This year we have been praying this Breakthrough Prayer together: Father, give 50 of us the courage to lead a discipleship group for the first time. 

As of this writing, we have 38 of the 50 first time disciplers we’ve been asking for. We are trusting the Lord to give us the opportunity to equip and encourage 12 more in answer to this request!

Why do we talk so much about discipleship? Why does it matter? As we think about these important questions, I’d like to share with you three ways discipleship makes a difference.

1. It has a personal impact.

The word “disciple” simply means learner or follower. Essential to being a follower of Jesus is to enter into relationships where we learn to trust the beautiful combination of God’s Word, His Spirit and the body of Christ to speak to us in intimate and powerful ways.

I think sometimes we avoid discipleship because we feel it may expose us a bit. What if these people realize I don’t know the Bible as well as I should? What if these people discover I am much more sinful than I let on? What if these people realize I have lots of doubts and fears?

But the exciting part of trusting the discipleship process is that we get to invite God’s Word, His Spirit and His people into our everyday selves where the miracle of God’s grace and love gets to be poured out onto who we really are.

Most of our significant emotional and spiritual breakthroughs happen when we give a few others permission to help us apply the authoritative Word of God and God’s great love in these smaller discipleship settings. I know this has certainly been the case for me.

2. It benefits the church community.

Discipleship is a reproducing movement. Paul tells Timothy the purpose is to entrust the Gospel to faithful men and women who are able to teach others (2 Timothy 2:1-2). The reason we have spent the last two years praying for 50 first time disciplers is because we believe this has always been the heart of Jesus.

Paul says in Ephesians 4:15-16 that one of the main purposes of the church is “to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

This is such a beautiful promise of what discipleship can look like!

We are called to be discipled and to disciple others. Each and everyone of us has been empowered by God’s Word and His Spirit to invest in a few others. Some of the best “disciplers” I know are not seminary trained or full of boisterous personality. Rather, they are quiet and faithful followers of Jesus who take their calling of discipleship very seriously and have a massive impact for all eternity.

3) It makes a difference around the world. 

Discipleship is an “outward” positioning of our lives. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus commands us, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations …” Some of us are called to disciple the nations overseas and some of us are called to disciple the nations here in the San Gabriel Valley, but the message of Jesus’ great love for us transcends all cultures.

The Spirit of God will not be stopped by racial or ethnic barriers and there is no greater experience in all of the world than to be used by God to reach the nations.

As we fulfill this Great Commission, Jesus brackets it with two promises: 1) His authority and 2) His presence. In the Matthew 28 passage Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me … And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Jesus sends us to the nations with His authority and power and the promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

How exciting that through personal discipleship you and I get to be a part of God’s powerful and unfolding purposes and plan for our individual lives, our church community, and the nations!