Tonight we talked about the definition of discipleship,
after modeling our class from our session with Sam Farina. We broke into groups and brainstormed what
Discipleship is and what a Disciple is.
Some of my findings:
BRAINSTORMING
The Assemblies of God definition: Discipleship is the
diligent and intentional teachings and practices that promote the lifelong
lifestyle of becoming ever more like Jesus and reproducing the Christ-life in
others.
Some of my brainstorming notes:
-Relationships?
-Follower/learner of Jesus
-Follower/learner of Jesus
-A process, not an event
-Devoted their life
-Student of Jesus Christ
-Comes from Greek:
-Pupil of a teacher
-Apprentice
-Everyone can be a disciple
DISCIPLESHIP IS…
Teaching others to selflessly and intentionally learn about and follow
Jesus, resulting in others doing the same. (Our group)
A process of training and equipping others to become a disciple.
(Another group)
A DISCIPLE IS…
…a student of Christ who has devoted their life to knowing who He is
and doing what He says. (Me)
A person who follows Jesus and does what He says. (Our group)
Is a student who is committed to spreading the teaching of God by
actively being a doer of the word and loving others. (Another group)
Relinquishes self in an effort to share more of Christ’s burdens,
becoming more like him. (Another group)
DANIEL MCNAUGHTON
Completely unexpectedly, Daniel
McNaughton walked into our class.
Currently, he is directly working with 4 churches, and coaching about a
dozen others. Taking full advantage of
the opportunity, we asked him what his definition of discipleship is. Daniel said that a disciple is “One who
learns to do what the master does.” Reproduce
yourself in others by learning what Jesus does.
The Process of Discipleship is:
coming, hearing, and doing. Daniel said
that the Sermon on the Mount shaped his view of discipleship. At the end of it, Jesus says that you have to
do what He says. In Luke, Jesus says,
“come to me, hear my words, and put them into action.”
The Great Commission is one command:
make disciples of all nations. It isn’t
just “GO” as so often we limit it to. It
says more literally, “as you are going, make disciples.” Most churches don’t centralize around
this. Daniel then broke down Jesus’
Discipleship model, using the Gospel of Matthew as his guide (specifically, the
Sermon on the Mount).
JESUS’ DISCIPLESHIP MODEL
Jesus
doesn’t have a conversation right away with those He disciples. He instantly recruits you to go to lost
people. Eventually, He talks to you
(Sermon on the Mount). When He does, He
talks about other people. He says things
like we are the salt and light of the world.
“Salt attracts, light directs.”
Our identity has to be in this.
He tells them to love those they hate, and Daniel pointed out that
Christians lie when they say they don’t hate anyone. He teaches us how to pray, but starting off
with how not to pray. Then He talks about money, saying you can’t
serve God and money.
Daniel
described this as the Purpose of the Church.
Everything is about helping people develop those seven attributes:
1. Learning to be with Jesus
2. Learning to listen and obey
3. Learning to heal
4. Learning to influence
5. Learning to love
6. Learning to pray
7. Learning to manage
OTHER THOUGHTS
“You’re useless to the Kingdom if
you have an agenda.” You have to stay
surrendered, because that’s the best place you can possibly be. He loves taking people who couldn’t do it,
and making them do great things. He gets
all the glory.
I was
really glad Daniel McNaughton came in to class that day and spoke to us. He didn’t just shed some light on
discipleship, but he was very specific about it and gave us a clear answer.
His website:
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