Week 1d: Who Do We Disciple?

New Believers: New believers must be rooted and grounded in their newfound faith, being taught right away that we pray not just when things go wrong, but because we are in a relationship with the living God. We read His Bible because it feeds our soul. These foundation concepts must be clearly communicated and modeled to a new believer.

Undiscipled Believers: These are those who are unaffiliated with any congregation, and may be roaming from one group to another, looking for new nuggets of truth. The undiscipled believer is the dysfunctional member of the Body of Messiah, and these people must be brought to maturity through discipleship in order to become spiritual functional. Undiscipled believers should by no means be placed in positions of service or leadership until they have been properly discipled. Beware of depending on transfer-growth, assuming the people who join your community from other congregations have already been discipled. Time spent in discipleship with these people is valuable, for through it they will grow to become rooted and grounded in their faith, developing into functional members of your community.

Mature Believers: No one should be “grandfathered” in to your community. Mature believers joining your community must also be discipled in your values as a congregation so that they will be able to disciple others in these values as well. You must have a normalized system of disciple-making so that your community as a whole shares the same values and are able to make disciples of others. A healthy congregation is focused on making contacts who, in time, become lifelong disciples of Yeshua.

Who We Do Not Disciple?

Unbelievers: Some people are so surprised to find an interested unbeliever that they do not know what to do with them, and may try to disciple them without first leading them to faith. Every person must confess personal faith in Yeshua before they can become His disciple (Matthew 7:22-23; Romans 10:9-10). Do not put the cart before the horse.

Affiliated Believers: If a member or committed attendee from another congregation approaches you asking to be discipled, that means that they want to join your congregation. Our testimony in the community is important to us and we do not want to be accused of sheep stealing. Therefore, if they truly want to be a part of your community, they need to go back to their community and ask to be released with the blessing of their pastor.

When Do We Make Disciples?

New Believers – Immediately: Do not wait for a new believer to show interest before starting discipleship with them. Begin meeting with them right away, in order to establish and encourage them in their new faith, building the foundation for a lifetime of growth.

Undiscipled Believers – Upon Commitment: When you try to disciple a person who is not willing to commit to the community’s values, you will waste your time teaching someone who doesn’t care. Make certain the undisciplined believer has a commitment to the community before beginning discipleship with them.

Mature Believers – Who “buy-in” to the Discipleship Process: Many mature believers are mature not because they went through a standardized discipleship ministry, but because they have grown as they have under the teaching of the Word over the years. Regardless of maturity, a person cannot make disciples simply on the basis of wonderful teaching that they have heard. They must be equipped with a method for making disciples. Going through a structured discipleship ministry themselves will prepare them with what they need in order to disciple others. Do not start discipleship with them, however, until they have “bought-in” to the importance of the discipleship ministry in your congregation, and with the understanding that they will be discipling others as a result.

Week 1c: Why Do We make Disciples?

To Obey Yeshua’s Command: We make disciples at the command of our Messiah. Yeshua’s statement in Matthew 28:18-20 to “make disciples” is not an option, it is a command that we are to carry out.

We are convinced of Yeshua’s Lordship: “All authority has been given to Me on heaven and earth” (Matthew 28:18). His command to make disciples is based on His authority, for “all authority has been given to Him on heaven and on earth.” As Ben Elohim (the Son of God), Messiah’s authority was inborn. Through the incarnation (His birth as a human into this world), He emptied Himself of all privileges, and was lifted up high as He gave His life to bear the sin of many (Isaiah 53:11). Now, as our risen King, He has all authority as Lord of all (Psalm 2:7-8; Isaiah 9:6).

We are committed to Messiah’s discipleship: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20a). To the degree we are convinced of Messiah’s Lordship in our lives, to that degree we are committed to His discipleship, and no more. The result of discipleship is a dedicated life, as one moves from being a mere believer to a true follower of Yeshua, a doer of the Word (James 1:22). In Yeshua’s command to make disciples, we see four discipleship life commitments:

1. Discipleship is a purpose-oriented life, “Go therefore.” As you go, wherever you go, you have an underlying purpose: you go to make disciples! Whether you are next door, at work, shopping, or on vacation, you have a commission from the Lord: to be Messiah’s messenger, sharing the Good News and making disciples.

