Principles Of Discipling
The word Christian occurs only three times in the Bible. Twice, in Acts of the Apostles (Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28) and once in 1 Pet 4:16.
But the word disciple occurs 269 times.
One of the ways to find out the theme of a book is to count the words that are repeated. E.g. If you want to study the book of John, count the words that come up repeatedly. In it we can see the 3 L’s, love, light, life repeatedly. That is the theme. To check the weight the Holy Spirit is giving to discipleship, count the number of times the word has come up repeatedly in the bible.
Christians are produced by preaching but Disciples are produced by teaching. Discipleship is not a class that you teach but a course of life. Discipleship is a course of life. If I want to make disciples, I have to lay my life, my time. Time is life.
Discipling is growing a person in depth and when we grow a person in depth, God will increase the breadth of the church. Our duty is to deepen the life of people. Our focus should be on the depth. God will handle the breadth.
In Acts 20, Apostle Paul speaks about how they were straining day and night to make the people perfect. That is the focus we should have. Make our disciples perfect in Christ.
Principles of Discipleship
1) The Discipler himself should initiate the discipling relationship
Jesus prayed all night and went out and picked disciples. He chose them individually. If you want to disciple someone, you have to start the relationship. We should be initiators. We need to be proactive and not reactive. Reactors react to a situation but those who are proactive see the need in advance, they prepare themselves and they do it wilfully and deliberately.
2) The Discipler should set great expectations about his disciples and in his disciples
3) Discipling should be done at different levels
Disciple people according to their spiritual maturity, according to their call and giftings. E.g. Jesus taught the people at large; normally, formally and generally. This is called general discipling. Then Jesus chose seventy two others, which can be termed as congregational discipling. Then Jesus chose twelve disciples to minister alongside Him. This is called core discipling. Core disciples are your future. They are world shakers, planet shakers. They are prepared to turn the world upside down. Among the twelve disciples, Jesus chose just three, which is called the inner core intimate discipling, because they were counted as the pillars of the Church in the first century.
4) The Discipler should take his disciples through different situations to equip them for the future
When we go through different situations in life, make it a classroom, include it in the syllabus, draw out lessons from them and teach them. E.g. Jesus took them through the Galilean ministry where creative miracles were taking place, dead people were being raised to life. He was at the peak of His ministry in the North of Israel. In the South, He was always criticised and questioned by the religious leaders. Jesus took the disciples through such situations, how to go through and deal with criticism.
Jesus took them through the Bethesda experience, healing crusades, supernatural experiences, drying up of the fig tree and the dalmanutha experience (period of uncertainty, no answer to prayers, people are criticising, people doubt their salvation and the existence of God). Jesus deliberately took them through such situations, even through winds and waves, to prepare them for the future, to face the winds and waves waiting for them when He would be taken away from them.
5) Discipleship demands great patience
It is not just conducting meetings, but pouring out your life, pouring out your time, pouring out your expertise, your skills, your understanding, wisdom and revelation, whatever you receive, you pass on.
Matthew 17:17
“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.”
Jesus got irritated with the disciples because they could not cast out the demon from the boy. Discipleship requires patience. Some disciples ask a lot of questions, we need great patience to constantly answer them but it is such curious disciples that grow. A discipler is a spiritual parent. We need spiritual parents. Many times the disciples disbelieved Jesus and He had to rebuke them sharply, often publicly. Once, Peter rebuked Jesus.
Matthew 16:21-23
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
When Jesus just started revealing about His suffering and death, Peter was offended and started rebuking Him.
This is an age where people are focussed on themselves and their lives. We should be Christ centred and the Church should finish the work started by Christ. Our selfishness should be washed away before we become a discipler. A selfish man cannot be a discipler, he will keep all his knowledge, his giftings, his expertise, his skills to himself. In Acts 20, Paul says he has given everything, and hasn’t hidden anything.
Discipleship requires involving the disciples in your life for a long period of time. It isn't just about attending church on Sunday. That is not what Christian life is about. Christian life is not in the four walls of the Church, it is outside the four walls. Church on Sunday is just for refuelling but we must go out and minister.
