I read a great blog recently entitled “4 Myths About Disciplemaking.” I appreciated the points and as such, I wanted to expand upon them as the writer only gave a couple of sentences about each. So, for the next few blogs, allow me to provide my thoughts on these myths.

Myth #1 – Disciplemaking will take care of itself.

The premise here has to do with intentionality. If you have read my blogs over the past years, you will know for certain that the role of disciplemaking is one of effort and commitment.

How great it would be if, when someone chooses to follow Jesus, they would automatically have inserted into them a machine with unlimited power that will keep them moving down a track of spiritual maturity. That all they really need to do is acknowledge Jesus and the rest would take care of itself.

In reality, we are provided with a “machine” with unlimited power, it is the Holy Spirit. And yet, we still need to choose each day to follow Jesus. We still need to develop a sensitivity to listen to the voice of the Spirit that desires to guide us. We still need to decide that, no matter where the Spirit is calling us, we will move in that direction.

Yet how can we develop and grow unless we have someone to show us the way, someone who has gone before us to model what this means in their lives?

Discipleship will never “take care of itself.” It will always require someone choosing to step into the life of a younger follower of Jesus and guide them on their journey.

I am continually blessed as I come alongside others and watch them mature in their faith in Jesus. I don’t believe that what I am doing is all that complex actually. I simply choose to meet with a few guys on a consistent basis, to ask them to engage with some type of bible-centric curriculum, the pray for them and with them, to talk about how faith is to intersect all aspects of their lives and to serve together in some way that leverages our gifts.

With these basic things in place, I get a front row seat in watching someone grow to understand and love Jesus more. I am there when they wrestle with life and I am there when they have successes and we can celebrate together. I am there to pray specifically for them, and I get to listen as they pray for me. Over a several year process, I am continually amazed at the life change that can take place, and for this I am forever thankful that I can participate in this.

And after I have connected with them, I often have the privilege of watching them walk alongside other guys and they get the front row seat.

And yet, we have both had to decide that it won’t just happen. That we had to choose to meet regularly and engage in the scriptures and each other’s lives. It didn’t just take care of itself, we had to choose to take care of it.

And this is my ongoing prayer. That we will always choose to be in the game of walking alongside others on this great journey of faith is Jesus Christ. May this be our reality because discipleship won’t take care of itself.

For the kingdom.

I have been intrigued by the many well-known public figures who make their opinions known and expect people to embrace these ideas as the real truth – and sadly, it would appear that many people do trust their opinions. Actors from Hollywood weigh in on world issues believing they have the answers. Highly paid athletes send out tweets to try to sway us, believing that in a few characters they have grasped the many facets of an issue and give us deep insight. Business executives hold press conferences explaining why government needs to pass certain laws for the good of all – while in reality it is mostly for the benefit of the company that they run.

I will enjoy an actor for the talent they have on the screen, I will appreciate the talent of an athlete for what they do on the field or the arena, I will choose to purchase a product from a business based on its merits. What I will be very cautious of is assuming that simply because someone is well known or wealthy that they have insight to be brought to bear on every topic imaginable.

As someone who guides others on a journey of faith, it is so important to me to lead them to truth, to embrace the many facets of truth, to not try to simplify the beauty of God into one statement, to not only use a few verses or favourite books of the bible to define my faith because they say what I want to believe.

Personally, I continue to have a habit of reading through the bible on a regular basis (usually it takes me 16-18 months and then I start again). I am forever amazed at how new parts of it come alive each time I read it through. My journal is full of questions about why certain things were allowed to happened, why God responded in different ways that seem outright mean from my limited perspective. And then there are times when I am utterly amazed at the love and grace of God and the many ways that he demonstrates huge patience.

We are living in a time of convenience, of short answers, of fast food, of solving world problems by donating $10 through a text, of narrowly defining God only by my personal experiences and finding scriptures to validate what I want to believe and avoiding the rest.

We are disciples or Jesus, it is a relationship. This means an ongoing journey of learning. The entirety of the scriptures must be embraced for us to even begin to grasp the magnitude of God. Jesus himself pointed to the Old Testament as he taught. He demonstrated how the Old Testament revealed everything about him, that he can be found in all of the beauty and chaos of what took place over hundreds of years of history.

We are guiding others on this journey of discipleship. It will be imperative that we embrace the complexity of God through scripture and not allow those we lead to simplify it to a tweet. We must choose to have as our foundation the truth of scripture and to properly place the many opinions of others in their proper place – simply as opinions. This is hard work, this will take time. And yet, in the midst of this, we will discover the beauty of God, learn to fear him above all else, and lead others to do the same – all for the glory of God.

For the kingdom.