One of my friends is a super-dad. He’s one of those guys who has raised a half dozen kids and all of them are living for the Lord. I learned so much from him about being a dad. When we needed help with work projects, his kids would always be the ones there and working hard.
This man had ingrained in his children the principle that you never leave a place in worse condition than when you came. You always work to improve the place where you go. This leads to things as simply as throwing away your cup and plate after munching on Rice Krispy Treats and Kool-Aid. But it also extended to more prolific things like building relationships with new students when they visited.
As I think about this helpful principle, I wonder if this would be a great way to illustrate and to encourage folks in personal discipleship.
Often when we talk about personal discipleship people get that deer in the headlights look. I don’t blame them. It’s a scary thing. Most of us don’t even know what personal discipleship looks like in practice.
Is personal discipleship what I’m doing when I gather at McDonald’s on a Monday morning with my buds and talk about how the preacher shanked the message on Sunday morning? Is it getting donuts and coffee with someone while we talk about Francis Chan? Do we spend six hours on Saturday’s walking through Grudem’s Systematic? Is this what we do when we watch Beth Moore videos together?
What if we used my friends helpful principle to think about discipleship? First, I make a concentrated effort to spend time with people. Secondly, every time I spend time with them my goal is to leave them better than when we started—to help them take one step closer to Christ. That’s it. Every time I meet with you I want to love you and want to help you see Jesus a little better. (And quite likely you’ll help me see Jesus better too).
This means that with every relationship I’m asking myself, how can I help them get one step closer to full maturity in Christ?
It’s a helpful and simple way for me to think about personal discipleship without getting all nervous and sweaty when I think about meeting with people one on one.
Simpler is always better for me. I tend to overcomplicate things. 🙂
Helpful indeed. Thanks for sharing, Mike. Having just finished The Vine Project by Marshall and Payne (follow up to The Trellis and Vine), it reminds me of the 4 P’s of ministry: Proclamation of the Word, Prayer, People as God’s fellow workers, and patience. Such a simple, helpful, and motivational way to think about discipleship and all of life. Pray as you proclaim the Word to people with patience.
I’m about a 1/4 of the way through…and I’d say that both that book and Trellis and the Vine are certainly shaping influences behind what I’ve posted here. In fact, I’d guess their concept of just taking one step to the right was rattling around my head when I thought of this.
Thanks. I think of Paul’s statement in Colossians 1:28: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” Our goal in discipleship should be to proclaim, warn, and teach so that each person is a little more mature in Christ.
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