2. Discipleship is an other-oriented life, “makes disciples of all nations.” Our service for ADONAI is entirely others-focused. As we disciple people, we edify and serve them in their walk with the Lord. We are to reach out and make disciples of people from all nations, not showing favoritism or prejudice for any one group of people.

3. Discipleship is a Messiah-oriented life, “immersing them.” Through immersion, we identify with Yeshua, united with Him in His death as we die to sin (Romans 6:5-7), and are raised to live for Him. Through our lives, we represent Him, modeling His life to those we are serving.

4. Discipleship is a Scripture-oriented life, “observe all.” The goal of teaching is obedience. As we make disciples, we teach them to obey the commandments of God, for these are the convictions of believers everywhere. Through discipleship, we learn to live out of obedience to God’s Word rather than out of natural inclination. The testimonies of what the Lord has done in our lives come from obedience to God’s Word, not to the world.

We are completed in Messiah’s fellowship, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 29:20). The power for discipleship is found in our personal relationship with Messiah. He is Immanuel, God with us (Isaiah 7:14)! The relationship with Messiah can restore what sin has destroyed. We are never without the Resource to all that God has called us to do; the only way we can make disciples is through Messiah. Yeshua’s fellowship will never end, “He will never leave us or forsake us” (Hebrews 13:5b). Completed in His fellowship, we have the love of God poured into our hearts by the Ruach given to us.

To Empower Other Believers to Honor Yeshua: When a person prays and makes a decision for Messiah, it is merely a starting point. Discipleship reveals what the person actually prayed about. Through discipleship, we teach a person what it means to live as a believer; walking with the Lord as they pray, the study of God’s Word, sharing their faith, and so on. Do not assume that people are already doing these things, as these are spiritual and not natural disciplines that are not easily implemented until they are taught.

We must move from decisions to disciples. Discipleship is about growing to become more like Messiah as we follow Him. We do not want believers to become mere members of our congregation; we want the congregation to be made up of disciples. It is possible to be a believer to be spiritually dysfunctional and not growing as God intended for them to grow. The same is true for a congregation. If there were a Messianic congregation on every street corner, it wouldn’t make much of a difference if each of them was dysfunctional. They could not help themselves, let alone anyone else. Effective discipleship is needed for a person to become mature and functional, ready to serve in the Body of Messiah. Through discipleship, we mature to be like Yeshua and follow in His ways, walking in the dust of our Rabbi.

Faith in Yeshua makes you a child of God; discipleship is God’s way for you to mature as His child. As people grow in their relationship with the Lord through discipleship, they are ready to move from milk to solid food (Hebrews 5:14). Through reading and understanding His Word more and more, they gain insight in how to live faithfully for Him, honoring Him, and seeing the difference He makes in their lives.

Just as there is not salvation without faith in Yeshua, so there is no spiritual growth without discipleship. Believers are not growing unless they are properly grounded and rooted in the faith. If they do not have an actual prayer life and are not consistently in the Word, they are malnourished and unplugged. Though their knowledge of the externals may be impressive, be wise and very careful about this important matter. Do not make assumptions unless you know for sure that a person has been discipled. If you neglect to do this, you will end up with people in your congregation serving and teaching who do not share your values.

To Have a Functional, Unified Community: It is essential that discipleship be in our DNA. When a group of people are not unified, leading them can be like herding cats. The same discipleship for all members of the community brings a unity of mission and values. This type of true unity is vitally important for congregational health. Unity comes as people actually “walk together in agreement” (Amos 3:3), when they have shared values. Just because a couple has the same last name doesn’t mean they have unity. Likewise, simply because a group of people are part of the same community, it does not mean they have unity. Unity is not found in common personality traits or hobbies, but in sharing the most important things of life together. People will naturally move towards division unless they are taught unity through discipleship in common values.

