Jesus' Disciple-Making Strategy

When we read Scripture we generally focus on what the characters are saying … the lesson of the text. At the same time, we often overlook the other information in the text.

How were they delivering the message?

What was going on around them?

What is the situation at hand?

This is even true when we read through the Gospels. We tend to focus more on what Jesus said than what He did or how He went about doing it. It’s good to focus on what Jesus was saying and, even better, when we pay attention to how He went about doing it.

Jesus, the Master Disciple Maker, was showing those who followed Him a “way to do things” just as much as He was teaching them about a “way to live.” This was the way disciple-making worked. The disciples were with their Rabbi constantly and learned as they experienced life together.

Disciple-making takes best in organic situations around a table while sharing some food

Learning in this sort of relationship took many shapes and forms, and part of that was the discovery of how the Rabbi went about living life: how they did things, what they did and didn’t do. All of it mattered. And Jesus’ followers caught it. The strategies Jesus used with them ended up becoming the strategy we find being put into play as the Early Church began to take shape. They did what Jesus did.

It makes sense that those starting this new movement would follow the example of their Rabbi. After all, isn’t that the very basis of our definition of what it means to be a disciple? We define a disciple of Jesus as someone who learns what Jesus said and did and then begins to do it in their own life: they are a learner-follower in the way of Jesus.

One of the strategies Jesus passed onto His followers (including us) was a way for reproducing through discipleship. It is the primary responsibility He gives to everyone who follows Him, and He had a defined way to go about it. We are able to catch a glimpse of Jesus’ expectation and process when reading the Great Commission.

Jesus said: Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We are going to take a journey into the way Jesus thought disciple-making works best, the way He went about doing it, His way. In essence, if we want to be effectively fruitful in disciple-making we might want to start with asking a question like this one…

How would Jesus go about making disciples in my neighborhood?

What would His strategy be to disciple my neighbors if He were me?

And then we might want to begin by recalibrating ourselves to the way Jesus makes disciples. Let’s take a look at our 5 steps in “Jesus’ Disciple-Making Strategy.”

Here are the 5 Steps we will talk about over the next several blogs. We will unfold each step one in a separate blog.

Step 1: Pray

Step 2: GO

Step 3: Find

Step 4: Show

Step 5: Teach

Ready to start taking a look…