By definition, a disciple is a follower, one who accepts and assists in

spreading the doctrines of another. A Christian disciple is a person

who follows Jesus Christ and accepts and assists in the spreading
of the good news of salvation through Him. Christian discipleship is
the process by which disciples grow in the Lord Jesus Christ and
are equipped by the indwelling Holy Spirit to overcome the
pressures and trials of this present life and become more and more
Christlike. This process requires believers to respond to the Holy
Spirit’s prompting to examine their thoughts, words, and actions and
compare them with the Word of God. This requires that we be in the
Word daily—studying it, praying over it, and obeying it. In addition,
we should always be ready to give testimony of the reason for the
hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15) and to disciple others to walk in
His way. According to Scripture, being a Christian disciple involves
personal growth characterized by the following:

1. Putting Jesus first in all things (Mark 8:34–38). The disciple of

Christ needs to be set apart from the world. Our focus should be on
our Lord and how to please Him in every area of our lives. We must
put off self-centeredness and put on Christ-centeredness.

2. Following Jesus’ teachings (John 8:31–32). We must be

obedient children and doers of the Word (James 1:22). Obedience
is the supreme test of faith in God (1 Samuel 28:18). Jesus said,
“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves
me” (John 14:21). Jesus is also the perfect example of obedience
as He lived a life on earth of complete obedience to the Father even
to the point of death (Philippians 2:6–8).

3. Bearing fruit (John 15:5–8). Christian disciples should

live fruitful lives, displaying the fruit of the Spirit, good works, and
“the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12:11). Technically,
producing fruit is not our job; our job is to abide in Christ, and the
fruit will come (John 15:1–8). God’s goal is that we produce “much
fruit” (verse 8), as Christ uses us to bring about blessed change in a
broken, fallen world.

4. Loving other disciples (John 13:34–35). Love of other

believers is an evidence of our being a member of God’s family (1
John 3:10). Love is described in 1 Corinthians 13:1–13. These
verses show us that love is not an emotion; it is action. In order to
love, we must be doing something and involved in the process. One
way to show love is to think more highly of others than of ourselves
and to look out for their interests (Philippians 2:3–4). Another way to
show love is to be patient and not take offense at every provocation
(1 Peter 4:8).

5. Making disciples of others (Matthew 28:18–20). Disciples

multiply. One of the last things Jesus said to His disciples before His
ascension was the command to “go and make disciples of all
nations” (Matthew 28:19). This involves evangelism—sharing the
gospel and urging people to repent and believe in Christ—but it also
involves discipleship. Christians should be actively engaged in
training people who will in turn train others. That’s the pattern we
see in Jesus’ ministry: He trained eleven men who spent the rest of
their lives as disciple-makers, training others to also become
disciple-makers, and so on. We see this pattern also in 2 Timothy
2:2.

A Christian disciple is one who puts Jesus first, obeys the Lord,
produces good fruit, loves others, and makes more disciples. Such
a one is sure to make an impact in this fallen world for the glory of
God

What Is a Disciple?
Dallas Willard is famous for saying that every church
that seeks to be faithful to its calling must ask two
questions: 1) What is our plan for making disciples
of Jesus? and 2) Is it working?

When we talk with pastors about what their plan is for

making disciples, we often hear them describe it in
terms of programs:

 “We have a six-week on-ramping course for new

believers that gets them up to speed on what a
new believer needs to know.”
 “We have a ton of book studies, Sunday school
classes, and teaching environments where people
can learn more about the Bible.”
 “We have weekly discussions about the sermon in
our small groups.”
 “We have an assimilation process that moves
people from sitting in the seats each week to
serving at our church.”
There’s nothing wrong with programs, of course,
but running programs isn’t necessarily the same thing
as having an effective plan for making disciples of
Jesus.

Unless we know what discipleship is, we won’t know if

our plan is working. We run the risk of assuming that a
disciple is simply someone who completes the
program.

To know whether or not our plan for discipleship is

working, it’s vital to answer a prior
question: What is discipleship?

Discipleship Definition

From a biblical perspective, a disciple is a learner

(mathetes in Greek), someone who is committed to
being with a “master” (rabbi) in order to learn from them
and take on their entire way of being.

First-century Jews had an expression they used to

describe a disciple who followed their teacher closely:
they were “covered in the dust” of their rabbi. Disciples
are “apprentices” of a master, learning to do what the
master knows how to do.

If Jesus is our rabbi, our “master”, what is it that he

knows how to do? What is he “good at” that we learn
from him? Jesus knows how to live abundantly in
God’s kingdom. Jesus shows us what it looks like for
a human to live in constant, loving communion and
openness with God and others. Jesus lives his human
life entirely rooted in the love of God.

What is discipleship to Jesus, then? It is to commit

oneself to being with Jesus to learn from Jesus how to
be like Jesus in every aspect of one’s life. Discipleship
to Jesus is learning to be at home in God’s love and to
allow that love to radiate from our lives to everyone we
encounter.

Thus, as Willard noted, being a disciple of Jesus is “not

a matter of special ‘religious’ activities, but an
orientation and quality of my entire existence.”

What It Means to Be a Disciple

We won’t know if our discipleship plan is working
unless we have a clear picture of what changes we
should expect in someone’s life when they commit to
following Jesus. What would it mean for someone to
become more like Jesus in every aspect of their life?
What would that transformation look like?

