Sunday, September 19, 2010

Do we know how to make disciples?

Jesus' last command before leaving this planet was to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey" everything He commanded us.  If I took this command seriously and decided to make one disciple each year and ensured through follow-up and accountability that each of my disciples was discipling one other person, then the whole world of 6.8 billion people would have access to Christ in 34 years.  That's the power of multiplication and exponential growth!

Mt. 13:23 says "But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."  Farming is a process and takes time, so does discipleship.  Instead of holding a big crusade and trying to do "microwave" missions, what would happen if we focused on a just a few (or one) disciples and do "crock pot" life-on-life discipleship.  It isn't quite as glorious to put in the ministry update/newsletter, but in the long haul it has the potential to produce 30, 60 or 100 disciples in a lifetime which should go out and put into practice everything they saw in your life.  Maybe Jesus was on to something...