What’s This All About?

Jesus leaves the disciples with these words in Matthew’s Gospel: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them everything I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20). Christians call it The Great Commission, and it can be boiled down to four words:

Go and Make Disciples.

For much of recent Christian history, we have truncated that commission to “baptize them.” Getting names on the rolls. Making the sale. Yet baptism is only the beginning, and discipleship – following Jesus – is a lifelong calling. Disciple is a form of the word, discipline: “the practice of training in a branch of knowledge.” We use it to translate the Greek word, mathetes, the root of which is math, which means: to learn, to receive instruction, or to find/discover.

Disciple: One who makes discoveries!

Discovery describes best my own discipleship pilgrimage with Jesus and with other followers of Jesus, and I have a great desire to encourage other followers and seekers to make their own discoveries on this most awesome journey of faith in life.

Discovering Something Old & New

Everyone who has been trained as a disciple for the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings old and new things out of their treasure chest. (Matthew 13:52, CEB)

The Way of Christ follows a particular path for each individual, uniquely gifted as we are with spiritual and emotional and intellectual and physical attributes. While we all seek a balanced diet, homogeneous, cookie-cutter approaches to seeking and following the Way are bound to dishonor the unique and uniquely miraculous person who has been created for such a time as this. Jesus treated pairs of disciples very differently, according to their particular needs, abilities, and readiness for growth and transformation – even as he loved them all (Peter and John in John 21:21-22; Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42; or the Gerasene demoniac and Bartimaeus in Mark 5:18-19 and 10:51-52, respectively).

Yet there are well-worn paths – spiritual disciplines and practices – along the Way, established and time-tested by followers from the dawn of time. So any Discipleship process must honor both these particularities and standards, or perhaps, particularities within the realm of the standard disciplines, as when, for instance, one explores the kataphatic (concrete/articulate) or apophatic (abstract/mystical) expressions of a discipline/practice. Discipleship, then, must honor both the fearful and wonderful nature of each disciple, as well as the patterns of faithfulness that have long nourished the spirits of disciples since time began.

And one other thing: Jesus makes clear that the mark of a Disciple who has traveled much on the Way is Servanthood (Mark 9:35, among others). Yet what manifests in Disciples over time often makes a travesty of this teaching. Any faithful Discipleship Process must guard against this natural tendency toward pride (and blindness) as one progresses along the Way, as well as pride’s nasty cousin, the humiliation of others in different places on the Way. Some systems use the metaphor of a spiral (as opposed to a linear progression) that recognizes the need for repentance (turn, turn, turn) and new awakening/rebirth at every stage along the Way.

Next: Gaming and Compulsion Loops – The Discipleship Passport Project

Or go directly to Pray, Honor, Story, and Serve.