Discipleship 101 - thoughts after the Advance 08 Retreat  

Posted by Mike Sharrow

At the Advance 08 retreat we all were left with a charge to “go, make disciples” with intentionality of those people around us. We all know that at the heart of this “way of Jesus” life we all share, our overarching calling is to make discipling, evangelizing and teaching a part of daily living. We also know that many of us have not experienced intentional discipleship ourselves, so it can seem a bit ambiguous and daunting to “go make disciples!”

Like many things, if we wait until we are completely “ready” it will never happen. You wouldn’t be serving in the leadership capacities you presently are if someone did not believe you to be far enough into the Kingdom to start bringing others along with you.

At the retreat and throughout our vocabulary of “360 relationships” you also hear the concept of mentoring, or “being a Barnabas” to others. There’s another daunting word! Let me share some thoughts and insights on these subjects to help bring better clarity, inspiration and some practical guide points.

Discipleship 101

1. It’s about Jesus not you. At its very essence discipleship is about making followers to seek after a great teacher. Take a breath and relax knowing that you are not that “great teacher,” Jesus is! The purpose is not to go about making mini you look-alikes, but to catalytically lead others to follow Jesus passionately in their life. The body is diverse and beautiful in its non-uniformity, and as leaders we have to seek to bring those people very different than us to a closer walk with Jesus without requiring them to conform to our gifting, personality or expression profile.

This entry was posted at Tuesday, February 12, 2008 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

2 thoughts and responses

Great Blog Mike...This is clear and concise and yet discipleship remains a mystery for many because we have never been discipled...the convert generation is groping for a model...but as we have fumbled our way through it is now time to intentionally lead others to the way of Jesus. A generation from now, if we take this seriously, who knows what God might raise up!

February 13, 2008 at 6:53 AM

Good job! It's great to see you pulled out the big gun right off the bat. No way to argue with your quote: "Upon this rock I will build my church." - Jesus

The next best quote is a Mike Sharrow original, "catalytically lead others to follow Jesus". That is stellar! Catalytically is a great word. It speaks of taking a minute portion of something and creating an incredibly combustive outcome. Take just a pinch of Jesus. Through it into a mix of people and watch the explosion. It is an awesome opportunity and responsibility God has blessed us at Grace Point with to take part in the explosive tipping point!

Count me in!

February 13, 2008 at 7:46 AM

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