As people who were formerly alienated from God and hostile in mind (Colossians 1:21-22), we need obedience and faith modeled to us. Those we’re discipling need that as well. They don’t just need us to tell them about Christ; they need us to show them Christ from the Word and from our lives.

Read:

2 Timothy 3.10-11

Before Jesus ascended back to the Father, he gave his church its commission:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
—Matt 28:19-20

The mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ through the proclamation of the gospel. Discipleship, therefore, is the name of the game.

And as we can readily see in the Great Commission, discipleship is not just a one-time event. It starts in a moment, with the new believer coming to faith in Christ and declaring their union and love of Christ through baptism, but it discipleship doesn’t end there.

A massive part of discipleship is teaching your disciple to observe everything that Christ has commanded. That takes time.

Over the course of a believer’s life, they will have many people disciple them and, hopefully, disciple many others themselves. This task to teach all that Christ has commanded, therefore, is not just on the shoulders of one discipler, but on the church as a whole, especially the church’s pastors, teachers, and leaders.

This necessity in discipleship to teach and to learn reflects the priority local churches should have in their discipleship ministries. True discipleship cannot happen apart from the sound teaching of the Scriptures. Teaching should rightly be the central act in discipleship.

But how is this teaching conducted?

As we think of teaching, our mind probably goes to Bible studies, sermons, and other forms of verbal teaching. Planned or spontaneous times where the Word is shared and expounded upon.

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