The church makes disciples. And disciples make disciples. The Great Commission was given to the early followers of Jesus as a disciple-making mandate. They were to evangelize, establish churches, equip believers, and send out evangelists. They would have understood this as a task to be done together, but they would have also understood this to be a task with which they were personally engaged.
We often presume that disciples are being made because people attend church. They come to worship. They attend Bible studies. Children are in AWANA or Power for Kids. Students come to midweek worship and small groups. We are discipling people. And in some sense, we are. But maturing is more than attending. Just because people attend does not mean they are maturing as a disciple of Jesus.
Individual members of the church should live with a disciple-making mentality. There is not a split in the church of people who are disciples and people who are disciple-makers. Every believer is to be a disciple-making disciple. Within our relationships we are learning and growing, teaching, and training one another. Every Christian is still maturing, and every Christian has something to pass on.
Not every discipleship moment happens in a class, in a small group, in an accountability relationship, or in the sanctuary. Discipleship occurs as Christians intentionally interact with one another, speak of the Lord, share of their gifts, are transparent about struggles, and live in humility. Discipleship becomes transformational when it moves from a program the church does into a culture the church possesses. That is the aim of equipping believers. Equipping is not about getting more people in the building or into programs. It is about Christian relationships in which we are conscious of our need for others to help us grow, and of our responsibility to be used by God to help others as they grow in maturity.
By His Grace and For His Glory,
Pastor Mark