If you’ve been following my blog over the past month or so you will have noticed that each week I’ve envisaged to raise the awareness (up the ante) on the critical area of discipleship, and the importance that discipleship has on many other areas of church ministry and service.
This is in part due to that fact that many Officers, pastors, church teachers and leaders around the world have become increasingly aware that Discipleship is one of the key aspects of the church that has sadly fallen by the wayside over the past few decades or so – even though there’s a plethora of material out there both online and in good Christian bookstores.
And it could be argued that this is something that has been identified as a key issue as we have had to adapt, morph, pivot and change aspects of our methodology due to the pandemic that has affected much of our world, especially worship ministry and service due to restrictions placed upon us as faith communities.
But as I’ve noted this is not necessarily the case, as quite a number of Christian authors prior to Covid have raised concerns over the past decade or so and if we look at the history of our faith there are numerous instances from heroes of the faith over the past couple of centuries that have also pointed out the importance of discipleship.
In 2016 Matt Rogers wrote on the Gospel-Centered Discipleship site an article (9 Reasons to Prioritise One-on-One Discipleship) in which he outlines the importance and rationale why he believes that a return to the practice of one-on-one, life-on-life discipleship is one of the most critical needs for the church today.
He identified back then that the gap between the mission of disciple-making and the actual practice of most Christians had grown wider and wider – and that many Christians knew that they should be making disciples and wanted to do so, but they simply didn’t know how.
Quite possibly this is a sad indictment of the health of many of our churches and Christianity at large, in that we have drifted quite some distance from the Great Commission (which can be found in Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:14-18, Luke 24:44-49, John 20:19-23, and again referred to in Acts 1:8) and compromised on one of the key aspects of our faith (teaching, journeying and discipling others) and our willingness to share our faith with others.
In the story of the two followers who were walking to the village of Emmaus (Luke 24:13-53) we see that not only did Jesus provide a way to broach the subject of who Jesus was and what He did with and for others, but also encourages us each to be witnesses of what God has done in our lives.
For many churches around the world the most effective and proven way to build healthy Christians is through one-on-one discipleship. And Matt Rogers in his article provides nine reasons why we need to prioritize 1:1 Discipleship.
One-on-One Discipleship allows for every member of the church to carry the weight of expectations around sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
One-on-One Discipleship allows for honest conversations.
One-on-One Discipleship allows for personalised application.
One-on-One Discipleship allows for evangelism and discipleship to unite.
One-on-One Discipleship allows for ongoing accountability.
One-on-One Discipleship allows for burden bearing relationships.
One-on-One Discipleship allows other ministries to thrive.
One-on-One Discipleship allows for mutual growth.
One-on-One Discipleship allows for healthy relationships.
The thing is, “One-on-One Discipleship relationships are not one of a host of options on the buffet line of spiritual formation alongside Sunday sermons, small groups, Sunday School, men’s or women’s ministry or a host of other good activities of the church.“
It is absolutely essential for each and every one of us that claims to believe in Christ to partake in. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer is quoted as saying; “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ”.
So who is your one? Who are you discipling and doing life with? Who are you journeying this thing called life with? Imagine the impact if every Christian had one person that they not only prayed for, but also shared the gospel with! The challenge of the Great Commission is yours to pick up and run with – are you up for the challenge?
Why not check out this resource which is available through The Salvation Army about 1:1 Discipleship.
I hope and pray that you have found these reminders on the Importance of Discipleship beneficial, that you will be enthused and inspired to step out in faith, and start developing discipleship relationships with those that will only know of Christ through your interactions with them.
If you’d like to check out the other posts that I have written about the Importance of Discipleship check out the following links:
The Importance of Discipleship
Next week we will start looking at the importance of Small Groups.
Blessings ’til next time 🙂
The life and times of Perry... 