6) A disciple should know that he is not greater than the discipler
When we are playing the role of a disciple, we should know that we are not greater than our mentors.
Luke 6:40
The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.
A disciple is not greater than his mentor but one who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
John 14:12
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Irrespective of the works that a person does, even if he does greater things, no disciple of Jesus is greater than Jesus.
7) A disciple should always be submissive to the discipler
2 Corinthians 8:5
And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.
They surrendered their life to the Lord and they submitted to the apostles. Submission and surrender is needed for discipleship. A good discipling happens through a good relationship.
Hebrews 13:17
Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.
i) Have confidence in your leaders, and submit to their God given authority.
Only if the sheep is obedient, can the shepherd tend to them. The pastoral ministry should be a joy to them not a burden. If you don’t keep a heart of submission, it won’t benefit you.
ii) Give joy to the heart of the discipler.
Please the discipler so the blessings from them will flow to you. When you do things, help the discipler, blessings flow from the heart of the discipler. When you bring joy to the discipler, blessings flow from the heart of the discipler to the disciple. One side we are disciples and the other side we are disciplers. What we sow we shall reap.
iii) Do not be a burden to your discipler.
Try to please the discipler, be obedient, express love and honour, give gifts. Blessings flow through the discipler.
Matthew 11:28-29
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
We are to learn from Christ and imitate Him, being humble and meek, that is when we find true rest. When we give our brokenness to the Lord, we are at peace and He equips us to follow His instruction, Go make disciples of all nations.
But the word disciple occurs 269 times.
One of the ways to find out the theme of a book is to count the words that are repeated. E.g. If you want to study the book of John, count the words that come up repeatedly. In it we can see the 3 L’s, love, light, life repeatedly. That is the theme. To check the weight the Holy Spirit is giving to discipleship, count the number of times the word has come up repeatedly in the bible.
Christians are produced by preaching but Disciples are produced by teaching. Discipleship is not a class that you teach but a course of life. Discipleship is a course of life. If I want to make disciples, I have to lay my life, my time. Time is life.
Discipling is growing a person in depth and when we grow a person in depth, God will increase the breadth of the church. Our duty is to deepen the life of people. Our focus should be on the depth. God will handle the breadth.
In Acts 20, Apostle Paul speaks about how they were straining day and night to make the people perfect. That is the focus we should have. Make our disciples perfect in Christ.
Principles of Discipleship
1) The Discipler himself should initiate the discipling relationship
Jesus prayed all night and went out and picked disciples. He chose them individually. If you want to disciple someone, you have to start the relationship. We should be initiators. We need to be proactive and not reactive. Reactors react to a situation but those who are proactive see the need in advance, they prepare themselves and they do it wilfully and deliberately.
2) The Discipler should set great expectations about his disciples and in his disciples
3) Discipling should be done at different levels
Disciple people according to their spiritual maturity, according to their call and giftings. E.g. Jesus taught the people at large; normally, formally and generally. This is called general discipling. Then Jesus chose seventy two others, which can be termed as congregational discipling. Then Jesus chose twelve disciples to minister alongside Him. This is called core discipling. Core disciples are your future. They are world shakers, planet shakers. They are prepared to turn the world upside down. Among the twelve disciples, Jesus chose just three, which is called the inner core intimate discipling, because they were counted as the pillars of the Church in the first century.
4) The Discipler should take his disciples through different situations to equip them for the future
When we go through different situations in life, make it a classroom, include it in the syllabus, draw out lessons from them and teach them. E.g. Jesus took them through the Galilean ministry where creative miracles were taking place, dead people were being raised to life. He was at the peak of His ministry in the North of Israel. In the South, He was always criticised and questioned by the religious leaders. Jesus took the disciples through such situations, how to go through and deal with criticism.
