Lord, bring me someone to help me follow you.
I didn’t know what I was asking for, but I needed help.
Jesus invaded my life during my junior year of college and turned my world upside down. Weekends shifted from all-night raves to reading Scripture by myself. I attended church and met new friends. God was changing me, but I was riding a spiritual roller coaster. Sometimes I felt close to God, other times I was confused and uncertain how to follow him. I loved reading the Bible but often didn’t understand it. I wanted my old friends to know Jesus, but occasionally I’d join them in sin. I hated the struggle. I didn’t know what to do.
So I prayed, Lord, bring me someone to help me follow you.
And God answered.
Shelby heard about my new faith in Jesus and took me out for tacos.1 He asked questions about my life. He explained the Bible to me. He pointed out Romans 13:14 and challenged me, “Don’t give the devil a chance. If you put yourself in tempting situations, you’re more likely to fall into sin. Stay close to Jesus, and he’ll protect you.” I still remember that conversation over twenty years later. We met nearly every week that semester. He showed me how to follow Jesus.
Since that day, God has continually answered my prayer by sending me people who help me follow Jesus. Tommy showed me how to study the Bible. Gene displayed hospitality. Lisa modeled how to sing from the soul. Reid pressed me toward holiness. Mama Ruth embodied thankfulness. John taught me how to apply God’s grace to brokenness. Beth showed me servanthood. Mark modeled humble leadership.
Each of these brothers and sisters, and many more, have taught me how to follow Jesus. Few things have strengthened my walk with Jesus like these discipling relationships.
This little booklet is written to help you find someone to disciple you—and prepare you to disciple others. But before we get too far along, let’s answer two questions: (1) What is a disciple? and (2) What is discipling?
What Is a Disciple?
Most simply, a disciple is a follower. Disciples follow, learn from, and imitate someone else.
Christians are disciples of Jesus. He left us an example that we should follow (1 Pet. 2:21). We follow him by learning who he is, imitating his example, and obeying his commands.
Jesus calls us to be his disciple in passages like Luke 9:23–27:
Jesus’s disciples have repented of sin, forsaken the world, and committed their life to follow him by faith. Jesus’s disciples deny their sinful desires through the power of the Holy Spirit in order to please their Lord. Jesus’s disciples daily lay down their lives for his name’s sake. Jesus’s disciples know a day of judgment is coming and strive to live every moment in light of that day.
When Jesus calls someone to be his disciple, he isn’t simply calling him or her to join a club or be part of a weird religious subculture. He’s calling them to turn from their sin and love him every day until they see him face-to-face. Being a disciple of Jesus isn’t a one-time decision—it’s an ongoing relationship. Each day we draw upon his grace and strive to live in obedience to him.
What Is Discipling?
Forty days after Jesus rose from the dead, he assembled his disciples and gave this commission:
Jesus instructs his disciples that wherever they go, they must keep it as their main aim to “make disciples.”
There are two aspects to disciple making.
First, we make disciples by calling people who don’t follow Jesus to follow him. This is called evangelism. We proclaim the good news that Jesus died on the cross for sinners like us, and three days later he rose from the dead. We assure them that if they turn away from their sin and believe in him, he will forgive all their sins and reconcile them to God. If they respond rightly, they become Jesus’s disciples.
Second, we make disciples by helping people who already know Jesus to grow in their relationship with him. We purposely do spiritual good to them. We help them obey all that Jesus commanded (Matt. 28:20). We teach people how to obey Jesus with their words, their work, their time, their money, their sexuality, and everything else you can think of. Jesus is the Lord over our whole lives, and everything we do should be aimed at pleasing him (2 Cor. 5:9; Eph. 5:10; Col. 1:10; 1 John 3:22).
If you’re a disciple, then you sho...
