How do you know? How do you know when you’re going the right direction? How do you know you’re sipping the perfect cup of coffee? How do you know you’ve studied hard enough to pass the test? How do you know you’ve found true love? How do you know… that you’ve made a disciple? How do you know?

If we view discipleship through the lens of a curriculum, class or program, then we view a disciple as someone who has completed our curriculum, class or program, right? But is that really what a disciple looks like? What did Jesus have in mind when He said “go and make disciples of all nations” to His followers?

What is a disciple? It’s not a word that we frequently hear in our culture. Disciple is one of those “Bible words” that only Christians really use today, so it’s not hard to see why there might be confusion about its meaning.

In Sonlife’s 4 Chair Discipling training, we define a disciple as: One who knows God personally and pursues Jesus passionately, modeling everything in their life after the character and priorities of Christ.

This definition has two key components to it.

1. KNOWS GOD PERSONALLY

A disciple is one who has put their faith and trust in Christ alone for salvation, entering into a personal relationship with God.

“Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12

2. PURSUES JESUS PASSIONATELY

A disciple is one who is committed to being like Jesus. The character of Christ is being formed in them. They are growing in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The priorities of Christ are being followed by them. Love God. Love People. Make Disciples.

“Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:6

In ancient times, the word “disciple” was interchangeable with the word “student.” The word disciple carried with it the connotation of being a student, a learner, a follower, an apprentice.

A disciple was not just a student who learned what his teacher knew. A disciple learned who their teacher was. It was the disciple’s intent to become just like their teacher. They would walk the way their teacher walked, talk the way their teacher talked, eat the way their teacher ate, sit the way their teacher sat, dress the way their teacher dressed… A disciple was to become a carbon copy of their teacher.

A rabbinical teaching from the Mishnah encouraged students to “walk in the dust of their rabbi.” The idea here is that you followed so closely behind your rabbi, desiring to learn whatever you could from him and not miss anything he might say, that you would literally be covered in the dust his feet kicked up.

Consider Jesus’ words in Luke 6:40.

“A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”

A disciple “who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” A disciple is committed to be like Jesus.

Now don’t miss this. It’s important.

If the teacher discipled their student…
…and the student is going to be just like their teacher…
…then the student, in turn, will… disciple others also!

Did you catch that? Built right into the DNA of being a disciple… is making disciples!

You can’t be a disciple of Jesus and not be committed to making disciples yourself. Jesus made disciples. So then it must follow, disciples make disciples. A non-reproducing disciple is an oxymoron.

Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men!” Jesus’ intent is to make His followers fishers of men, reproducers of disciples. If we’re not fishing, can we really say we’re following Jesus? It’s what He did. It’s what His disciples do.

If what we’re calling “discipleship” doesn’t produce disciples who make disciples, then it’s time to re-examine our discipleship. If what we’re calling “discipleship” doesn’t produce disciples who make disciples, then it’s time to redefine what we mean by disciple.

How do you know if you’ve made a disciple?

It’s simple. Look at the fruit.

“This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.” John 15:8

This Blogpost originally appeared on Sonlife.com in 2016.

Google discipleship and you’ll find 8,910,000 results. Google disciple-making and you’ll find about half that, 4,200,000 results. Needless to say, there is a lot that is being said and a lot that is being written about discipleship. Where does one start?

When we hear the word discipleship, what comes to mind? If we’re honest, I think most of us think about curriculum. What kind of discipleship curriculum do you use? Is there a “magic curriculum” out there that will really help me get results? Or maybe we think about programs. What kind of discipleship programs do you run? How have you structured your programs to get the desired results? Or maybe we think about classes? What discipleship classes do you offer to help your people grow in their faith?

The reality we must all face though is this. Curriculum doesn’t make disciples. Programs don’t make disciples. Classes don’t make disciples. Disciples make disciples.

So if we’re confused by 13,110,000 different perspectives on discipleship, maybe it’s time we simplified things and focused on just one. Jesus. What did He do? What has He modeled for us? What did Jesus mean when He commissioned us to make disciples, and how did Jesus Himself make disciples?

Jesus is our model.

“Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”
1 John 2:6

Jesus has given us our mission.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20

We are to be disciple-makers.

Disciple-making is the full-orbed process of seeing people come to faith in Christ, grow in Him, and then being equipped to go back and help others repeat this process.

Disciple-making is more than discipleship… which usually defines how to help believers grow. While many terms can describe the disciple-making process, we have chosen four biblical phrases to define it:

1. “winning the lost” (I Cor 9:19)
2. “growing the believer” (Col 2:6-7)
3. “equipping the worker” (Eph 4:12)
4. “sending out proven multipliers” (John 20:21)

These priorities are also reflected in the Great Commission with the participial phrases of “going”, “baptizing”, and “teaching to obey”…, and then doing this “of all nations.”

Jesus also reflected these priorities by modeling a process of developing fully trained disciples as He challenged them to “come and see” (evangelism), “follow Me”(discipleship), “I will make you fishers of men” (equipping) and then “go and bear fruit” (multiplying).

Disciple-making is not complicated!

Disciple-making is a relational process of helping people to “follow Jesus and be like Him.” It is recognizing that people are at different stages of spiritual development and then responding appropriately to help them. It is building a ministry that does the same.

But disciple-making is also a life-long process of becoming more like Him and helping others do the same. Because we are seeking to become like Jesus, and not just conform to a set curriculum, this is an ever deepening process. It is an ongoing process of “abiding in the vine” and allowing Him to bear fruit through us.

Developing a disciple-making ministry involves looking at both the process and product of what Jesus developed. Understanding the process Jesus modeled is extremely helpful in developing a healthy balanced movement of multiplying disciples. This is good Christology.

But don’t take my word for it. I’m just one among 13,110,000 voices. I invite you to study Jesus for yourself. This year, I’m reading through the Gospels every month, taking a deep dive into the life of Christ to learn from Jesus as my model for life and ministry. I’m blogging insights that i’m learning along the way at #likeJesus as I study a different Harmony of the Gospels each month. Let’s study Jesus together! Let’s disciple as Jesus discipled!

This blogpost originally appeared on Sonlife.com in 2016.