Jesus took them through the Bethesda experience, healing crusades, supernatural experiences, drying up of the fig tree and the dalmanutha experience (period of uncertainty, no answer to prayers, people are criticising, people doubt their salvation and the existence of God). Jesus deliberately took them through such situations, even through winds and waves, to prepare them for the future, to face the winds and waves waiting for them when He would be taken away from them.
5) Discipleship demands great patience
It is not just conducting meetings, but pouring out your life, pouring out your time, pouring out your expertise, your skills, your understanding, wisdom and revelation, whatever you receive, you pass on.
Matthew 17:17
“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.”
Jesus got irritated with the disciples because they could not cast out the demon from the boy. Discipleship requires patience. Some disciples ask a lot of questions, we need great patience to constantly answer them but it is such curious disciples that grow. A discipler is a spiritual parent. We need spiritual parents. Many times the disciples disbelieved Jesus and He had to rebuke them sharply, often publicly. Once, Peter rebuked Jesus.
Matthew 16:21-23
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
When Jesus just started revealing about His suffering and death, Peter was offended and started rebuking Him.
This is an age where people are focussed on themselves and their lives. We should be Christ centred and the Church should finish the work started by Christ. Our selfishness should be washed away before we become a discipler. A selfish man cannot be a discipler, he will keep all his knowledge, his giftings, his expertise, his skills to himself. In Acts 20, Paul says he has given everything, and hasn’t hidden anything.
Discipleship requires involving the disciples in your life for a long period of time. It isn't just about attending church on Sunday. That is not what Christian life is about. Christian life is not in the four walls of the Church, it is outside the four walls. Church on Sunday is just for refuelling but we must go out and minister.
6) A disciple should know that he is not greater than the discipler
When we are playing the role of a disciple, we should know that we are not greater than our mentors.
Luke 6:40
The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.
A disciple is not greater than his mentor but one who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
John 14:12
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
Irrespective of the works that a person does, even if he does greater things, no disciple of Jesus is greater than Jesus.
7) A disciple should always be submissive to the discipler
2 Corinthians 8:5
And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.
They surrendered their life to the Lord and they submitted to the apostles. Submission and surrender is needed for discipleship. A good discipling happens through a good relationship.
Hebrews 13:17
Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.
i) Have confidence in your leaders, and submit to their God given authority.
Only if the sheep is obedient, can the shepherd tend to them. The pastoral ministry should be a joy to them not a burden. If you don’t keep a heart of submission, it won’t benefit you.
ii) Give joy to the heart of the discipler.
Please the discipler so the blessings from them will flow to you. When you do things, help the discipler, blessings flow from the heart of the discipler. When you bring joy to the discipler, blessings flow from the heart of the discipler to the disciple. One side we are disciples and the other side we are disciplers. What we sow we shall reap.
iii) Do not be a burden to your discipler.
Try to please the discipler, be obedient, express love and honour, give gifts. Blessings flow through the discipler.
Matthew 11:28-29
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
We are to learn from Christ and imitate Him, being humble and meek, that is when we find true rest. When we give our brokenness to the Lord, we are at peace and He equips us to follow His instruction, Go make disciples of all nations.
About The Author:
Dr. Damien Antony
Born and brought up in a Christian family, Dr. Damien Antony possessed an unquenching quest for truth right from his boyhood days and eventually his relentless search led him to the Bible. He is a Revival Preacher, Bible Teacher, Leadership Trainer, Author and a Life Coach. He moves under the anointing for Prophetic, Healing, Deliverance, Inner Healing and Financial Breakthrough. God has also blessed him with an Apostolic Mandate to take the Universal Body of Christ to the next level of revelation and anointing.
Born and brought up in a Christian family, Dr. Damien Antony possessed an unquenching quest for truth right from his boyhood days and eventually his relentless search led him to the Bible. He is a Revival Preacher, Bible Teacher, Leadership Trainer, Author and a Life Coach. He moves under the anointing for Prophetic, Healing, Deliverance, Inner Healing and Financial Breakthrough. God has also blessed him with an Apostolic Mandate to take the Universal Body of Christ to the next level of revelation and anointing.
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