Our Discipleship Journey: Part 2Sample

Paul’s Discipleship Strategy

In Acts 16, we read how Paul led Lydia, a Roman jailer, and their respective households to faith in Jesus. The Philippian church grew out of these two homes. Sometime later, Paul writes to the Philippians about what it means to be disciples who make disciples. He tells them not to be anxious about anything, but to pray and give thanks in every situation. Prayer was integral to Paul’s Kingdom work, and there’s never been a disciple-making movement that hasn’t been preceded by a prayer movement. Take up the challenge to pray more for the people of peace in your life and take note of how it changes you and your strategies.

Paul goes on to explain to the Philippians the simple, memorable, repeatable, transferable way to make disciples: ‘Put into practice what you hear, see, and receive from me!’ A disciple is one who learns by listening to the words, observing the works, and living out the ways of Jesus, which is why Paul can say, ‘Imitate me as I imitate Christ.’

Like Jesus, Paul doesn’t start with, ‘Go and make disciples.’ His discipleship instructions flow from his relationship with the Philippians. They’ve spent time with Paul. They’re close enough to him to have been able to listen to him and observe him putting his faith into practice, so he can challenge them to live out the words, works, and ways of Jesus. If you’ve had the privilege of doing life with a more mature Christian friend, there are most likely positive ways they’ve rubbed off on you.

Paul tells the believers to take note of what they’ve heard from him, because information (a revelation of the truth) gets our attention and helps us think differently about something. But just information isn’t enough to bring about spiritual growth. Paul tells the believers to take note of what they’ve seen in him, inviting them to recall how they’ve seen the gospel’s influence on his life. He also tells the Philippians to take hold of what they’ve received from him – in other words, what they’ve integrated into their own lives in such a way that it’s become part of them, and they’re able to pass it on to others. So, it’s not just gaining information (from what we’ve heard) and imitation (from what we’ve seen), it’s also integration into our lives (from what we’ve received). It’s the spontaneous stuff, not just the structured stuff. It’s the organic stuff we do with people, not just the organised stuff. It’s the overflow of who we are. This then naturally flows into us following Paul’s fourth instruction to put into practice what we’ve heard, seen, and received.

God calls you to be and bring the good news. He empowers you to be a living, breathing, accessible example for others to learn from. If you’re going to be a disciple who makes disciples, you need to embrace the truth that you are mission-critical to someone else’s journey. Let’s invest in others in such a way that they can train another generation, and another generation beyond that. Let’s imitate Paul, as he imitated Christ, and invite others to imitate us too.