I had an interesting discussion with someone recently about discipleship. They said, "Isn't discipleship just mentoring or Christian leadership training?"
She made me think long and hard before I answered...
Discipleship is quite different from mentoring, coaching and leadership development. These things are good and necessary things, for sure, but they are not discipleship. And certainly they can include elements of discipleship, but it should never be a replacement for actually growing closer in our walk with the Master Teacher Jesus.
When we combine discipleship with these other terms discipleship loses its ability for transformation to occur.
JR, Sweet. A thought I have had for a few months, is that John spent 3 intense years being discipled by Jesus. 40 or so years later he decides to write it all down and the first thing he says about his relationship with Jesus is "the Word became flesh." Now I don't have that all figured out, but it sounds intense and personal, beyond just mentoring, leadership development, or even what some understand as discipleship (i.e. the Navigators, Campus Crusade, Renovare). Also, looking at Paul and Timothy, it also seems intense when Paul calls Timothy "my dear son". However, Paul also encourages Timothy to disciple ("entrust to") others by drawing an analogy to being a soldier, athlete, farmer .. so some worldly examples are valid while still being incomplete.
Regards, Doug
PS A neat message I heard on the words "go and make" disciples explained that it actually means "go throughout your life making"
Posted by: DougG | February 07, 2007 at 04:51 PM