Discipleship at AACF

What is discipleship?

In large part, discipleship is simply an older Christian taking an interest in the life of a younger Christian and sharing with him, guiding him -- just helping him along the Christian journey. This may include teaching of scriptures, or it might be more informal. Ideally, the older Christian will have already gone through a lot of the situations and problems that the younger Christian is currently going through. Then he will be able to understand the younger and share his reflections both during and after those times.

Discipleship brings a living incarnation of Christ closer to the younger Christian for him to examine. Biblically, we see discipleship occurring again and again: Moses to Joshua, Elijah to Elisha, Jesus to his disciples, Paul to Timothy. Eventually, as the younger Christian matures, he will understand how to approach the Word directly to confront his problems. The goal of discipleship, therefore, is to get the younger Christian "independently dependent" on Christ himself.

Why is discipleship important?

Although attending large group is beneficial to our spiritual growth, it does not, and does not claim to, fill all of our spiritual needs.

First, there is the question of how applicable the same message can be to everyone at a specific time when we all have such different needs and problems. Expecting the same message at large group to address everybody's specific problems is somewhat like expecting a doctor to successfully prescribe the same prescription to heal the common cold as well as a bad liver. Discipleship, then, provides the younger Christian with an older Christian to ask questions that are specifically pertinent to him.

Secondly, large group provides a sense of communal fellowship, but at some cost of intimate personal interaction (well, most people, it seems, don't always feel comfortable sharing their personal crisis with a larger group of people). Discipleship, an one-on-one relationship, provides an avenue for closer sharing.

In some sense, large group might be more appropriate for "forward growth" in that the message might address or teach something that was not previously considered or already known or understood. Discipleship, on the other hand, might be more for addressing personal issues at hand, the issues that are specific to a person at a certain time. Thus, the older teaches the younger how to make what he knows in his head to be enacted in his life.

Addressing these need is one way of preventing younger Christians from either "slipping through the cracks" or continuing a diet of just spiritual milk. As such, discipleship complements large group meetings.

For the older Christian, discipleship is a hefty challenge: for him to be firmly rooted in the Word, reflect on his experiences and how they coincide with what God says, consider how to communicate his thoughts, and be willing to share his life with the younger Christian. Yet, I imagine that the benefits are equally great: that the discipler can have the joy of knowing that Christ used him to another to be a closer disciple of Christ; and also that the older Christian then has an even greater motivation to understand the Word and the Spirit, that he may more easily clarify them for the younger Christian.

Although discipleship is only one method to facilitate spiritual growth, it provides the opportunity for younger Christians and older Christians to share in the lives of each other and for both of them to get to know Christ even more intimately.

"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations..."

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