Welcome to OO: Discipling » Testimony of Discipling

Re: Testimony of Discipling [message #10449 is a reply to message #10447]

Sat, 30 November 2013 14:52

james
Messages: 2137
Registered: April 2008
Location: Birmingham, AL

Senior Member

Gary wrote on Sat, 30 November 2013 05:28

This concept (discipling) does sound interesting. I have wondered (before this topic even came up), if you minister to someone should we not try to follow up and if someone comes to the Lord do we just leave them to go to some church and become part of the system. Just some things here that I have considered. I can see a benefit in continuing to minister or disciple people towards the Lord. Like Jesus said most are like sheep having no shepherd.

I don't know Marilyn maybe the word mentoring would be better, but if your use to saying disciples I see if its understood correctly then that's fine. It just sounds strange to our way of thinking over here.

Just some thoughts on this.

Gary I don't know if everyone 'here' thinks discipling others is "strange to our way of thinking", I don't. I believe William and Ron have beem discipling others for years through teaching in small settings. Others have done some one on one ministering to those newer in the Faith. Yes, it is popular today to use the word "mentor", yet the term basicly means the same when being used by Christians. The church I've attended this year has a huge focus on disciple-making and missions. They even have a "Disciple Making Institute" were people are taught how to present The Gospel and then follow up with actions of love, both by feeding people's physical needs as well as spiritual. I'm not defending or promoting 'everything Baptist', but just sharing to say that disciple making isn't a foreign term to American Christians.

Actually as I began visiting churches last spring one of the burdens I came away with was the need for disciple making and focus in many large churches. One church that had a membership of nearly 20,000 scattered over several 'campuses' had people joining at a very rapid rate, yet I didn't see any effective tools in place to teaching the new converts anything deeper than John 3:16 and confession of faith in Christ.(that may be a bit of a streach, but I think you understand what I mean...many shallow baby Christians than need feeding solid food<discipled> by older believers.) But in this one Baptist church (largest SBC in Alabama, The Church at Brook Hills) there is a focus on discipling young converts, building them up into sound, grounded, mature followers of Jesus.(again, I'm not promoting Baptist dictrine and beliefs, just sharing than maybe we don't know of this going on because we aren't involved in any local assemblies or just haven't been to churches that do believe in disciple making.)

Again, not being contankerous, just letting Marilyn know that everyone's experience in Christianity post FA isn't the same. Is Jesus' commandment to go forth and make disciples of all nations being followed by Christians as He expected? Just as with everything else He taught and commanded, some do and some don't. May God grant us mercy and the grace to become doers of The Word and not just hears only, deceiving our own selves.

I'm speaking to and refering to my OWN self...while sitting around pointing out the flaws of 'the system'(and there certainly are flaws) meanwhile people are spiritually starving for lack of sound teaching....teaching that each of us has had the opportunity to have had. The question I've had the last few years to myself is this, what am I doing with what I've been given? The Living Water was given to be shared, to give live to those dying of thirst, not hoarded...May IT flow as a mighty stream, out of us...

“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,”

Report message to a moderator