant building somewhere, wouldn't you drain your own bank account to buy the building, take possession of it and redeem the ticket? It's a no-brainer when you spend X and get many times X in return. 

The following man however must have been totally nuts:

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. (Matt 13:45–46)

What's he going to do with this priceless pearl? He has no house or bed or cookware because he's sold everything he owned to buy that one beautiful pearl he had become obsessed about. If he's hungry, will he eat it? If he's thirsty, can he drink it? Where will he live? Where will he sleep?

What a jerk. Or is he? 

Entering the kingdom

Does one really have to give up everything to enter the kingdom of heaven? A cursory reading of the context behind what Jesus told his disciples in Mark 10:29–30 about what they would gain by following him seems to suggest this is true. Let's look at the whole story:

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'" And he said to him, "Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth." And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God." Peter began to say to him, "See, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first." (Mark 10:17–31)

The primary issue the man had that was holding him back from entering the kingdom was his wealth. Others who wanted to become disciples had different things that held them back, such as a need for security (Luke 9:57–58), an ailing parent (vv. 59–60), ties to family (vv. 61–62) and so on. 

Note also how Jesus told Peter that "no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands etc." he used the word "or" not "and" in his reply. In other words, it's whatever that's hindering you from following Christ that you may need to give up if you want to be his disciple. 

It might be the security of a well-paying job you have to give up. Or your plans for a future career. Or a man or woman you feel strongly attracted to, but they're not Christians so you need to let them go. 

What's holding you back from following Jesus? 

Letting go and letting God

Some words from Spirit Song by John Wimber came to mind as I was writing this chapter:

Oh let him have the things that hold you

And his Spirit like a dove

Will descend upon your life

And make you whole

John meant to let Jesus have the things that have a hold on you, that hold you captive and keep you from enjoying what God wants to give you. And it might not be just one thing, or just one time, that you might need to let go of something so you can keep following Jesus. 

Look at Peter for example. At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he invited Peter to follow him, and he did. Then later when Jesus was arrested, Peter denied he knew Jesus, and in remorse afterwards he went back to his previous profession of fishing. But Jesus restored Peter, and told him "follow me" a second time (John 20:21). 

Following Jesus is a process, it doesn't happen in an instant or overnight. You don't go from zero to ninety in six seconds and "zoom!" you're a fully-trained disciple. The path of discipleship takes time to walk along, and there are many pitfalls along the way. And you can step onto that path again at any point of your Christian life. In the next chapter we will examine some of the ways we can grow as disciples and become more like the Man from Galilee who is inviting us to follow him. 

5: Growing in discipleship

Growth isn't linear, it often happens in spurts. This is true both of kids growing up and of our spiritual growth as followers of Jesus. Growth also depends upon several factors, some of which are beyond our control. 

Think of a kernel of wheat trying to grow into a mature plant full of seeds. The way it grows depends on how much sun and moisture it gets, the quality of the soil, the presence of birds and other pests, and so on. The result is that some wheat plants end up with a lot of seeds on them while others may have less, or none at all. I think you know that story from the Bible. 

The same applies to children. If they don't get proper nutrition when they're young, their growth can be stunted. And even if children are raised by good parents in healthy environments, their eventual stature and physique when they grow up depends to some extent on the genetics they inherited from their mom and dad. 

Growth in discipleship is the same. There are things we can do that can help us become better disciples, to become more like Jesus. And there are things we can do that can help others—that is, our brothers and sisters in Christ—become more like Jesus. In this chapter we'll focus mainly on the first goal of helping ourselves become better disciples. We'll look at the second goal, how to "make" disciples, in the chapter that follows this one. 

So with that introduction, here are seven areas that we can focus on to become more like Jesus, which is the goal of discipleship. These are in no particular order, and there are probably more areas we could cover, but seven areas of concern is probably more than most of us can keep in the forefront of our minds. In fact, it may be at present that the Lord wants you to focus your attention just on one of these areas and apply yourself diligently to growing in that particular area. 

1. Servant

A disciple must be a servant. We mentioned earlier how Jesus said that "It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master" (Matt 10:25). Servanthood is therefore synonymous with discipleship. 

But a servant to whom? Jesus said pointedly that he had "come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me" (John 6:38). He said, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work" (John 4:34). And he said, "I always do the things that are pleasing to him" (John 8:29). His top priority therefore was to know his Father's will and do it. 

Our priority should be the same. "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you" (John 20:21). In the same way that Jesus served the Father, we should serve our Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, why call him Lord? 

But there's another dimension to being a servant, and that is to serve one another. Remember the story in John 13 about how Jesus washed his disciples' feet? When he had finished, he said:

"Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you." 

Then he repeated that saying again:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him."

And he ends with this:

"If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."

Discipleship is about doing, what we do. And serving one another is at the very root of it. And how are we to serve one another? In love (Gal 5:13), in humility (Mark 10:42-45), in harmony (Rom 12:16), with generosity (Heb 6:10), using our abilities (1 Pet 4:10), and so on. So if you want to grow as a disciple, learn to obey God when he asks (or tells) you to do something. And watch for opportunities to do good, especially to those in the household of faith (Gal 6:10). 

