rGroup Dinner - Discipleship

Off the top

I will send emails with all the people that signed up for an rGroup — just like we have always done

rGroup leader toolbox — password is rGroups — it contains a lot of useful things for you and your group. If you are doing a study provided by REVO the notes are there, there are templates for weekly emails as well as an email you can send out when someone signs up. There is a list of service partners you can look through

Discipleship

Discipleship is a buzz word in church culture today

I mean my title is now discipleship pastor — buzz word!

Don’t fire me lol

Discipleship is something that we hear about, maybe even want to do, but we don’t know how to do it

Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have.

Billy Graham

I want to clear something up though — discipleship has always existed — Jesus commanded it

Matthew 28:18–20 NET

18 Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The term “make disciples” is Jesus telling us that we should be making disciples or going through the process of discipleship

Definition

I believe that many of us have a different definition of what a disciple is — because of that we cannot properly make disciples

What is your definition of a disciple?

Disciple: an apprentice of Jesus, who will be with Jesus, become like Jesus, and do what Jesus did

Let’s break down what that means

Apprentice: actively working to become like Jesus through sanctification

Be with Jesus: spend time daily with Jesus through reading/studying the word, prayer, meditation, music, relationships, etc.

Become like Jesus: in the manner of sin; flee sin; crave the things of God and not the world such as his love, mercy, etc.; more like Jesus’ character

Do what Jesus did: actions of Jesus; showing love, mercy, etc; evangelism

So if that is what a disciple is, the next question we should be asking is how do I disciple someone?

How to disciple: walking with a person daily; living life together actively not passively

If you are going to disciple someone you must be willing to walk with the person

Walking with them in daily life — seeking to be an active part in their life, not just passive bystanders shouting directions

Discipleship is often messy, difficult, and can burn you

If you are trying to pour into someone and help them seek Jesus it’s never going to be easy

Four things

But I want to give you four tips for how you can disciple someone

We must first be intentional

Intentional: spend intentional time with them

If we are going to be discipling someone we must be intentional with them

We are not like Jesus and the disciples (i.e. we don’t live together for 3 years)

We must be intentional with the questions we ask and how we act/react to things that come up in discussion

You can’t disciple someone in secret and you can’t be discipled in secret

Purpose: have a purpose and plan

We must have a purpose when it comes to discipling someone

The person you are choosing to disciple must know the purpose of it. If they think you are simply meeting together they will never take it serious

Think about the question:

What is the reason behind picking that person?

Why are you choosing the person you are picking?

To achieve the definition above

Appropriate: must be an appropriate discipleship relationship

You can’t disciple a person that is further along than you

You can’t be discipled by someone who is behind you

You should always be a Timothy to someone's Paul

You should always be a Paul to someone's Timothy

You can’t disciple someone who doesn’t want to be discipled

You can’t be discipled if you aren’t willing

The relationship must be appropriate. If you a man you should be discipling another man. If you are a woman you should be discipling another woman

This not only protects you from sin — you also don’t understand what the other are dealing with

Replication: your disciple should replicate this relationship with others

This does not mean your discipleship relationship must end but instead they should begin doing this with another

The person you are discipling should be able to go off and start discipling someone else

If they cannot replicate what you are doing with them you are simply wasting their time

Leader challenge

As rGroup leaders you are seen as leaders in the church.

You are seen as people that have influence and people look up to you

So my challenge for you is to take discipleship seriously. Every one of you should have a co-leader. If you don’t now is the time to identify someone in your group that will co-lead with you

Start discipling your co-leader. Teaching them how you read the Bible, how you prepare for rGroup, how you fight off sin and seek Jesus

There is no one size fits all when it comes to discipleship — the key is simply pointing them to Jesus

DISCLAIMER: Most people will not ask to be discipled or to disciple you, so we MUST seek out those relationships

DISCLAIMER 2: there is no one size fits all to discipleship