Transforming Lives Through Discipleship
Learn how discipleship leads to multiplication and how you can participate in Jesus’ Great Commission and see lives transformed!
Why Discipleship?
When Jesus called His first disciples, He gave them an invitation…and a promise. As He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon, who He called Peter, and Andrew casting their nets into the lake because they were fishermen. Jesus called out to them, Follow me” —the invitation. “And I will make you fishers of men” —the promise. “I will send you out to fish for people.” It’s a package deal!
When Jesus calls us to follow Him, it’s an invitation with an expected outcome: to be disciples who make disciples.
At Global Disciples, we talk about this as “discipleship-mission.” Jesus invites us to discipleship—the process of being a disciple. A disciple is a learner, a follower, an imitator. As disciples of Jesus, we are to follow the pattern of Jesus in His practice of living.
We learn how to live to be like Jesus.
That’s discipleship.
You and me, placing our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. And following His instructions and example to live according to His pattern.
Transforming Lives Through Discipleship
But He promises to make disciples into “fishers of men.” And that’s the mission part. We are not only to be His disciples. We must actively engage in helping others follow the pattern of Jesus’ life. In fact, we are disciples on a mission.
In Global Disciples, our goal is to train men and women to be both disciples—and disciple-makers. We want to see people come to know Jesus as their Savior and to be His disciples. People who follow His pattern and make new disciples. And that’s how the Body of Christ grows.
So we work alongside the Body of Christ to equip believers to be disciples who follow Jesus and fulfill His mission. By putting our efforts where disciple-makers will go and make disciples among people who have not yet heard the Good News of Jesus, we are fulfilling the mission Jesus gave to all His disciples to multiply “even to the ends of the earth.”
What is the essence of Discipleship?
As Global Disciples, we put our efforts into training and equipping people to be disciples … and to make disciples of Jesus Christ. The essence of discipleship is following and obeying Jesus. In the process, we become more like Him in our thoughts, our motives, our speech, our actions, our relationships, and priorities.
The book of Second Peter gives us a beautiful insight into the essence of discipleship, a letter written to those who, “through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours.” In chapter 1, verse 2, Peter writes: “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. Through these he has given us his great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption of the world caused by evil desires.”
Discipleship And The Divine Nature
That phrase—participate in the divine nature—should arrest our souls. We love the idea of being “co-laborers with Christ” as it says in First Corinthians 3:9. And as Christians, we often talk about doing what we do for, to, and with Christ—as an act of worship to God. That all we do is done for God and for His glory. And that nothing is impossible, because we do it all with the power of the Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead.
But in Second Peter, we are invited to participate with God—not only in what we do but to participate in His divine nature. To become like him in character and in our desires. To have the mind of Christ we read about in Philippians 2:5-8—being humble servants, obedient even to death. Think about that.
That’s our great challenge in becoming a disciple…and in making disciples too.
How does Discipleship lead to multiplication?
As Global Disciples, we talk about multiplying disciples and multiplying churches. But there’s another level of multiplication we’re excited to see. Let’s call it — multiplying the multipliers.
Let us explain: We train leaders in clusters of churches around the world to train disciples who in turn are equipped to make more disciples and start new churches.
That’s one level of multiplication – the one we talk about the most.
But we’ve also developed those who train the church leaders, to launch and direct training programs. We look for men and women who’ve led discipleship-mission programs, and have the ability and experience to train the next generation of program directors. So they’re the ones who will multiply the multipliers!
Discipleship And Multiplication
In the over 60 countries we work in, we now have “on the ground” staff leading the 2-week training sessions for new directors for discipleship-mission training programs! Adding locally-based trainers allows us to multiply training for new workers more rapidly! We have people with the experience and credibility – and with a better cultural understanding – who can successfully provide quality training. This multiplies our ability to meet more and more requests we receive for our Global Disciples model.
A recent directors training in Kenya was conducted by our Kenya staff facilitators, without relying on any North American trainers. Victor led the training and he wrote, “Thank you so much for delegating this directors training to us. We can assure you we gave our very best… Participants went home revived, with a new vision, passion, energy, and a renewed focus on multiplying disciples and churches among least-reached people groups. It is our prayer that these leaders will not be distracted by the enemy but will focus on the vision.”
Our heart at Global Disciples is to Multiplying disciples, multiplying churches, and multiplying the multipliers. All this so the Good News of Jesus can be shared with those who have yet to hear it.
What is the goal of being a Christian?
Our goal as Christians is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
What is the vision of Global Disciples Canada?
Our vision at Global Disciples Canada is to see that every person has an opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ in a way they can understand and respond to.
What is our mission as Christians?
Our mission as Christians is to train other disciples to go and make disciples.
You can learn more about Global Disciples Canada HERE.
Global Disciples Canada is a Christian mission organization that trains local leaders living near least-reached communities to multiply disciples for Christ. One-third of our world hasn’t heard the Good News of Jesus. Yet. Global Disciples refers to these as “least-reached” people, and fewer than 10% of all missionaries work among these groups. We live in a time where many of these people are within reach of a local church. Through our simple and effective strategy of training and coaching, believers share the Gospel in their own nations and cultures. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and we’re committed to doing just that. If you are looking for a Christian mission organization to partner with to become a better disciple and help make disciples, connect with us today!
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