Basics of Missionary Disciple-Making

On a Sunday afternoon, I sat with a handful of Central Asian brothers and sisters following our worship gathering. Alp (not his real name) asked how Christians can resist temptation after conversion.

Recently, Alp had confided to me his ongoing fight to resist pornography, so I sensed that struggle informing his question. I responded by reminding him about how Jesus resisted temptation in the wilderness. Jesus relied on the Word of God in the power of the Spirit. I explained that the Holy Spirit lives inside us, strengthening us to do what we can’t do on our own—to obey God and resist temptation.

At my mention of the Holy Spirit, Alp perked up. His expression showed a sense of discovery, as if he just pressed against the door of a dark vault, allowing sunlight to spill on a cache of treasure. I love watching that expression, the one that comes when the Spirit gives understanding.

Relying on the Spirit

From my conversation with Alp, and from my experience working with new believers in various locations, several key principles of disciple making emerge. First, Alp realized the most fundamental truth about being a disciple and, consequently, about making disciples: it’s foremost a work of transformation produced by God’s Spirit.

Before we trust ourselves to a particular method, we must look to the power of God’s Spirit to accomplish what only he can.

Missionaries are often on the lookout for the latest tool that will unlock the secret to effective disciple making. But before we trust ourselves to a particular method, we must look to the power of God’s Spirit to accomplish what only he can. The apostle Paul provides missionaries with a model for Spirit-empowered disciple making, regularly requesting that churches pray for his ministry (Eph. 6:19–20; Col. 4:2–4; 2 Thess. 3:1), as well as intentionally downplaying his own wisdom and ingenuity (1 Cor. 2:1–5).

Remembering the Gospel

Correlated with the Spirit’s empowerment, disciple making must be based on gospel realities. No matter their background, people often seem programmed to understand religion as transactional. They want religion explained in terms of what they’re to do, not who they’re to be. In Central Asia, Muslims believe they secure Allah’s acceptance by acquiring sevap, or merit, through acts of obedient submission such as almsgiving, fasting, and ritual prayer.

One time, I remember a believer shouting to me following his baptism, “I’m finally a Christian!” He had received significant teaching about the gospel prior to baptism, so I tried to remind him gently that he became a Christian when he was born again by the Spirit. But his story illustrates how disciple makers in different religious contexts must be careful to confront a transactional perspective toward the grace of God.

Obeying in Faith

To be sure, disciple making requires we teach others to obey commands (Matt. 28:20). However, the order of emphasis is crucial. Gospel obedience flows from gospel transformation. Rather than an obedience of mere duty, Christian obedience is the obedience of faith (Rom. 1:5), the product of lives transformed by the gospel.

The gospel transforms believers’ minds as they look at the world with spiritual eyes, their affections as they trade their fleshly desires for godly ones, their wills as they live obedient to Christ’s commands, their relationships as they love and serve even their enemies, and their purpose as they live to proclaim the excellencies of Christ (1 Pet. 2:9).

Discipleship, therefore, should address the head, heart, and hands—that is, our knowing, being, and doing. Paul modeled this balance in the structure of his letters as he opened by expounding the riches of the gospel, continued by explaining the transformation the gospel brings, and concluded by exhorting disciples to live in a manner congruent with the gospel.

Knowing God’s Will

Simplicity in disciple making is a worthy objective but not an ultimate one. We can’t reduce discipleship to a few biblical commands or passages. Disciple making requires taking care to teach all that Jesus commanded (Matt. 28:20). Following this, Paul taught the Ephesians the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Though it seems doubtful he offered a verse-by-verse explanation of the entire Old Testament during his three years in Ephesus, Paul likely means that he taught the fullness of God’s revealed will.

The knowledge of God’s will was a central concern of Paul for believers (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 5:10; Col. 1:19). In my highly literate Central Asian context, complete with an accessible translation of the Bible, knowing and communicating all of Scripture is admittedly easier than in other locations. But even in other contexts, missionaries can strive to uncover what it means to make disciples using all of Scripture through Bible storying, oral Scripture memorization, Bible translations, or literacy initiatives.

Growing with the Church

Finally, disciple making occurs within the local church, the theater for the display of gospel transformation. In Ephesians 4:15–16, Paul describes the role of the local church in forming disciples: “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

According to Paul, the church serves as both the subject and object of spiritual formation. The whole body makes the body grow.

According to Paul, the church serves as both the subject and object of spiritual formation. The whole body makes the body grow.

In Central Asia, the church plays a crucial role in the spiritual growth of believers, many of whom are ostracized from other forms of community. Unless everyone in a network of relationships comes to faith at once, believers from a Muslim background can experience abandonment by friends and family, loss of employment, and even more extreme forms of persecution. If those believers are disconnected from a healthy church, they won’t have the community and encouragement necessary to spur them on to spiritual maturity.

Wherever we serve, missionaries should strive to make disciples who are committed to one another, living in a covenant community, and fulfilling the New Testament’s “one another” commands. In short, we want disciples to be part of a church body that reminds them of the gospel and holds them accountable to live in a manner worthy of it, fulfilling all God’s will in the power of the Spirit.