Jesus taught his disciples many things about how to be a servant. A servant must be faithful and wise (Matt 24:45-46) and not be self-indulgent or treat his fellow servants harshly (Matt 24:48-51). A servant must be willing to take on any assignment from his Master, no matter how small, and to perform it with diligence (Matt 25:14-30). A servant must be free from the love of money (Matt 6:24) and not think too highly of himself (Luke 17:7-10). A servant must be willing to give his life for many the way Jesus did, for Jesus was the perfect example of a servant (Mark 10:45). Study these passages and think deeply about them if you want to grow as a disciple. 

2. Messenger

Jesus said that "a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him" (John 13:16). So a disciple is also a messenger. 

He followed this saying with "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (John 13:17). In other words, once again discipleship is about doing. 

What does being a messenger entail? Two things, really: we must know the message, and we must deliver it. What is the message Jesus has given us? And how should we deliver it? 

Western Christians are especially lacking in this area of discipleship. This was brought home to me some years ago when I realized that I needed to become more effective in doing evangelism. Remember how we came to the conclusion earlier that being "like" Jesus simply means doing the same stuff that he did? And what did Jesus do? He went around healing the sick, casting out demons, and preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. So what does Jesus want his disciples to do? You guessed it!

This means that personal evangelism—sharing your testimony with people and telling them about Jesus and what he has done for us and wants to do for them—is an essential part of being a disciple. So, wanting to learn how to become more effective in evangelism, I went to the local Christian bookstore. 

And what did I find? About three hundred Christian novels, thirty-odd books on the prophetic, and three books on personal evangelism.

How utterly depressing. Instead of focusing on learning how to "do the stuff" we Western Christians are more interested in fantasizing about being great prophets and on being entertained. We need to repent. 

But let's get back to what we said earlier that we need to understand the message Jesus has entrusted us with and to learn how we should deliver it. 

So then, what is the message Jesus has given us? Simple! It's the same message that the Father gave to Jesus: the good news about the kingdom of God. And what exactly does this mean?

Here I'm not going to do the work for you, you're going to have to put in some effort yourself. The best place for you to begin is to read the book Power Evangelism by John Wimber. In my opinion John's exposition of the subject has just the right balance between theology and practice. Another good resource is Wimber's streaming video series The Kingdom of God which you can watch with a subscription to VineyardDigital.org (it doesn't cost very much). And there are other books and resources available from the Vineyard on the kingdom of God which you can easily find by googling for them. 

Hey, wait a minute! Why are you telling me that I have to spend money to learn this kingdom of God stuff? I thought your book was supposed to make this discipleship stuff simple for me. 

Well, I think you forget something. "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher" (Luke 6:40). Who does a teacher teach? Students. So "student" is another word for disciple. And since you're a student, I'm just giving you a bit of homework. So stop complaining and get to work :-)

And anyways, what I really want to focus on here is how we should deliver the message God has entrusted to us, not the content of the message. Anyone (like you) who already knows Jesus, who has been born again and has received the Spirit of God, must have some idea of what they should tell people, right? If you believe Jesus died for your sins, then you've already got a story to tell people and a testimony you can share with them. 

So how you can share the gospel more effectively is my main concern here. Let me share a few tips Ingrid and I have gleaned over the years from hearing John Wimber and others talk about how to do personal evangelism. 

"Evangelism is just guts." We learned this years ago from Ken Blue, a former Vineyard pastor and church planter. And it's Biblical! Check out Acts 4:29-31 where the disciples prayed for boldness (guts) and what the result was! 

That saying is often helpful to me when I want to share Christ with someone as I usually get nervous beforehand. So I start by silently praying one of Wimber's prayers, like "Oh God, oh God, oh God..." or simply "Help!!" 

Then I open my mouth and say something. And sometimes one thing leads to another, and I start asking them simple and direct questions, such as "What do you think it means to be a Christian?" or "How does one become a Christian?" And they often respond by saying they really don't know, and then I share my testimony with them. 

"You need to speak the J-word" is another valuable piece of evangelism advice that we learned from Mac Jardine during our time at a Canadian west coast Vineyard church. Mac and his wife Louise were co-pastors at that church, and afterwards they ministered with Jackie Pullinger in Hong Kong. A typical conversation where the J-word surfaces might go something like this:

"Hey, good to see you again. How's life these days?"

"Not very good, been really struggling."

"Sorry to hear that. Would you like a new life?"

"What do you mean?"

"Jesus. He said that he's the way, the truth and the life. And I can personally testify to that."

Many years ago Ingrid learned another important point about being a witness for Jesus. "1 Peter 3:15 really spoke to me one day where it says to always be ready to give an answer to everyone that asks you for the reason of the hope that is in you." As disciples we need to have a solid understanding of the gospel message so we can be prepared to respond to people who ask about our faith in Jesus Christ. Disciples must therefore be students of God's word, and diligent students at that. 

