Do you know how many times the word “discipleship” appears in our English Bible? If you guessed zero times, you are correct! While the word “disciple” appears over 250 times, there is no “discipleship,” not one. If you searched for the word “discipleship” in the entire Bible, you would not be successful. But more importantly, what does the word “discipleship” even mean? In the Christian world, everyone uses it, but what are we trying to say? And what does a pastor of discipleship even do? To me, discipleship is the work of growing towards Christian spiritual maturity. The work of a discipleship pastor is to bring those who are already Christians and also those who are unbelievers, to grow and become mature followers of Christ.
But discipleship can also mean the work of growing in relationships. Why do I say this? If you recall in Mark 12, there was one day when a man came to Jesus and asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest of all?” He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.” As you can see, the greatest commandment of all has to do with relationship. The second commandment has to do with relationship again. The first is the relationship with God. The second is the relationship with all the people in our world. Some will say that discipleship is the work of growing in maturity in relationship with God alone. I won’t disagree. I just happen to think it does not go far enough. Discipleship is really the work of growing in maturity in relationship with both God and people.
Last week, I attended a leadership conference. For two full days, we talked about one thing and one thing only—relationships with people. We talked about how to create relationships, how to thrive in relationships, and how to stay in relationships. Our Lord Jesus Christ was all about relationships during his earthly ministry. If you were to read through the Gospels, you would discover that other than the times he went up the mountain to pray in solitude and maybe a few others, he engaged in relationships with people all the time.
There is one more thing I wish to say. If discipleship is about the work of growing in relationships, and I do believe it is, then a mature Christian must be someone who is mature in his relationship with God, but also mature in his relationships with people. Being a mature Christian and being someone who is mature in relationships with people go hand in hand. You see, you cannot be one, but not the other. You cannot call yourself a mature Christian, but be someone who is immature in his relationships with people.
In addition to growing in our relationship with God, we must, at the same time, grow in our relationship with others. Let’s learn to respect. Let’s choose not to avoid people. Let’s learn not to divide people. Let’s choose not to walk away from a relationship just because it is hard. Let’s learn to be on the same team, and choose to love everyone well. This is all a part of discipleship. I encourage you, and you encourage me. Let’s do this together.