Discipleship As I Envision It – A Natural Part of our Everyday Lives
Discipleship should be part of the DNA of God's church, especially the Church of the Nazarene. The Church of the Nazarene has identified its mission as "Making Christlike Disciples in the Nations." This article expresses discipleship as I envision it, as a natural part of our everyday lives.
Who cares? Why would anyone care how I envision discipleship? Who am I? I am nothing more than a servant of God, who has received a vision from God, and is now devoting all his time to the fulfillment of that vision, seeing discipleship become a part of the DNA of God's church, especially the Church of the Nazarene.
First of all, I envision a people who understand that we must do discipleship! They understand that it isn't enough to get people to church, or to get them to the altar. We must get them to heaven! John 15:16 (NIV) says . . . "I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last." Our job never was meant to be about evangelism alone. It was always meant to be about discipleship. Jesus never intended the two to be separated, but meant them to both be a part of the process of transformation. In Matthew chapter nine, Jesus instructs His disciples to pray for workers for the harvest field. Jesus knew then, as we know now, that there is more to working the fields than just bringing in a harvest. We must also get the harvest to market. This is discipleship. We must make sure the harvest (fruit) lasts until market (heaven).