Making disciples is the mission of every disciple of Jesus on earth. It is should flow out of our relationship with Jesus. I believe that the church can be a more formidable change agent on earth if only we can all be active disciple-makers.
In this article, I present 3 misconceptions about making disciples that are holding many children of God back today. As a BiVo Minister, knowing the truth will make you much more fruitful.
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Making Disciples is mainly for Evangelists, Pastors, and Apostles
This is one of the biggest misconceptions that many disciples of Jesus have about making disciples.
I thought like this earlier in my Christian walk. I assumed that because evangelists and pastors were always winning many people to Jesus, it meant that they were gifted and called to do the work and other believers are just to support them with prayers and finances. And from time to time we invite people to listen to these pastors and evangelists.
This assumption is one of the reasons why many believers today have not led anyone to Jesus and have not discipled anyone despite the fact that they could have been saved for several years.
This misconception is very crippling for the body of Christ because in a church of 1,000 adult members you would find just a handful of gifted and full-time ministers. And in a church of this size, maybe you get 100 visitors every weekend. This means that the pastor only gets to use his gift to speak to 100 new people each week at the service.
If however, each adult member understood correctly that they are also called to make disciples, we get 1,000 adults potentially ministering to 1 – 5 people daily. That gives us 1000 – 5000 potential people reached daily.
I know that these numbers don’t translate directly to real life. However, as a pastor, I have come to believe that my work is to enable, encourage, and equip each member of the congregation to be active in making disciples daily.
I no longer measure the strength of a church by how many people are actively engaged in the activities of the church. I now measure it by how many members are actively engaged in making disciples.
Here is what Jesus has to say in Matt 28:18-20 – Go and make disciples. Then teach them to do the same. If you are a disciple of Jesus, you are a disciple-maker or what I call a BiVo Minister.
I don’t know enough to start Making Disciples
This is another misconception I had about making disciples. I thought that I needed to know a lot of scriptures before I could minister effectively to people who seemed to know so much about life and science etc.
Yes, it’s very helpful if you know scriptures but you don’t need more than the few scriptures that impacted you to start.
God set me free from this misconception by showing to me that there are many people who are in need of Jesus and are simply looking for someone to introduce Jesus to them. These people would ask more practical questions. Even if I am not able to answer some of the difficult questions, I can still love the people and let them know that Jesus loves them.
I can still remember when I would feel so deflated when I did not have a good answer to some of the questions that people had. And I would wish that no one would ask those difficult questions.
What I have come to understand is that when people have questions that I cannot answer, I can go and look for the answers for them. However, I must keep looking out for those who are aware of their need for salvation so that I can introduce them to Jesus.
You may not believe it, but there are so many people around you whom you may not know who are crying out for help and Jesus is the help they need. And you have Jesus.
In John 4, we see the story of a woman who had a need for a saviour. She knew that things were not alright with her morally and otherwise but she did not know how to fix it. Jesus was the solution. He showed her love and it transformed her.
The interesting part of this story is that she did not wait for long before she brought a lot of people to Jesus. It’s almost certain that there were some people who asked her some difficult questions but the important thing to note here is that she was able to bring so many to Jesus because she loved them enough to tell them the good news. (John 4:39-41)
Since I learned this lesson, I have enjoyed some very intellectual discussions with different people and I have led those who were ready to Jesus. Some of those who have questions I believe will still find Jesus because every encounter they have with a disciple of Jesus brings them face to face with the love of Jesus in one way or the other. Love you see, is not easy to resist.
So, my dear friend, it’s true that you may not yet have all the answers to all the questions that you will encounter as you attempt to share your faith with non-believers. One thing is sure. You have Jesus and you can share what you know. If you encounter someone that is not yet ready, then trust God that your encounter with them will move them forward.
It is not what you say that converts a non-believer to a believer.
In Luke 10:2 Jesus said to the disciples that the harvest is ripe. What that means for you and I is that there is a lot of work that the Holy Spirit has done in the lives of the people around us that makes them ripe for harvest.
As we encounter people, the ripening process is being done by the Holy Spirit. After a certain amount of contact and life experiences they become ready to be harvested for Jesus (the Holy spirit convicts them). What you say will only bring in those who are already ripe for harvest.
So don’t feel bad that a person did not pray the salvation prayer with you today. Continue to love them and look for more opportunities to present the gospel to more people. You will soon find someone who is ripe because that is what Jesus says and you may later find that the ones who did not believe at first are now ready to believe.
I know a few people who did not follow Jesus all the time we were in university who later received Him and are doing very well now. When we were witnessing to them then, they acted as if they would never get saved.
I don’t have enough time for Making Disciples
I think this one affects a lot of us today. It comes from the idea that making disciples is different from our regular lives and that we do it after doing “more urgent” or “more important” life issues.
It’s easy to think that getting food on the table is quite urgent and it must be done first before investing time in seeking and saving the lost people of God (Luke 19:10) like Jesus.
The fact that you have taken the time to read up to this point shows that you are interested in sharing the gospel, winning souls for Jesus, praying for them, and helping them to become fruitful disciples.
It takes time to make disciples
The truth is that it actually takes time to make disciples. It takes time to make friends that are not believers in Jesus Christ. It takes time to add value to people without any benefits to you other than the joy of blessing others. It takes time to pray for new believers who will make mistakes from time to time. It takes time to be there for people as they sort out their lives with Jesus. Discipleship has some costs!
What we sometimes forget is that although making disciples takes a lot of time, the return on investment is out of this world. The return on investment is not comparable with the investment. The eternal life that the new believer receives, the joy and blessings that the new believer will have and share with the people in his or her life, the contribution that the new believer will make to the work of making disciples cannot be compared to the time investment required.
I really believe that even if one invests 3 to 5 hour everyday for 40 years just for one lost soul to come home to Jesus, it is a very profitable investment.
You can always find time to make disciples
That being said, how then can you find time for making disciples? The first step is to realize and accept that making disciples is your first and most important call in life. It can and should be done as you live your life.
You can make friends at work, in your neighbourhood, at your children’s school and everywhere you go. Making disciples starts with loving people enough to share the good news with them. You can devote 10 – 20 mins daily to pray for the lost people around you. Then you trust the Holy Spirit to lead you and show you when to present the gospel to these people.
As a family, we pray for our neighbours and people all over the world who are not saved. We pray that God would give us the opportunity to present the gospel to them. We also pray that God will use us to show to everyone around us that He loves them very much.
In my own life, what I find that happens to me is that I get busy with urgent activities and I then realize that there seems to be no time to do what I know is more important.
If you are like me, what needs to be done is to consciously prioritize making disciples for Jesus, schedule it, pray about it and celebrate every little progress.
Here is what Dr John Maxwell has to say about making disciples as a lifestyle. There are lots of great tips in this message.
Conclusion
I have shared just 3 of misconceptions that I believe have held many believers back over the years and the truth that counters them. I hope that by reading this, you will become more relaxed and more aware of your role in the great work that Jesus is doing on earth. If you would like to learn how to make disciples with ease even with a busy schedule, I encourage you to take my free BiVo Minister Course.
Are there any other misconceptions you have overcome? Please share them in the comments below.