WHAT IS DISCIPLESHIP?

We are to go into all the world making disciples, which means to me, and this is my first time trying to put it into words, so be merciful :) To share the message of Christ, represented by the cross, with it's one vertical beam pointing up, to God's merciful and sacrificial love: demonstrated by Christ's sacrifice and shedding of His blood for our sins.

And the horizontal beam representing sacrificial love for our neighbor, working by faith through love, and this is to be taught by example and words.

The cornerstone is Mark 12:30-31, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

So loving the new believer and nurturing them, as Paul describes it by "being gentle as a nursing mother, having fond affection because they become dear to us; and together with these things, the most important part of our new life is to love each other. The goal is that our hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love." Anything less than this, is legalism, and nothing more than sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

We cannot be in Christian ministry of any type in an impersonal way: that is not discipleship. This power of love is what spread over the world like wildfire!

John summarized it by this, "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:35 Whether it's our children, our spouse, a new convert or a stranger, our message is "God is love" and He reconciles the world to Himself though our loving instruction.