What a disciple needs most

25 Aug 2021 1:05 PM | Josh Hunt (Administrator)

"What were the most important things that others taught you or did for you when you were a fledgling believer?" This is a question I asked several Christians recently. Their answers were remarkably similar and boiled dawn to three main areas.

A love for God’s Word. "I’d been a Christian for many years" explained Jan, "But I never read my Bible. I thought it was enough to listen to the Sunday sermon. Tricia taught me how to have a quiet time, how to read through the Bible in a year, how to do Bible study, and how to memorize Scripture. Suddenly I was taking in more Bible Calories’ than I’d ever consumed before. And they were making me FAT! (Tricia told me that stood for Faithful-Available-Teachable.) I never realized how hungry I was for God’s Word—until someone spread it all out before me like a banquet."

A genuine concern for the person. Karen’s first experience with being discipled was a negative one. "I felt this constant pressure to perform. I knew I’d never live up to my mentor’s expectations—so why try!" She was understandably wary of inviting help from anyone else. Then Betty came along. "Betty didn’t just want to know how many verses I’d memorized or how many people I’d witnessed to. She cared about every little detail of my life. She really liked spending time with me. I knew she truly cared, and so I was much more in responsive to her help."

A practical model. Tim met Christ while in college and immediately connected with a Christian ministry on campus. He listened to people talk about doing dorm evangelism, but he had no idea how to share his faith. He made sure he was always unavailable when it was evangelism time. "Then David approached me. He asked me if I would like to try witnessing to some people in the Student Union that evening. I was too terrified to say anything, so David just sort of swept me off my feet and into the Union."

"I’ll talk, you pray," David told Tim. And that’s how it went for the next few weeks. Tim watched David field questions and respond graciously to rejections. David included Tim more and more in the conversation. Tim learned how to give his testimony and present the gospel—and to do both with confidence—because of David’s modeling.

Every person you disciple will be unique. But all of them will benefit from a discipler who helps them dig riches from the Bible, who truly cares for them, and who provides a practical model.

Discipleship Journal, Issue 102 (November/December 1997) (NavPress, 1997).

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