Tonight I will be teaching a new session of our monthly D-School at Alameda Church of Christ to a small group of our members. D-School is a 4-week discipleship training course that is designed to help followers of Christ become disciple-makers for Christ. We started it at the end of last year and, so far, about 150 of Alameda’s members have gone through it.
Since a disciple is someone who learns how to do something from someone else, we define a disciple as someone who is actively following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and committed to the mission of Jesus. Disciple-making means helping other people trust and follow Jesus too.
One of the fundamental lessons in D-School is that disciple-making is not an event or an activity; it is a lifestyle of helping people trust and follow Jesus. This discipleship lifestyle is characterized by six elements:
Father, Son, & Spirit
Disciple-makers uphold the God as presented in the Bible and revealed through Jesus Christ in the Gospels. Jesus is the Savior and rightful King of humanity. Disciples are careful to uphold Jesus as Lord in all of His grace and truth. The Holy Spirit fuels the disciple-making process, pointing to Jesus and leading His followers into all truth. The Holy Spirit reveals the reality of Jesus’ presence and gives disciples access to the same eternal quality of life that Jesus lived on earth.
Relationships
Genuine life-on-life connections grounded in Christ-like love are the environment for discipleship. Disciple-makers enter into other people’s lives to love them and lead them to maturity in Christ.
Intentionality
Discipleship requires us to have strategy, direction, and specific steps for those we are discipling.
Bible
The Word of God is living and active. By it, we encounter Jesus and learn to form our lives around Him. We use the Bible as a primary source for disciple-making.
Journey
There is a traceable (but sometimes disjointed) growth story from the new birth to spiritual parenthood where the Holy Spirit leads us on a shared, formative journey.
Multiply
Authentic discipleship repeats itself, where the disciple becomes a disciple-maker; reproducing the discipleship process.
The church desperately needs more Christians to step up and become disciple-makers, so I hope you will take that step. Not only will you bless someone else in the process, you will exponentially grow in your walk with Christ.
Let’s make Jesus known!
rusty tugman 