Making faithful, reproducing disciples

In his book The Only One: Living Fully In, By, and For God, Curtis Sergeant describes three biblical priorities of discipleship integral to growing fruitful disciple-makers like the three legs on a stool: knowledge (or discovery), application (or obedience), and sharing.

Discovery

It’s empowering when people discover truth for themselves versus being told what to believe. Jesus facilitated discovery by asking lots of questions. He often answered questions with more questions (Luke 10:25–26; 18:18–19; 20:1–4; etc.)! He used stories and parables to communicate truths about the kingdom, knowing that many would not immediately grasp the truths without pursuing him more deeply. Jesus knew the power of discovery.

A discovery approach to discipleship allows people to learn from God. In John 6:44–45, Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me” (NET).

In facilitating discovery, we must believe that God can and will reveal his truth to seekers directly from Scripture. Therefore, leaders should facilitate rather than teach (in the traditional sense), trusting that the Holy Spirit is the best teacher (John 14:26; 16:13; Ps. 25:5). During COVID lockdowns, I facilitated a group studying the story of Jesus calming the storm. When asked “What does this story teach us about Jesus?” a non-Christian participant said, “I think Jesus is God.” Wow! I didn’t teach her that. God taught her that!

The cultural tendency to “depend on the expert” is a challenge we must address in discipleship. There is a “sensei” that Japanese need to depend on, but it’s not us. It’s Jesus. Right from the beginning, we need to present him as the expert, the source of all truth—truth they can access directly at any time.

Obedience

In Matthew 7:24–27, Jesus tells the story of a wise man and a foolish man. “The wise man built his house upon the rock . . .” You’re singing along now, aren’t you? In this story, both men heard Jesus’s words; the only difference is one was obedient and one was not.

Teaching the Word without helping people obey is not true discipleship. And yet knowledge seems to be the focus in most discipleship programs and strategies I’ve seen. If knowledge without obedience leads to “utter destruction” and “being swept out to sea,” it’s crucial we find a loving way to hold one another accountable to obeying Jesus.

Speaking of love, have you noticed how often John equates loving Jesus to obeying him? Check out John 14:15, 21, 23, 24, 31; 15:10, 14; 17:6 and 1 John 2:3–6; 3:24; 5:2, 3. Helping each other love Jesus deeply and thus obey him completely should be at the core of discipleship.

We can emphasize loving Jesus through obedience with this question: “How will you apply or obey what you’ve learned today?” This encourages the group to show their faith by their works (James 2:18) and to truly love Jesus more.

Sharing with others

In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul exhorts Timothy to “entrust what you heard me say in the presence of many others as witnesses to faithful people who will be competent to teach others as well.” God’s truth was never meant to be hoarded but to be passed on to others. This is a key factor to experiencing growth in Christ and seeing truth pass from one to another.

The word “evangelism” (dendō) tends to generate anxiety in the minds of Christians, particularly Japanese believers. This may be due to a strict understanding of evangelism as “sharing the full gospel in one setting and inviting someone to believe on the spot.” No wonder that scares us! We could encourage believers to simply share what they have learned, heard, or read recently from God’s word. Asking the question, “Who else needs to hear this story?”, encourages participants to think of someone they can tell.

Striving to be faithful disciples

Returning to Sergeant’s analogy of the three-legged stool, all three legs must be equal in length if the stool is to be useful. So it is with discipleship. If someone knows the Word and shares the Word but doesn’t obey the Word, that person is a hypocrite. Someone who knows the Word and does it but doesn’t share it is selfish. A faithful disciple knows the Word, obeys it, and shares what they know and do with others.

The Discovery Bible Study (DBS) is a tool we use to create an environment for facilitating these three practices among seekers, new believers, and long-time followers of Jesus (see page 23 in the resources section for more information).