Making Disciples

Jesus spoke to His disciples about the importance of fruitfulness in John 15:16, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”

Jesus commanded His disciples (and those who would believe on Him through their testimony) to be fruitful by making disciples of all the nations. Perhaps the finest fruit we can bear for our Heavenly Father is to bring sinners into a personal relationship with Him through Jesus Christ our Lord. We call this fruit bearing process disciple making. God is pleased as we make many disciples for Him.

Jesus' Made Disciples

What is a Disciple?

What does a Disciple of Jesus Look Like?

Why Do We Make Disciples?

We make disciples for three reasons:

  1. Because Jesus commanded us to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).
  2. Because we will reproduce what we are (Genesis 1:11, 20-25, 28).
  3. Because it is the only way we can win our generation to Christ (Matthew 24:14).

Evangelism Alone is Not Enough

As we have seen from Matthew 9:35-10:1, evangelism alone is not enough to reach the multitudes. This is especially true in Africa for the following reasons:

  • Traditional evangelistic methods use too few workers. Evangelism is most often done by one gifted individual who comes into an area for a brief period of time and does a large crusade. When he leaves, the evangelism ends.
  • Traditional evangelistic methods are too expensive. Most evangelism consists of mass campaigns involving advertising, literature, tents, stadiums, halls, speakers, musical groups, and other expensive resources and tools that most local churches cannot afford.
  • 95% of all born again believers are not regular soul winners. It is estimated that only 10% of all believers have the spiritual gift of evangelist. Of that 10%, most are not properly trained to do the work of an evangelist. Thus, the bulk of evangelism is left to a very few who are usually full time Christian workers. Only 5% of all believers are regularly involved in any kind of effective, on-going evangelistic work.

Why Discipleship Works

 

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