John Wimber led hundreds of people into a personal relationship with God through faith in Christ, and Ingrid and I learned many valuable tips from him on how to do personal evangelism. "The key is just to talk with people," said John. "There's no easy way to begin, so try to find common ground by listening. Be sincere and try to use Scripture when you answer their questions. If you don't know how to respond, then simply say so, for example by saying, "I don't know how to answer your question, but this I do know..." And if this makes them upset, just respond by saying, "Jesus said that, not me." 

John said we should expect people to get upset when we tell them about Jesus, because we're often challenging the truths they've built their whole life on. And it's actually a good thing if they do get upset, because it means we're hitting the mark. But we need to be patient with people. After all, how long did it take you to come to Jesus? For me, it took many months of struggling to try and squeeze myself through that narrow door. 

One other thing John said which was probably paramount in making him so effective in personal evangelism was this: "Start with God's love." There's no more powerful verse for opening the door to someone's heart than John 3:16. "God loves you! You don't have to live under Satan's rule anymore as God's kingdom is available to you through Jesus." That in a nutshell is the kingdom message. 

Anyways, now that you know these things, blessed are you if you do them! 

3. Power 

Jesus went around healing the sick, casting out demons, and preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. And he told his disciples, "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." Jesus therefore wants his disciples (us!) to go around healing the sick, casting out demons, and preaching the good news. Simple to understand, isn't it? But is it simple for us to do? 

It can be—if we work on becoming "fully trained." All it takes is the knowledge of our authority in Jesus and an understanding of how God's power is available to us by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5). 

Once again this is an area of discipleship where you're going to have to put in some effort to achieve growth. The best way for you to proceed in my opinion would be to read John Wimber's book Power Healing and to watch Healing and Spiritual Warfare, two streaming video series by Wimber on VineyardDigital.org. 

That's basically how Ingrid and I got started many years ago. My sister and her husband visited Wimber's church when it was still meeting in Canyon High School, and when they came back they gave us a box of cassette tapes that included Wimber teaching on healing, spiritual warfare, spiritual gifts and other topics. As we listened to these tapes, we began praying for the sick. The first thing we prayed for was a plant—Ingrid's philodendron—whose leaves were turning brown and falling off despite her horticultural efforts to rescue it. We laid hands on it together and told it to "be healed" in Jesus' name. Then we promptly forgot about it. A few days later Ingrid went to water it and excitedly called me saying "Look!" I came and looked, and the plant was full of green leaves again! 

You laughed when you read that story. I know it, confess. But you shouldn't have laughed. Know why? Because of how Jesus reacted when the seventy-two disciples he sent out had returned with joy saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" (Luke 10:17). After he had told them to dial down their excitement over the power works they had performed, Jesus was suddenly overcome by the Holy Spirit and joyfully prayed, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children" (Luke 10:21). 

Little children. That's what Ingrid and I were like when we started praying for the sick, and that's how you too should start taking your first steps in power ministry. 

And I'll tell you a secret: we're still like children when it comes to following in Jesus' footsteps! And we both want to remain that way, because Jesus also said, "Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 18:3). And Ingrid and I both definitely want to enter the kingdom of heaven. 

So become like a little child again if you want to begin learning to heal the sick and cast out demons. And apply yourself diligently to learning all you can about power ministry from the resources that are available so you can grow in this area of discipleship.

But as you grow more effective in healing and deliverance, don't stop being a little child in your heart. 

4. Character

This passage from the Gospel of Matthew:

Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?" And then will I declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." (Matt 7:21–23)

has always puzzled me. Because if what I said earlier is true—that the job of a disciple is to heal the sick, cast out demons and proclaim the kingdom of God—then how could someone who is successful in doing these things be an evildoer?

But then one day it hit me: look at the context. The verses are part of the Sermon on the Mount, and chapters 5 to 7 of Matthew are all about character, the character of a disciple. So anyone who "does the stuff" but fails in regard to character is someone who doesn't really know God and isn't known by Him. 

This peril is especially evident among widely known Evangelical Christian leaders, some of whom have fallen notably into sin in recent years with repercussions both for their supporters and the church at large. Part of the reason for this is the culture of success that has infected much of the church, especially here in North America but also in other parts of the world. We'll examine this further in the next chapter which talks about making disciples. 

But another important reason why these failures have occurred is because the church frequently prioritizes gifting over character when it comes to leadership selection. And this even though Scripture specifically warns us against this (see Acts 6:1-6 and 1 Tim 3:1-3).

Whatever the reasons behind these broadly publicized fallen leaders, it's crucial that those seeking to grow in discipleship make developing godly character their number one pursuit. The way to do this of course is by learning from Scripture how God wants us to behave and then doing it by being obedient to Him. A few examples:

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." (1 Pet 1:14-16)

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (Col 3:12–14)

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph 4:31–32)

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34–35)

There are many more verses I could quote, but it's better if you make the effort to find the ones yourself that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. 

