The Four Pillars of Discipleship

In Matthew 13:47 Jesus said, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.” In this parable, Jesus defined the net as the gospel, or the kingdom of heaven. In discipleship, Christ followers cast out the net of the gospel and pray that God will catch the hearts of men.

Now that we understand God’s love for all people and His call to discipleship, where do we go from here? How do we actually implement discipleship in our daily lives? Throughout this study, we will discuss four pillars of discipleship: Initiative, Start Something, Faithfulness through the Middle, and Results—a Backward Mentality. We will spend a week on each of these four pillars.

Initiative consists of moving toward something. This can be the hardest step in discipleship because it requires people to reach out to those around them. Initiative is the “Go” of the Great Commission. As we study initiative, we will look at the ways Jesus initiated something with those around Him. We will discuss the need for initiative, our fears in initiating, and the beauty that can come from initiating.

Starting something means just that: start something! This is the practical side of discipleship. Starting something might mean beginning a brand new thing but it also might be starting something within the places you find yourself each day. It could be starting a Bible study, but it could also be reaching out to a coworker in a new way. As we dream about starting something, we will discuss how to have a “starting” vision, the way Jesus started things, tips for starting something, and the struggle involved in starting something.

Once you have taken initiative and started something, you are now in the middle of discipleship. This middle space may last a few months or years depending on the type of relationship. This middle ground can be difficult, as it requires endurance, faithfulness, and patience. For this discussion, we will identify the challenges of discipleship, how Jesus was faithful, the struggle to endure, and how to be faithful to the end.

It might seem interesting to talk about results when it comes to discipleship. How do you quantify discipleship? Throughout this week, we hope to shed light on the biblical view of success, which can be quite different from the secular view of success. We will discuss the goal of discipleship, how Jesus viewed results, and the tension of trusting Christ with the results of discipleship.