Lesson 4: What do I do when I meet my disciple?

In the previous lesson you learned some key elements to creating the right environment and framework for discipleship.

Now let’s take that a stage further by thinking about what you’re actually going to do during the time you set aside with someone.

Do any of these sound like you?

1. I know God wants me to help someone else grow in relationship with Him.
2. I understand the fundamentals of growing as a Christian.
3. I have agreed with another person to begin a discipleship relationship.
4. I feel anxious about what to do when we meet.

To help someone become more like Jesus — to help someone act out of selfless love for God and others day by day — could be considered the ultimate creative project.

Think about cooking an amazing dish. You’ve been given all the right ingredients, but the one thing not found in stores, that secret sauce, is still missing. You think you’ve wasted your time but then you realize you know someone who already has the secret sauce, and they would be only too happy to share it with you.

In discipleship, that secret sauce is the work that only God can do through His Holy Spirit. God wants you to invite Him into the center of your process with the other person.

As you recall from Lesson 3, you cannot make someone grow; that’s God’s role. God invites you to gather the right ingredients for discipleship and let Him do what He does best.

 

A Recipe for a Discipleship Time

Ingredients:

1. Build a real relationship — Take time to catch up on life, kids, work, and other things that are important to you. Don’t neglect this part to jump right into spiritual matters. Use this time to gauge how your disciple is doing and get to know each other better.
2. Accountability — What would your disciple like to move forward in? Does he or she want to memorize scripture, pay off debt, deal with sexual struggles? Those are your areas to talk about. In future meetings, ask each other about those things and encourage each other.
3. Content — Starting with basic material is best with a new disciple regardless of how long that person  has been a Christian. Your disciple will eventually be in your role, helping someone else grow in faith, so choose material to cover with that in mind. Foundational topics include how to be sure you have a relationship with God, the role of the Holy Spirit, how to pray and how to study the Bible.
4. Prayer — Pray for the things that  came up during the small talk and accountability time. Pray about what you have observed in the Bible together.
5. Serve God together — This is where you can invite another person who has questions about Jesus to part of your meeting. Your disciple will learn more by observing you navigate another person’s questions or watching you share the gospel message. This is doing ministry together. This element of the discipleship appointment may not happen each time.

Now that you have your ingredients, mix everything together with faith that God is more committed to growing you and your disciple than you can ever be.

Finally, watch, wait and see God do what He does best: transform people.