5. Interior life

Closely tied to character growth is the importance of cultivating an interior life. By this I particularly mean prayer, solitude and the devotional reading of Scripture. 

Jesus himself is once again the model for us, as in all areas of discipleship. Luke often describes Jesus as spending time (sometimes whole nights!) in prayer (see for example Luke 5:16, 9:28, 22:32). Jesus also frequently withdrew from the crowds that followed him to spend time alone with the Father (Mark 1:35, 6:46, 7:24). And his knowledge of the Old Testament as evidenced in his disputes with the Pharisees clearly demonstrates his devotion to reading and meditating upon Scripture. 

Ingrid shares here some valuable insights on how developing your interior life as a disciple can help you grow in the areas of both gifting and character:

"It's important that you learn to hear the Lord. Reading his Word, praying and worshipping are all essential for this. You may need to learn how to let other things go in your life to make room for this, because you can't do everything. 

"As we learn to hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us, we will also grow more effective in power ministry. Because to do the stuff, we must be able to receive insight and direction from the Lord as we minister to people.

"Character develops slowly. There may only be four or five things that the Lord wants you to keep focussed on in your present life. For myself, during our hectic years of running our business it was the Psalms that I read daily, they helped me bring our needs to God through prayer. He also gave us promises through the Psalms to strengthen and encourage us, and to guide us and help us make difficult decisions. Then as life began to slow down for us, I've been spending more time in the Gospels again, learning what Jesus wants of us as his followers. I now wish I had read the Gospels more as a young Christian instead of focusing so much on the Epistles. 

"Spending time alone with God also helps us find our own path with Christ. While each of us is called to discipleship, we're also individually called to specific tasks, roles and ministries in life. Also, you cannot build the outward life (doing the kingdom of God stuff) unless you first renovate the inward man by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). 

"Cultivating an interior life also helps us when we get confused, dissatisfied, or disappointed. It helps us keep moving forward with Christ and it can also prevent the Enemy from regaining ground in our life. 

"In addition to reading the Bible, it's also helpful to read good books on men and women who have walked with God and who know Him. And remember that where the Bible is concerned, it's not just about knowing Scripture, it's also about doing it!"

6. Good works

In Acts 10:38 Peter describes "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power" and then summarizes Jesus' time among us by saying that "He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him." While the Gospels emphasize the teaching and healing ministries of Jesus, there are also indications that he helped people in practical ways. 

John 12:6 for example tells us that Jesus and his disciples carried around a communal moneybag which the context suggests was mainly used for helping the poor when the opportunity arose. Another passage that suggests Jesus often did good works in practical ways can be inferred from these instructions he gave to his disciples:

"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys." (Luke 12:32-33).

Since Jesus presented himself as a model for his disciples, it's difficult to believe he would ask his disciples to do something that he himself didn't do. Therefore, if Jesus showed mercy to the poor around him, then so should we as his followers. 

Mercy in fact is at the very heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. "Be merciful," Jesus told his disciples, "just like your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36). How is our heavenly Father merciful? He sends the rain on both the just and the unjust (Matt 5:45). If God shows kindness even to those who are ungrateful and don't acknowledge Him, shouldn't we His children do the same? 

Why is our heavenly Father merciful? Because it's in His very nature to be merciful. When Moses asked God to reveal his ways (character) to him, the Lord had Moses stand in a crevice on Mount Sinai while He passed by proclaiming "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Exodus 34:6). 

When Jesus said we should love our neighbor as ourselves, a religious expert challenged him by saying "Who exactly do you mean by neighbor?" Jesus responded by telling the story of the Good Samaritan and finished by asking the expert which character in the story—the priest, the Levite or the Samaritan—had fulfilled the law by loving his neighbor. The expert, who was a Jew and therefore despised Samaritans, couldn't even bring himself to utter the word "Samaritan" and responded that the one who showed mercy was the man who had loved his neighbor. Jesus then replied, "Go and do likewise" (Luke 10:37).

As we have seen, 'go and do likewise' (be like Jesus) is our marching orders as Jesus' disciples. So whenever we meet the poor—even the ungrateful poor—we should try to show mercy like he did. And if you step onto the path of discipleship and follow Jesus, then you're bound to meet the poor along the way. And the more good works you do, the more you will grow in the love of God (Matt 5:7). 

7. Perseverance

Finally, perseverance is essential if you want to grow as a disciple. Why? I'll give two reasons. First, because Jesus tells us that "the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matt 7:14). Note that he's not just talking about becoming a Christian, but about entering into eternal life in God's kingdom. 

Secondly, Jesus also tells us that "the one who endures to the end will be saved" (Matt 24:13). Wow, that doesn't seem fair, does it? I mean, shouldn't we be judged by weighing all the good things we did in our lives against the bad things we did? Here however Jesus seems to be saying that only those who hang on until the end will get saved. 

Well, that's what Jesus said, so it is what it is. And who defines what's fair, anyways? 

