We learn history so as not to repeat it was a saying I often heard growing up in history class when we were forced to learn about some ancient civilization that seemed pretty irrelevant to our life. We memorized significant people groups who first migrated to my home state of Virginia. While there are many lessons to be learned from the mistakes of our ancestors, the telling and retelling of the past holds something deeper and greater than just a warning to us. I grew up in Virginia and while I learned a lot from the mistakes of those early pilgrims, the repetition of Virginia history throughout my educational years instilled a pride in my home state and an understanding of what it means to be a Virginian.
When my husband and I moved to Colorado to plant a church in 2017, my sons entered school, and they, too, quickly began to hear the stories of early pioneers and natives who made this state what it is today. Neither of my sons were born in Colorado, yet the telling and re-telling of Colorado history instilled in them a pride that has led them to identify more as Coloradoans than with their own birthplaces. The many stories of perseverance and strength that many endured to establish the frontier and mountain west have been inspiring and helped all of our family understand the independent spirit that lives inside of many people who have lived here for generations.
We have only to look at Scripture and the Israelites to see how repetition is used to build a similar foundation of knowledge but for a greater purpose. In Deuteronomy 6 as the Israelites prepare to cross the Jordan River into the land God had promised them, they are given several commands to follow. They are to remember that the Lord is the one true God, and they are to love Him with all their being. This complete devotion will prepare them for their life in the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy 6:6, we see they are told to not only obey God’s commands but to teach them and remember them. To remember them, they must repeat them, talking about them always. The implication is that they are repeating the commands and the truths they know about God throughout their day as they are coming and going. Doing this would produce in them an understanding and awe of God and replicate the same type of devotion in their children.
The commands and truths would so become a part of their daily lives that it would shape their way of life and would serve as a boundary between God’s people and the pagan nations also living in the Promised Land. By doing this, God’s people could be holy as He is holy. This repetition would serve as a means of God’s commands and His truth being passed down from one generation to another generation. It would create a culture so to speak.
Speak of These Things Often
Creating a culture doesn’t happen overnight. Learning the history of one’s state or country doesn’t happen in one school year. It really happens over the span of years as themes and stories are told and retold. The same is true for establishing a discipleship culture in a church. When we think of discipleship and church, we often think of it in terms of values and mission statements. While this is important and should be a part of how culture is created, it cannot be the only strategy and cannot be the only way to move the discipled to disciplers.
Speaking about discipleship often from the pulpit, in homes, in gathering spaces, during bible studies, and in other capacities will help keep it in the forefront of people’s minds and create a culture of expectation that people are being discipled and are discipling others. Those who are doing the discipling should talk about the discipleship relationships they have with others in hopes to inspire and encourage other believers to begin one-on-one or one-on a few discipleship groups.
If those who are discipling only serve as models, then few will follow. They will do what has been done for them. But when discipleship is modeled and taught often, the culture of a church changes and many more will answer the call of the Great Commission in their daily lives and beyond, carrying the hope of the gospel to those far from Jesus and helping others mature in their faith.
It Requires a Positional Change
Creating a culture of discipleship involves speaking of discipleship in true terms. A disciple will make disciples who make disciples. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all outcome. Believers mature at different paces. A fifth grader who is being discipled by his father will not likely invest in another person until he has matured physically, spiritually, and emotionally, reaching high school or college age. A person who is being discipled in high school or college may begin discipling someone within a few years depending upon their pace of spiritual growth and maturity. Regardless, understanding that a positional change takes place in the disciple’s life is necessary to move from being discipled to discipling.
In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul writes these words to his disciple, Timothy, “and what you have heard from me, in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will also be able to teach others.” These very words imply that Paul had spent time, years if you will, entrusting many things to Timothy. From Scripture, we know that Paul made a significant investment in Timothy, a believer younger than Paul in age and spiritual maturity.
Paul’s admonishment and instruction to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2 indicates that Timothy has grown spiritually. No longer is Timothy just a student of Paul’s, but Timothy is now a teacher. Scripture does not clearly imply that Timothy ceases to be discipled by Paul, but it does imply that Timothy becomes a teacher himself, one who “entrusts” the things that he has been taught to others.
This change in Timothy’s position can be one of the hardest changes to make in a church culture and the discipleship relationship. Many articles, sermons, and even books speak of what does it mean to make disciples and is a disciple made if that person doesn’t then go and make a disciple. The move from being discipled to entrusting truth to others can be a hard step in the discipleship process. But it is a necessary step as seen in the ministry of Jesus while He was on earth and in the lives of the disciples and early church leaders.
Jesus called his twelve disciples and taught them before sending them out to do the same. We see this in Mark 9:1-2 and Luke 6:7-13. This instruction to go two at a time is repeated by the early church leaders in the book of Acts when Paul and Silas and other leaders would leave on missionary journeys going in small groups or pairs as opposed to traveling alone.
The message they all shared was the message they had heard and that had been repeated to them again and again. When Paul writes to Timothy, now an elder in the early church of Ephesus, Paul’s expectation is that Timothy repeats to the Christians in the church the same things he, Timothy has been taught. And Timothy does.
Are They Ready?
How do you know when the discipled are ready to begin discipling? Jesus’ interactions with His disciples give us a good picture of how to evaluate and determine when to guide our own disciples to move toward investing in someone else. In John 21:17, Jesus interacts with his disciple Peter. In this verse in particular, Jesus first asks Peter if Peter loves him and then tells him to “feed his sheep.” This interaction is poignant because it comes after Jesus’ resurrection and before his ascension into heaven. Peter has been with Jesus during his earthly ministry, seen the many miracles, denied Jesus three times, watched Jesus be crucified, and now experienced the resurrection. Peter has learned much from Jesus. These three words are simple but full of great meaning. It’s time for Peter to impart to others what has been given to him.
Scripture is clear that we will always be moving toward the target of Christlikeness in this life, but we should see spiritual growth in our lives. When the person we are discipling begins to show patterns of biblical wisdom, prayer, service, gathering with God’s people and spiritual maturity, we can begin to seek opportunities to help them begin investing in others.
But just as Jesus did not leave His disciples alone and without His help, those who are discipled are not left alone to disciple. If we have built a culture of discipleship in our church, the discipled will not disciple alone. Instead, they will collectively invest as a body of believers, bearing one another’s burdens and growing together as children of God. The body will move together toward Christlikeness in the pursuit of glorifying God and expanding the kingdom.
