Some Thoughts on Discipleship

I really love how we have summarized discipleship into 4 simple words/short phrases.  In my opinion, it really brings clarity to what discipleship is.  Devote yourself to God has a worship aspect to it.  Develop your Christlikeness embodies an attitude of learning and growth.  Do the work of the ministry means taking what you are learning from God and Scripture and in obedience doing it.  Disciple others is at the very heart and call of Jesus.

The more I think about these "Ds" the more I began to understand that there really are, in a sense, two sides to them.  There is a corporate (meaning body of believers) side and a personal or individual side.  What I mean is there are actions we can apply to each D that involve the church body and involve just the individual.

To Devote oneself to God in essence is to live a life of worship.  Corporately this can be seen in the simple attending of worship services at church.  "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together..." (Hebrews 10:25).  On a more personal level it is daily finding ways to show God how much you love and appreciate him.

Developing Christlikeness takes place, on a corporate level, when a person attends/teaches/facilitates a class, bible study or small group.  Each one of these being designed to help us grow in our faith together. "They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching...." (Acts 2:42).  On a more personal level we should be studying God's word daily looking for the examples and commandments of Jesus and then trying to emulate them in our own lives.  I should mention that any discipleship relationship we are in essentially helps us develop as well.

Doing the ministry once again has a corporate and personal aspect.  Corporately it means working together for the benefit of the church and ultimately the benefit of the world as we proclaim the good news.  In I Corinthians 12 Paul goes through great lengths to show the importance of church members working together doing ministry.  At the end of this passage Paul says "I will show you a still more excellent way."  That excellent way is found in chapter 13 "The Way of Love."  Doing ministry is loving both people within a body and it is loving people outside the body.  So on a personal level doing is being like Jesus in our daily lives with the intention to show love towards God and make him look good to those around us.  It plays a vital role in proclaiming the Gospel to a lost world.

Finally, discipling is accomplished as a body of believers through the support of missionaries.  Corporately we stand behind those who have been called to go where we cannot.  We support them financially, through prayer and encouragement.  On a more personal level we are constantly looking for people to share the good news with and make disciples of.  We invest in the lives of people around us.

So as you can see, there is both a corporate aspect and a personal aspect.  Though I have shown them separate they really are not separate.  If we love God and adore him we will do it both within the walls and without the walls of the church.  If we truly want to develop ourselves into a mirror image of Jesus we will do it both within the walls and without the walls of the church.  If we obey and do what God commands us we will do it both within the walls and without the walls of the church.  If we are truly making disciples we will do it both within the walls and without the walls of the church.  We are disciples within the walls and without the walls of the church.  It is that simple.