Our Discipleship Journey: Part 2نموونە

Teaching, Time, and Tactics

The three cornerstones of Jesus’ disciple-making can be found in Mark 4:33–41.

The first is teaching. Jesus speaks to the crowds in parables, and then has a more private, in-depth, follow-up session with just His twelve disciples afterwards. Teaching doesn’t necessarily refer to deep exegesis or systematic theology, though these have their place. Jesus focused on teaching people how to obey (causing them to learn to obey, according to the Hebrew interpretation of the word teaching). Interestingly, most preaching in the New Testament is catalytic, not coaching. It sparks and initiates, but isn’t meant to feed people long-term. That’s why we need a discipling culture.

The second cornerstone of Jesus’ approach to discipleship is time. Jesus gives His disciples both structured and spontaneous time. He’s with them in crowded public places, and they have access to Him in private follow-up conversations. Time helps develop character on the journey, and the journey is long. We can’t help people make paradigm shifts lightly or quickly. You can get people to comply while you’re around, but then they’ll just revert to what they know, particularly if they’ve been conditioned to dive deep into scripture and do nothing about it.

The third cornerstone is tactics. In Mark 4:37–40, the disciples are facing the crisis of a raging storm. Jesus trains them in real time as He talks them through the impact fear has on faith and following Him. They will have the opportunity to practise the tactics they learned from Jesus when they get to the other side of the lake. Jesus is in the business of building your courage and capacity, too – your competence, readiness, and availability – to practically apply the skills you’ve learned.

Teaching, time, and tactics help us orient our lives around the key relationships Jesus oriented His life around: up, in, and out. These three cornerstones also correlate with Jesus’ words (teaching), ways (which are learned over time), and works (tactics). Discipleship takes time, requires repetition, and costs us courage. The good news is that, although we need to learn and practise the skills of discipleship, we’re designed for it. Also, discipleship isn’t a program. It’s an intentional, relational, time-consuming lifestyle that invites us into the adventure of seeing people grow in their faith, start to disciple others, and transform their world. If this feels overwhelming and you’ve no idea where to start, just start! Who is in your circle of influence? Where is Jesus prompting you to spend more time teaching others and employing His disciple-making tactics? What’s stopping you from starting?

Celebrate that being a disciple who makes disciples is a journey; we’re all in it together. May Jesus help you be like Him – gentle and humble in heart – as you prepare to teach, give time, and train in tactics. Let’s make disciples who make disciples and change the world, one relationship at a time.