Anyways, the point is that following Jesus can be hard. Because no matter how mild and sincere you are, you're going to face some flack. But the reward will also be great—if you persevere (Matt 5:10-12). 

How then can we grow in our ability to persevere the trials we will face along the Way? Let me tell you a story.

The other day we looked out our entrance window and saw a doe, a female deer, step away from our neighbor's hedge. A few moments later a tiny faun rose from the tall grass, its little legs trembling and shaking. The faun had just been born! 

The doe looked at the little faun, then she turned away and walked a few paces. The faun struggled to follow her, almost falling. The doe turned and looked at the faun. The faun looked back. Then the doe turned and began walking across the road. The faun clumsily followed, its thin little legs still trembling. 

The doe turned once again and looked at the faun, and the faun looked back. Then the doe turned away and walked down the street. The little faun followed, gradually getting stronger as it followed its mother. Ingrid and I continued watching until both deer disappeared into the woods down at the end of our street. 

Hear what I'm sayin'?

6: Making disciples

In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus told his band of followers to go and "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." What does this mean for us today? Whose job is it to make disciples? How should disciples be "made"? This chapter examines these important questions. 

Disciple-making methods

Throughout church history various approaches have been used by different denominations and communities in their efforts to fulfill the Great Commission. Overall these various approaches can be grouped into three categories: programmatic, instructional and relational discipleship. 

Programmatic discipleship

Developing programs for helping people become better disciples is a popular approach used in the church today. Such programs often vary in their particular emphasis. Alpha International for example helps the local church grow through evangelism. The Navigators focuses on outreach and spiritual growth as key aspects of discipleship. Youth With A Mission provides training in evangelism and discipleship, but also includes hands-on experience in mercy ministry to help develop servanthood in participants. These are just three of the many different discipleship programs around these days. 

A professed advantage of this approach for the local church is easy on-ramping: by purchasing the materials and following the instructions, the result will be more members in your community. Also, your existing members will become more committed to the beliefs and practices of your community. Programs that include a practicum element like YWAM have the added advantage of bringing fresh experiences to participants by temporarily removing them from the staleness of what regular church life often feels like, especially to the young. 

While many Christians have indeed benefited much from participating in such programs, there can also be dangers associated with the programmatic discipleship approach. For example, the focus on efficiency, effectiveness and scale in the marketing literature of some programs suggests that they may be more rooted in the success culture of the modern business world than in the values and practices of historic Christianity. In addition, the short-term nature of these programs can leave participants feeling abandoned once they have finished the program. Unless of course they step up to the next level by becoming program instructors themselves—a step that in itself sounds admirable but smells a lot like multi-level marketing, a business practice with known tendencies towards abuse. 

Instructional discipleship

Perhaps least favored among discipleship methodologies is the instructional approach, epitomized in degree-granting Christian colleges and seminaries. The argument usually made is that such institutions focus more on molding the mind than the heart. Many Christian academic institutions have recognized such deficiencies and have taken steps to remediate them by adding mentorship and practicum elements to their curricula. Nevertheless—and despite what these institutions often avow in their marketing literature—the main goal of some students who attend such institutions may be just to get a degree for a full-time paid ministry position, not to become more Christlike. 

On the other hand, the New Testament itself shows us that instruction is an essential element of disciple-making. Wherever Jesus went he taught people about the kingdom of God (see Matt 4:23, 9:35). The Gospel of Matthew itself seems to have been conceived as a kind of discipleship manual as Jesus' teachings within it are organized into five sections covering Christian character, power evangelism, the kingdom of God, Christian community, and end times. In 2 Timothy 2:2-4 the apostle Paul charged Timothy to "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." Clearly then, well-conceived, thorough and methodical teaching is an important part of disciple-making. 

Relational discipleship

The main approach Jesus himself used for making his followers into fruitful disciples was by drawing them into intimate relationship with himself. Mark makes this clear when he says that Jesus "appointed twelve...so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons" (Mark 3:14–15, emphasis my own). The simple fact that Peter and the others were constantly with Jesus as he travelled around preaching, healing and casting out demons, gave those disciples a clear grasp of what Jesus was like. And since disciples, when fully formed, are supposed to be like their teacher, it also gave them a model of what Jesus wanted them to become. 

This kind of relational approach to disciple-making can be very effective when done properly. For example, Carol Wimber describes in her book The Way It Was how John learned from Gunnar how to become effective in winning people to Christ:

John started going with him [Gunnar] as he went house to house and went with him everywhere he could. He was like Gunnar's shadow that first year and a half – Shadow and Echo both – he talked like Gunnar, told Gunner's stories, shared the same Scriptures with others that Gunnar had shared with him and finally went on Gunnar's house-calls himself when Gunner couldn't go anymore.

Carol's story is an example of relational discipleship at its best. Just as Jesus taught his disciples by modelling for them, sending them out to do the stuff, giving them feedback when he saw them having difficulties, and finally releasing them to continue his ministry, John learned from Gunnar how to lead hundreds into a personal relationship with Jesus. "As the Father sent me, so send I you" is a clear mandate for relational discipleship. 

