Making Disciples Who Make Disciples

[after video of people talking about who discipled them]

Pine Lake Baptist Church was old school. Every Tuesday night, we met for visitation.

I wasn’t old enough to drive yet, but my mom dropped me off so I could go visitin’. And like every person who showed up for visitation the first time, I was paired with IB Melton.

If you looked up “Head Deacon in a small-town Baptist church in the 1970s” in the dictionary, there would be a picture of IB Melton. I never saw him without a coat and tie. Or a cigarette. Or awake in the choir loft. But visitation was IB’s passion. And that Tuesday night, I climbed into IB’s Cadillac Eldorado—with the gun rack in the rear window—and we went visitin’.

Phase One of IB’s training program could be labeled: I do, you watch.

IB knocked on the door. He introduced us. He thanked them for visiting our church on Sunday. He gave them a gift from the church. He asked if he could pray with them. He prayed. And then we moved on.

Phase Two was: I do, you help.

IB knocked on the door. He introduced us. He thanked them for visiting our church on Sunday. I gave them a gift from the church. I asked if I could pray with them. I prayed. And then we moved on.

Phase Three was: You do, I help.

I knocked on the door. I introduced us. I thanked them for visiting our church on Sunday. IB gave them a gift from the church. I asked if he could pray with them. IB prayed. And then we moved on.

You get the idea.

But the fourth house—I did it all. While IB watched.

And the next week, IB took someone else along. And I did too. It was basically copy/paste. I taught the next guy how to do it the way IB taught me to do it.

That, church, is a model for making disciples.

Long before I even knew to call it discipleship, IB was doing exactly what Jesus does with his disciples—calling them close, walking with them patiently, releasing them gradually, and then trusting them to do it for someone else.

A disciple isn’t formed in one dramatic moment. It’s a process. A process with movement. A process with overlap. A process that never stops teaching—but does lead to release.

This morning I want us to trace that process in four movements:

The Call of the Disciple

The Growth of the Disciple

The Release of the Disciple

The Multiplication of the Disciple

And I want to say this clearly up front: these movements are not clean stages. Growth and release are never precisely sequential. Being sent does not mean you are finished learning. In fact, sometimes being sent is what reveals just how much learning you still need.

Discipleship always begins with the call.

When the first disciples ask Jesus where he is staying, In John 1, John the Baptist is teaching his own disciples, and when Jesus walked by, he pointed him out and said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” They start following Him, and they ask, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” And Jesus gives them answers them with something that will change their lives: “Come and you will see.” (verse 39)

Again and again, Jesus begins the same way. “Follow me.” Mark 1:17, Matthew 4:19, Luke 5:27, John 1:43).

“He appointed twelve that they might be with him.” Mark 3:13-14)

Before Jesus asks anyone to preach, to serve, to sacrifice, or to lead, he asks them to be with him.

Discipleship is relationship before its responsibility. It’s proximity before its productivity.

But as Jesus begins to grow the disciples, notice what happens.

There’s a subtle movement into deeper relationship. Come and see is followed by Follow me.

And with every invitation to go deeper in relationship, there are increased challenges to put what they are learning into practice.

When Jesus first meets Peter, he challenges him: cast your net on the other side of the boat, and you’ll catch some fish.

When 5000 hungry people have been listening to Jesus teach all day, the disciples want to send them away. Jesus says, “You give them something to eat.” The invitation is to follow more closely. The challenge is to be stretched out of their comfort zone.

There’s another pattern. Jesus teaches, and then he tests.

Jesus explains parables—and then tells one without explanation. He calms storms—and then sleeps through the next one. He demonstrates authority—and then expects them to trust it.

Teaching shows them what faith looks like. Testing reveals whether it has taken root.

And third, Jesus allows the disciples to fail in order that they can be formed.

The disciples fail often. They panic in storms. They misunderstand Jesus’ words. They argue about who is the greatest. They fail at ministry they thought they were ready for.