Discipleship is a key element of sustaining an awakening. Without discipleship the
workload on the forerunners of the awakening grows to an unsustainable level and the
awakening fails.
What is Discipleship
When a couple have a baby, they understand it cannot do anything for itself initially.
Brand new believers are babies in the Lord. They need nurturing if they are to grow in
the Lord. Jesus spent 3 years with His disciples teaching them in a hands on way.
Brand new believer are like babies. They need to be fed on the milk of the Word by
a spiritual mother or father.
Hebrews 5:13-14 (ESV)
13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness,
since he is a child.
14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of
discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Once a new believers have been trained in the basics, they can go on to feed
themselves. This means they now have sufficient skill to work out what is good and
helpful for themselves. They are no longer dependent on someone else to work out what
they need.
Shared Responsibility
If you lead someone to the Lord, you have a responsibility to see that they are
instructed in the basics of this new life. Most new believers are left to fend for
themselves and so, do not grow much. Unlike a baby that would starve if left on its
own, some new Christians will join a church, learn all they can and manage to grow.
Most will not do this. Some will join a church where they become little more than
spectators. Some will not even do that.
If you cannot look after a new believer, make sure they find someone who can
disciple them.
Benefits of Discipleship
A new believer who wants do do things for the Lord and is looked after well as a
young believer will grow rapidly to the point where he can 'feed himself'. Such a
person will find out what their new life in Jesus is really all about and will be
able to live an exciting life full of love, joy and peace and be able to do all that
God wants him or her to do.
This Site
How do we train new believers to the point where they can look after themselves?
That is what discipleship is all about. This is what this site is about.
There are plenty of discipleship resources around, so why another one? This site is
about raising up disciples who can multiply in a time of awakening.
This site is not meant to be a replacement for spiritual parenting. This site is meant
to be a resource for spiritual parents.
If everyone who comes to the Lord in an awakening is trained in discipleship, then the
awakening need not end like revivals do.
Challenge
A mature disciple does not belong to a group or church asking 'what can this group do
for me?' A mature disciple asks 'What can I do to help the people in this group grow?'