Discipleship is as simple as helping people take their next step...toward Jesus.

Listen to their journey. Hear the frustrations, successes, joys and disappointments. Share your journey. If you're being honest and raw, you will both connect at some common point in your journey. Enter at the point of resonation. Press in at the place of need. From here, show your friend the kingdom of God by helping him to view all of life through Jesus Christ as awesome creator, merciful savior, holy judge, and eternal God. This comes naturally and organically if you are following Jesus already.

After three years of watching Jesus heal lepers, make the blind to see, and teach like no man ever taught before, the twelve disciples still struggled to believe that he had to die and rise again. They still couldn't get how seeing Jesus meant seeing the Father. Yet Jesus still called them disciples. They were following Jesus, with lots of mistakes along the way, but on they walked, learning as they went.

Never give up on someone. Ask the Spirit to show you who to reach out to. And as you get to know and spend time with each person you'll know how to nudge each person on to the next step.

At the end of the day, we aren't trying to convert people to become adherents to Christianity. We are discipling people to become followers of Jesus. We want to show them how to take up their cross and follow him, even if it costs them their life. If Jesus really did live, die, then live again, how could we not give our life to following him and helping others do likewise?

Posted via email from sethkniep's posterous