What does it mean to disciple someone? Jesus commands all believers to, “Go and make disciples,” but how do we do this?
Salvation is accepting the free gift of Jesus whereas discipleship is the continual process of giving up our life (denying self) and following Jesus. There are tons of bible studies and training classes out there on how to prepare people to disciple one another, but when the original church started in the book of Acts, they didn’t need or have any of those resources. Here are three things the disciples did to disciple others:
1. They learned about Jesus together, daily – They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching. They were committed to one another as they learned. Their relationship with God wasn’t an individual matter. They relied on one another to help grow closer to God. (Acts 2:42)
2. They served others, daily – The early church were attentive to the needs of others. If there was a need, they made sure to help that person out at all costs; even if that meant that needed to sell their own possessions. (Acts 2:45)
3. They ate with each other, daily – Eating with people isn’t mandatory for discipleship to happen, but hanging out with people is. If you can’t think of anything you have in common or a reason to get together with them, eat with them. People always need to eat and you need to be building deep relationships with people. It is a no-brainer. If you are trying to help someone know Jesus better but don’t know more information than is on their, “About Me” section of their Facebook, then you should have a burger or coffee with them soon. (Acts 2: 42;46)
See any trends? If you didn’t, here it is: They spent time every day building one another up in Christ. Everything that they did was focused on personally and corporately growing closer to God.