Making Disciples

Many times we read the scriptures and we see that we are to go and make disciples and we think in our mind that disciple-making sounds like a really good idea. Then we walk away from the scriptures and go on living our life the same way as we have always lived it.

We see discipleship as a nice symbolic gesture from Jesus. But we really don't see it as a way of life. At least not for us. We like being a Christian just like we are.

Disciple-making is actually the only way a Christian lives his daily life. You take away disciple-making and you take away the Christian. Jesus calls us to com to him and die! He calls us to take up our cross and follow him. Jesus says go and make disciples. I love the way Jonathan Leeman describes it in a blog post over at 9 marks back in 2012. He gives a schedule for a normal disciple-maker and shows what it might look like in practice. Again I understand everyone's schedule is different but I like what Jonathan is teaching here. I have added the schedule below. I would encourage you to go check out the 9 marks website.

 A Discipler's Daily Itinerary

It is one thing to say that Christians should be involved in discipling relationships. It is another thing to figure out what this looks like practically. When do you do it? How do you do it? What does it look like?
In order to present as clear a picture as possible, here is what a day’s schedule might look like for a typical Christian husband and father who has heard Jesus’ call to be a fisher of men.
6:00 a.m. Shower & dress
6:30 a.m. Devotions: Bible reading & praying. Pray for family, day’s events, discipling relationships, evangelistic opportunities, the church, etc.
7:00 a.m. Help kids get ready
7:30 a.m. Meet fellow church member Paul at nearby coffee shop for breakfast; discuss chapter of D. A. Carson book; discuss marriage and parenting; ask about his other Christian and non-Christian relationships
8:30 a.m. Work
12:30 p.m. Lunch with non-Christian co-worker; discuss faith
1:30 p.m. Work
5:30 p.m. Pick up items at store for dinner for wife; bring Ken, single man in the church who lives nearby. Ask deliberate questions about his life.
6:30 p.m. Dinner; family worship; play with kids; bedtime routine
8:45 p.m. Desert with wife and the Smiths in the living room, a younger couple in the church who are struggling in their marriage; conversations about marriage and prayer
10:15 p.m. Prayer with wife and bed.

On the one hand, that schedule is all very neat. Life never quite fits into 30 and 60 minute blocks. You know that. Any given day might have more time with family, doing home repair, taking kids to swim lesson, working late, or a hundred other things.
Still, it gives you the picture of a fairly average discipler. Nothing exceptional or groundbreaking, but hopefully faithful and deliberate amidst the many stewardships of life that God gives. Four touch points outside the family (breakfast, lunch, errand, dessert) might be unusual—one to three would be more typical. And some days, there might be none.


Jonathan Leeman, a member of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, is the editorial director of 9Marks and is the author of Church Membership: How the World Knows Who Represents Jesus.
September/October 2012
© 9Marks