Discipleship

Discipleship. It’s one of those words that doesn’t strike us as Christianese. It’s not one of the big -ations (propitiation, justification, sanctification, etc.). Yet how often do we use the word “discipleship” in our day-to-day lives? I’ve never heard anyone describe themselves as a disciple of a celebrity or politician, but it’s undeniable their disciples exist. So whether we’ve been disciples of Jesus for most of our lives, or are new to it this week, it’s always good to re-focus and make sure we understand things like, (1) What is discipleship, (2) What does the Bible say about discipleship, and (3) How do we do discipleship?

So first off, what is discipleship? Our word “disciple” comes from the Greek word mathētēs, which means something like follower, learner, or apprentice. Discipleship then is the process by which we follow or learn (or learn to become something) from a teacher or guide. We can be disciples of just about anything! When we spend time on social media, we are being discipled by celebrities and influencers to become like them and value what they value. When we watch our favorite cable news shows, we’re being discipled by politicians and talking heads to see the world from their perspectives and interact with other people like they do (interesting that so much discipleship takes place via screens, but that’s another blog for another day). We become who we are discipled by, and we are discipled by those to whom we devote our time and attention.

But what does the Bible say about discipleship? In all four gospels (Mt. 4, Mk. 1, Lk. 5, and Jn. 1), Jesus starts His ministry with the same call – “Follow Me.” He could have said just as well, “Come, be my disciples.” As we read through the gospel narratives, we see 12 men embody a life of discipleship in relation to Jesus. They eat and drink at the weddings and houses parties He eats and drinks at, they travel where He travels, and they sleep where He sleeps. They (always imperfectly) listen to His words, obey His commands, and participate in His mission – bringing the Kingdom of God to earth through the restoration and recreation of this world and its people.

After His death and resurrection, Jesus commissions those same disciples to carry out His mission. They’ve been taught and trained for the past three years and now it is their turn to do the work. The King of all creation could have chosen any number of ways to advance His kingdom mission, yet we see this plan laid out in Matthew 28, in what we call the Great Commission: “Go and make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey my words.” Jesus tells them, “What I did with you, go and do with people all around the globe. Reproduce in them what I have produced in you.” God’s plan for bringing His kingdom to earth is discipleship. It’s replicating the life of Jesus in His followers all across the world.

That mission was taken on by those first disciples and has been passed down to us today by generations of Jesus followers. Over the centuries it has taken many forms, so the last question we need to ask is how do we do discipleship?

If you’re familiar with the term discipleship, there may be a place where your mind immediately jumps to. Maybe you think of your personal devotional time, when you sit down with a Bible, a journal, and a cup of coffee or tea. You read your passage of Scripture for the day, spend some time in prayer, and write down your thoughts and the insights that God has given you that day. Without a doubt, this is an excellent way to grow more like Jesus as an individual. But this idea of a “personal devotion time” is actually a historical anomaly. For the majority of church history, very few people have been able to have access to physical copies of the Scripture, let alone the ability to read it.

Instead, discipleship has - out of necessity - needed to be a community endeavor! It was groups of people, church communities, living in proximity to each other, encouraging one another with the gospel, teaching, training, and challenging each other to follow Jesus together. At Karis, we aim to follow in this tradition by doing discipleship in our DNA groups. These are smaller groups within our Missional Communities where we discover what Jesus wants us to learn in His Word, nurture the truth of the gospel in our hearts, and then make a plan to act out in our lives those transforming truths.

We encourage all Karis members and attenders to be a part of a DNA group. If you have questions, visit our DNA Groups page or start by talking to your MC leader. We want to equip you to grow as a disciple of Jesus!