Three Mistakes Christians Make With Discipleship
Real discipleship isn’t always about getting together with a group of men on Friday morning for breakfast (although it certainly can be). Real discipleship takes place in the micro-decisions of life. It’s a well-timed text, encouraging phone call, and random outing together on the lake.
Being a disciple-maker of others is not complex. It simply means growing in our walk with Jesus and being willing to invest in others, with the goal of helping them repeat this process.
Unfortunately, many churches make the concept of discipleship far too confusing, and the approach feels canned. “Get into this small group,” they say, or “Start your five steps to a new believer here.” Some of this is good because structure is a necessary part of the Christian journey. But in all our discipleship structures and systems, it’s easy to lose sight of the main objective.
I did this early on in my ministry. Being someone who was big on systemization, I was always looking to plug people into small groups and positions where they could be a “disciple.” I read as much as I could.
Models fascinated me. I picked up a copy of T4T: A Discipleship Re-revolution and studied how churches in China practiced dicipleship, I talked to discipleship pastors at large churches like Saddleback, and I read dozens of books by popular Christian authors on the subject.
I was always looking for a better system, a better way, or that perfect silver bullet. However, over time, I realized the most effective discipleship I received and gave was more organic and less structured.
Often, the people I "plugged into groups" soon fizzled out, while those I invested in through lots of time and energy lasted. The best discipleship was not over fixed coffee appointments or small group settings but in the ordinary moments of living life, applying the truth of God’s Word to our context.
From my experience, there are three common disciple-making mistakes Christians in the West tend to make.