But there can be problems and even dangers associated with this kind of approach to disciple-making. For example, if the disciple-maker is not himself mature then he won't be able to model what being "like Jesus" is to those he is trying to disciple. One might think that pastors would be the best people to disciple others since (one presumes) pastors are usually mature in Christ. But most pastors are busy people who are weighed down with staff meetings, sermon preparation, counselling, and countless other activities (while trying to maintain a healthy family life and getting enough rest) so they generally don't have the time or energy to do this kind of discipleship effectively. 

More serious with relational discipleship is the danger of spiritual abuse happening in the relationship between disciple-maker and disciple. Denominations and sects where members are required to obey their leaders in all things can result in ruined lives, broken marriages and other damage because of controlling leaders exercising excessive authority over peoples' lives and relationships. While it does say in Hebrews 13:17 that we should obey our leaders and submit to them, this must be balanced against Christ's directive that we should call no man our master, teacher or father except God and our Lord Jesus (Matt 23:8-10). Both Ingrid and I have seen many instances of this kind of abuse occurring over the years in various churches; we've even experienced some of it ourselves. 

An integrated model for disciple-making

If it is your intent to try and make disciples to fulfill the Great Commission, it can be helpful to begin by identifying some of the key Biblical principles and values that underlie disciple-making. In our opinion the best way to proceed in this regard is to use the approach developed by John Wimber. 

In chapters 9 and 10 of Wimber's book Power Healing he describes an "integrated model of healing" he developed that has helped so many of us learn how to enter into power ministry. We believe that a similar approach can be used to develop a model for effective discipleship training. Wimber's approach was to build his healing model using five elements: principles, values, practices, programs and personnel. He describes the first three elements of his model like this (I've paraphrased slightly):

Principles are to a healing model as the foundation is to a building. The first task a builder performs is to excavate and lay a foundation. The deeper the foundation, the higher one can build. 

Values are to principles as supporting walls are to a foundation; they are visible extensions of our basic principles. Values determine the direction and flow of our limited resources of time, energy and money. In other words, values determine what one does.

Practices are like the plumbing, heating and air-conditioning systems, and electrical wiring in a building. Healing practices are the skills, attitudes and activities that keep divine healing a growing and vital ministry in the church. 

The sections below describe what we believe are some of the key principles, values and practices that must underlie Biblically based disciple-making. 

Disciple-making principles

The first guiding principle is simply that the intention of disciple-making is to help people become more like Jesus. This has already been demonstrated in the previous chapters, so we don't need to discuss it any further here. But you do need to believe it (!) and keep foremost in your mind that your goal is to help people become more like Jesus, not more like yourself. 

A second key principle is that we cannot make disciples without the help of the Holy Spirit. After he rose from the dead, Jesus instructed his first followers to wait for the promised Holy Spirit who would grant them power to be his witnesses to the world (Acts 1:4-8). The Book of Acts demonstrates powerfully how the gospel can advance under the leading and empowerment of the Holy Spirit and not just the programs and efforts of human beings. 

A third principle is that the job of making disciples is the responsibility of the church, not just of a few key people. Churches often operate on a hierarchical basis where the leadership team develops and implements programs for the congregation under the oversight and direction of the head pastor. While lip-service is frequently given to the leadership being "servants" of God, the reality is often that they function like management in a corporation where the pastor is the CEO, and the congregants are like employees who "serve" the interests of the company. 

The Biblical basis sometimes used to justify this approach is Ephesians 4:11 where it says Jesus "gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers" which suggests a five-fold leadership model for running God's church. But this neglects the verses that follow which indicate that the purpose behind the Lord giving these giftings or roles to the church is "to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (v.12-13). In other words, apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers—and any other gifted and anointed people in the church—must view themselves as servants whose job is not to build and promote their own ministries but to help everyone else in the church learn how to do what Jesus did so they can become disciples "like" their Teacher. 

Equipping the Saints is of course a foundational value of the Vineyard, so we don't need to discuss it further here. Let's move on now and examine some of the core values that should underlie Biblical disciple-making. 

Disciple-making values

Our values determine what we do with our time, energy and money. Another word that can be used to describe values is priorities; our priorities are things we feel are most important for us. In Wimber's model, the values he presents flow directly from his guiding principles for healing the sick and demonized. We will follow a similar approach here: our values for disciple-making flow directly from the guiding principles we expressed above. 

The first value we identify is that the number one priority for a disciple-maker is to strive hard to become like Jesus. You cannot mold others into the likeness of Jesus if you are not like Jesus yourself. To effectively disciple others, we ourselves must walk like Jesus, talk like Jesus, think like Jesus, and be able to do (at least to some degree) the things that Jesus did. 

And which he still does today, for it is only Christ in us that enables us to do the works that he did when he was living in the flesh among us. Which brings us to our second value for disciple-making: learning to listen to the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that he could do nothing by himself; he only said and did what his Father told him to say and do (John 5:19, 12:49, 14:31). If this was true for Jesus, how much more is it true for us? Spending time in God's presence, asking him what to say or do in a situation, and patiently waiting for the Spirit to lead us—these are as critical to discipling others as they are to healing the sick and demonized. 

