Part 3 / Discovering Discipleship / 101 Series
Jesus calls us to go and make disciples of all nations. Maybe each of us is not necessarily called to travel the world as a missionary, but that is only a small part of what the great commission calls us to do. In a Christian's sphere of influence, there must be one or two people, at least, that need a mentor to lead them toward a closer communion with the Father.
When I was invested in, I was a Junior in high school. I then chose to head to Johnson Bible College with the intention of finding a couple guys to disciple, but could not seem to find anyone who fit the bill.
I was looking for people who were in my sphere of influence, less spiritually mature than me and around my age or younger. It was difficult to find. I have been in some level of leadership roles at churches for more than three years. I was discouraged, disappointed in myself, and thought maybe it was God's way of telling me I'm not ready for ministry or discipleship yet. Turns out, it was actually the Deceiver speaking to me the whole time.
I had been saying it for years and knew it was true, but was not living it myself. I had been saying discipleship just takes intentionality, and everyone who calls him or her self a disciple is ready to make disciples. I knew I was ready, but I was missing the intentionality piece. What was I waiting for? Was I seriously believing that someone who perfectly meets my "disciplee" credentials was just going to walk up to me and ask if I could start meeting with them and helping them grow in their walk with Christ?
I needed to be.. INTENTIONAL. So, I did something absolutely crazy,
I asked a sixteen year old to go grab coffee with me.
I know what you're thinking, "Kyle, it's amazing that you are so bold and thoughtful. The Holy Spirit must really be with you." (Just kidding) This idea of intentionality is not a difficult endeavor! All we are asked to do is invest in someone. Christ died so that we could spend eternity with Him. The least we can do is carve out an hour to meet someone for coffee!
In his book, Small is Big Slow is Fast, Caesar Kalinowski writes that most people eat about 21 meals a week. How hard is it to devote just one of those meals to investing in someone's Spiritual walk and doing real life discipleship? Honestly, take some time right now to pray and think about a meal in your week that you could have with someone consistently. Who's that person? Is it a coworker? Is it the neighbor that lives two doors down that you've talked to one time? Is it your own son or daughter?
For better or worse you must realize that God is leading you to invest in these people. One of toughest parts of following Jesus in disciple-making is just getting started. But the only way to get better, is just by going and doing.