Lack of discipleship is often the tragic cause of congregational disunity and immaturity. If you are not discipling people in your community’s mission and values, beware! There are always more rams in the flock than shepherds, and without unifying your values, those who are strong-willed will end up taking over and enforcing their values on others. People are imperfect, and personalities will always clash; but through discipleship in unifying values, they will be held accountable to the fact that the primary value of love must dictate how disagreements are dealt with in the congregation.

To Protect the Flock: We must protect our flocks from unbelievers who merely want to fit in (see the book of Jude). These wolves will enter your community in pursuit of those who are not discipled, those who are ungrounded, who are straying from the flock. These unbelievers may appear to “fit in,” knowing when to stand and when to sit down, how to hold their Bibles the right way, etc, but do not know why they are doing those things. Do not be fooled, for people like this have simply learned the lingo of the community, they are not truly saved, nor do they understand our values.

Week 1b: Discipleship Ministry

Then Yeshua said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross every day, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).

The word discipleship comes from the Hebrew word hanakh, which means to make narrow, dedicate, or train. This is where we get the word for Hanukkah, or the Feast of Dedication. Even as the TaNaKh teaches us to be dedicated ones (Genesis 14:14; Proverbs 22:6), so our Messiah expects all believers to be involved in discipleship and nurtured in His Word, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20a).

What is the difference between teaching and discipleship? Teaching is instruction that presents an expectation – while discipleship is how to apply what has been learned. This is because people do not know how to apply the knowledge they learned. Through discipleship, we do not simply teach people about their walk with Messiah, we walk with them in how to actually live it out. Discipleship transforms a believer into a mature follower of the Lord who has a firm grasp of his or her identity in Messiah, prays daily, knows the Scriptures, values fellowship, and shares their faith with others. A disciple must learn these things and then incorporate them into their life in order to grow into them. This process is life-long, and grounded believers continue to grow as they “are conformed in the image of Messiah” (Romans 8:29). Because discipleship is of eternal value, you never outgrow it, but rather, grow into it.

Discipleship is a form of coaching, a training in righteousness (Second Timothy 3:16). Just as in sports, training in these fundamental matters of faith is vitally important because practice is the only way these things will become habits in a person’s life. Day-to-day, when the pressure is on and we feel frustrated, tired, or upset, we will resort to our flesh unless we have developed godly habits that teach us to pray rather than to react. These things must be built intentionally, and will only develop into habits as a person matures. Discipleship, then, is an exercise program through which we are trained in righteousness.

This type of dedication is the normal way of life for a believer. However, Yeshua taught that “the children of darkness are wiser when dealing with their own generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). Although the principles by which they live are unredeemed, they take them very seriously and follow-through on them. Many believers, however, take a more casual approach to prayer and spending time with God in His Word, thinking, “I’ll get to it when I can,” or “I won’t pray unless I really need to.” This type of attitude is abnormal and dysfunctional, never okay for a believer to have. God gives time, talent and treasure for us to redeem; we are to use them for His glory (Matthew 25:14-30).

When you lead a person to faith, it is essential that you now disciple them. It would be crazy for a parent to think that their work is done once their child is born. God expects evangelism to lead to discipleship just as He expects pregnancy to lead to parenting. So also with discipleship, we must feed our own children. It is important that you have a framework for this important process, not making it up as you go along with each person. Therefore, we have a discipleship ministry with a fourteen-week format.

Week 1: Overview and Review

Week 2: Your Identity in Messiah

Week 3: Prayer

Week 4: Scripture

Week 5: The Dispensations of God

Week 6: The Eight Covenants of the Bible

Week 7: God the Father and the Trinity

Week 8: The Ruach Ha’Kodesh

Week 9: Spiritual Gifts

Week 10: Fellowship

Week 11: The Fundamentals

Week 12: Sharing your faith

Week 13: Basic Symbols

Week 14: Husbands and Wives

Just as a reminder. These lessons may seem very basic to you, but you need to keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to disciple others who do not understand the basic doctrines of the Bible and practices of the congregations of God.

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