Our third value is to provide a healthy environment for effective discipleship. Churches and ministry organizations often develop detailed, structured programs and activities to help their people grow in discipleship. If crafted with care to include elements of formal teaching, hands-on experience and supportive mentoring, such programs can achieve some measure of success. 

Our experience however is that disciple-making is often most effective when done in home fellowships. There are several reasons for this, but perhaps the key reason is because home fellowships are where the Body of Christ is best expressed, where each member can learn to receive and use the gifts of the Spirit to help build one another up into the image of Christ (Eph 4:13). In a healthy home fellowship, some will be more gifted in teaching, others more in prophecy; some will be able to demonstrate how to pray effectively for the sick; others will be more gifted in pastoral care. In this way everyone will be able to help each other grow in Christlikeness. For more on how to build and plant healthy home fellowships, see our free book Simple Kingdom: Home Fellowships which is available on our website buildplant.org. 

Disciple-making practices

If you concur with the disciple-making principles and values that we have expressed above, it should be simple for you to identify some of the key practices you need to follow in order to effectively help others grow as disciples. The following is a short list to get you started:

Prayer. As I try to witness to people or help other Christians grow in different ways, I constantly find myself praying one of Wimber's famous prayers: "Help!!!"

Constant prayer in fact has almost become the norm for me nowadays whenever I'm out in the world. In almost every situation I find myself praying "Help, Lord!! What should I say? What should I do? I need your help!" In fact the more "mature" I become as a Christian, the more utterly dependent on God I feel. 

Reading the Gospels. When I was a young Christian, my goal was to understand Paul's letter to the Romans because knowing that would apparently not only help me conquer sin in my life but was also the Holy Grail for Evangelical Christians wanting to enter ministry.

How wrong I was. Now I spend most of my time reading (and re-reading, and re-re-reading) the four Gospels. Why? To get Jesus' words deep into my heart and mind so that when I am witnessing to someone and they dispute what I'm saying, I can reply with, "Well, Jesus said..." instead of engaging in fruitless argument. 

Taking risks. The only way you'll know whether you heard the Spirit correctly in a situation is to take the chance and go for it, be bold, tell them what you think God wants you to say to them. In the Vineyard many of us have learned to do this when we pray for the sick, but risk-taking is just as important when trying to disciple someone—as long as it's done in love. 

Where to go from here

I'm going to stop at this point and not try to develop a program for disciple-making ministry like Wimber did for healing ministry in his book. Others (perhaps like yourself) who are wiser and more experienced than me can expand on this subject. Think of it like I've done the framing work for the building; you can now finish it off by putting up interior walls, adding plumbing, wiring, appliances, furniture, whatever. It's your homework assignment :-)

The main thing is that you grasp and understand the principles, values and practices we've outlined in this chapter. This is critical whether you're a pastor, a leader, or simply someone who wants to help fulfill the Great Commission. Because as we'll see next, the time is short.   

7: The urgency of the kingdom

It was a beautiful early spring morning. I was sitting on the deck having coffee when Ingrid came out to join me. She had a serious look on her face.

"I think the Lord may be speaking to us about something," she said.

"What's that?" I replied.

"A phrase keeps coming to my mind: the urgency of the kingdom." 

I thought, Aha, so that's what God has been saying to me in those passages I've been reading in the Gospels. 

It's harvest time

Jesus also felt an urgency as he went around proclaiming the kingdom of God and healing the sick and demonized. Perhaps nowhere is this displayed more clearly than in chapter 4 of the Gospel of John:

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." (John 4:31–38)

Some Christians believe that Jesus' reference to the fields being white for harvest was a prophetic word for us today, that in times soon to come there will be a great worldwide ingathering of people into God's church. Perhaps this is so, but I don't believe that's what Jesus was referring to here. What he was simply saying to his disciples was that the time is short for doing the stuff—the works and words of the kingdom—so they should get off their ass and start doing the job they've been recruited for. I'm using colorful language here deliberately. 

This interpretation is reinforced by another passage from chapter 10 in the Gospel of Luke. Not long after Jesus had trained and sent the Twelve out on their first ministry trip, he sent out an even larger group of seventy-two disciples. He told them to go to the towns he would soon be visiting, and after healing the sick there, they should proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near to them (Luke 10:1-9). But Jesus also told these disciples to pray something:

And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Luke 10:2)

But the words of this English translation don't convey the full intensity of the original Greek. The Greek verb translated here as pray earnestly has the meaning of being in want or need of something and begging for it as a result. And the Greek verb which is blandly translated here as send out is the verb usually employed when referring to driving out demons from those who are afflicted by them. So a better translation of Luke 10:2 might perhaps be something like the following:

Hey, guys, I need your help! I just can't train enough of you to do all the work God has given me to do. So unless you start training yourselves, and each other, we aren't going to have enough laborers to gather all the grain before the harvest time is over. So please—please!—beg God to find more workers for us and to drive them out of their comfort zones and get them out into the world. And to do it fast! Because the harvest will spoil if it isn't gathered up soon, and that would be a shame upon all of us. 

How many of us pray like that today? How many of us really understand what it means to be a disciple?

Signs and wonders

In the Vineyard when we talk about signs and wonders, we usually mean power works like healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out demons. Wimber's books Power Evangelism and Power Healing not only provide instruction for Christians who want to learn how to do such works, they also provide guidance to churches and church leaders who want to "equip the saints" i.e. train members of their congregation in power ministry. 

But there's another meaning of signs and wonders in the Bible, and this refers to God's acts of judgment on those who won't repent. Stephen, when he was making his defense before the council in Jerusalem, reminded them that when Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt he performed "wonders and signs" described in detail in the Old Testament (see Acts 7:36 and Exodus 7-12). 

Jesus likewise in his final instructions to his disciples warned them about the signs and wonders that would take place as the end of the age drew near. He told them about wars, famines, plagues, and great signs from heaven (Luke 21:10-11). He warned them they would be betrayed and persecuted, but said it would be an opportunity to bear witness to him (Luke 21:12-19). He explained how Jerusalem would be besieged and destroyed, and that a period of time would follow when the salvation that the nation of Israel had rejected would be offered to all the other nations of the world (Luke 21:20-24, Acts 28:28). 

Jesus then said that as the "times of the Gentiles" came to an end, there would be "signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken" (Luke 21:25–26). 

I believe we may be entering this time. Global warming is causing sea levels to rise, putting coastal cities in danger affecting millions. Warming oceans are destroying marine ecosystems, and declining fishing industries may lead to poverty and hunger for many. Signs in sun, moon and stars may refer to the profusion of satellites orbiting the earth, some of which may soon carry nuclear space weapons that can disrupt the technological foundations of our modern existence or even rain down atomic bombs upon us. All this and many other things beginning to happen are causing panic in people's minds, and the drastic measures that governments are taking in response often seem to backfire and only make the lives of ordinary people worse. 

The urgency of the kingdom. Perhaps in our own lifetime we will "see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21:27). 

Or perhaps not. Because only the Father knows the day and the hour. 

Either way, we've been commissioned to do a job, and our focus should be on that. 

And to do that job, we need to step out of our comfort zone and become the kind of disciples that Jesus wants, and needs, and begs the Father to send out more of into the harvest. 

Sandboxes on the beach

I had a dream a few years ago. Actually it was more like a daydream. We were visiting a church where a family member of some close friends attended. I was sitting listening to the sermon, and I was bored. So my mind began to wander. And this is what I saw.

I saw a sandbox. There were children playing in it, and they were having fun. It was a safe place for them to play, because it had large wooden boards around the perimeter which acted as a boundary to keep the kids safely inside while keeping strangers out. 

Not too far away I saw another sandbox with kids playing in it, making sandcastles and pretending to be kings and queens, engaging in contests and defending their turf. 

Then I saw yet another sandbox, and another, and still another. The sandboxes were spaced well apart, and the children mostly stayed in the sandboxes where their parents could watch over them. 

But then I noticed something astounding: the sandboxes were all situated on a beach! There was sand everywhere, endless amounts of it! But the children were staying in their sandboxes instead of stepping out onto the big, beautiful beach that surrounds them where they can have lots more fun. And although the beach might seem scary to them compared to the security of the sandbox, there was no need for the children to worry. Because there will always be Someone watching over them if they would just step out onto the beach. 

Hear what I'm sayin'? 

A disciple's song

I've included here at the end of this book a worship song that I wrote some years ago as it echoes the main theme of the book. Below are the lyrics, and on the next page is a leadsheet with melody and guitar chords. Enjoy. 

Just like my Jesus

©1992 by Mitch Tulloch

Help me to walk the way you walk

Help me to talk the way you talk, O Lord

Help me to do the things you do

I want to follow you Lord and serve you forever

Help me to love the way you love

Help me to care the way you care, O Lord

Help me to feel the things you feel

So I can follow you Lord and serve you forever

I want to be a servant of the Lord just like my Jesus

I want to know the favor of my God just like my Jesus

I want to be a servant of the Lord just like my Jesus

I want to know the power of your life in me

About the authors

Mitch and Ingrid Tulloch first encountered the Vineyard movement in the early 80s. Much impacted by the teaching and example of John Wimber, they started home fellowships and began praying for the sick. In the years that followed, they trained and provided oversight for ministry teams in several Vineyard churches and helped support church plants. 

In their series of Simple Kingdom books, Mitch and Ingrid share everything they learned about worship, fellowship, discipleship, spiritual warfare, the Bible and other keys for advancing the kingdom of God the way Jesus and his first disciples did. You can download these books for free from their website www.buildplant.org. You can also contact Mitch and Ingrid directly at info@buildplant.org.