There’s no definitive list of characteristics of a disciple,

and we would encourage every church to look at the
Scriptures and church history to craft their own
description of a fully-formed disciple of Jesus, both in
terms of character qualities and competencies.
But some of what we might expect to see in the life of a
disciple would be:

 The fruit of the Spirit becoming more and more

habitual and characteristic in one’s life: love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23)
 God’s love and power increasingly flowing through
one’s life (2 Pet 1:3-4)
 An increasing sense of being “at home” in God’s
love ( John 15:1-8)
 Reactive attitudes and behaviors that harm others
steadily falling away, and one’s capacity to
contribute to the good of others growing (Col 3:1-
17, Eph 4:1-6)
 Love for others and even enemies increasing (Matt
5:43-48)
 Patience and endurance in the face of suffering
(Rom 12:9-21)
We could also add emotional health and self-
awareness, which increases our capacity to love
others. What else would you add?

Discipleship in the Bible

But how does one grow in these capacities of a

disciple? Discipleship relationships in the New
Testament give us a few clues, especially the way that
the early church practiced discipleship.
  The apostle Paul spoke often in his letters about
how he and his missionary companions didn’t just
share information with those they preached the
gospel to. They shared their lives (1 Thess 2:8).
 Paul wasn’t just a tutor passing along knowledge
to students; he was a spiritual father passing on a
way of life (1 Cor 4:14-17).
 Paul urged people in the churches he planted not
just to listen to his words, but to imitate his way of
life (e.g. 1 Cor 11:1).
Discipleship Is Inherently Relational

It’s the same today: discipleship can never be reduced

to running a program or sermon series. It isn’t a matter
of conveying the information or incentivizing behavior.

Programs don’t automatically make disciples. Groups

don’t automatically make disciples. Techniques don’t
make disciples. Methods don’t make disciples. You
can’t automate discipleship.

People make disciples. Disciples make disciples.

Discipleship is inherently about real life relationships in
the everyday normalities of life, not just the rarified
atmosphere of church services and programs.

Nothing can ever replace the actual training of people,

in wisdom and love, to become more like Jesus in
character and competence. Every church needs wise,
adaptive leaders who are full of love for those they’re
discipling.

Because although none of us ever get

a perfect example, we all need a living example of
what life in Christ looks like. 

Grounding your disciple-making efforts in this deeper

place, in who you are becoming, is what we spend 12
months training leaders to do in our coaching. Your
leadership can never really become transformational
until you find the center of your leadership in your life
with God.

What Are the Benefits of Discipleship?

Talking about “benefits” might seem like an awkward

way of talking about discipleship, but in our work with
leaders, we’ve noticed that many churches dive
straight into a plan for discipleship without
considering why anyone would want to become a
disciple of Jesus.

Discipleship should be the obvious way to say “yes” to

the good news of the gospel, but the gospel most
churches preach doesn’t naturally lead to discipleship,
because usually it’s focused on “going to heaven when
you die.” This sounds more like an insurance policy
than good news for today.

The truth is that the gospel is so much more than a

post-mortem insurance policy! The gospel Jesus
preached (the “gospel of the kingdom”) sounded more
like this:

You can participate right now in the life God shares

with us. You can join in with what God is doing in and
around you. Abundant life in God’s kingdom is
available to you now. You can start immediately by
trusting me.

Saying “yes” to this gospel naturally leads to

discipleship, because Jesus is the one who knows how
to live in God’s kingdom. Who else would we learn it
from? How else would we learn to participate in the life
God shares with us?

The “benefits” of discipleship, then, are myriad! Who

wouldn’t want to join a community of people learning
together to allow God’s life and love to flow through
them to each other and the world around them?

That kind of love is transformative for people, and

disruptive to oppressive powers that seek to isolate
and exploit. Discipleship in this way can change the
world.

It’s like treasure hidden in a field: when someone finds

it, they hide it again, and in their joy go and sell all they
have and buy the field (Matt 13:44). The prize of
discipleship is more than worth the price of
discipleship, in other words.

Discipleship Training
With all this in mind, how can leaders begin to craft a
discipleship plan that actually works?

Join a Discipleship Group

Because discipleship is inherently relational, it can

never be something that leaders outsource. For this
reason, it’s vital for any leader wanting to develop a
discipleship plan to actually experience a discipleship
group for themselves.

Our Gravity Leadership Academy coaching functions

as this kind of discipleship group for leaders. Over the
course of 12 months, you learn how to discern God’s
activity in and around you, as well as opening space for
others to do so as well.

Find a Discipleship Program or Workshop

It’s also often helpful to host a discipleship workshop
for your church. A structured learning environment that
everyone experiences together can be a generative
catalyst for further development and growth.
Follow the Way: Gravity’s Discipleship Workshop

Gravity offers a discipleship workshop called Follow the

Way, where we focus on the missing ingredient in most
discipleship plans.

It’s not just gaining knowledge and modifying behavior;

discipleship must reach into our desires if it’s going to
be discipleship in the way of Jesus. In our Follow the
Way workshop, we teach you how to create
discipleship environments that do this.

Create a Discipleship Curriculum at Your Church

All by themselves, knowledge and behavior are

insufficient for a good discipleship plan, but that doesn’t
mean they’re unimportant or optional! There are some
knowledge “basics” that every Christian should learn in
their journey of discipleship.

Throughout church history, these have been

encapsulated in “catechisms” that outline the basic
doctrines of the faith, usually in question-and-answer
form. Traditionally, the Apostles’ Creed is used to teach
on Christian doctrine, the Lord’s Prayer is used to
teach on Christian spirituality, and the Ten
Commandments is used to teach on Christian ethics.
(We recommend substituting the Sermon on the Mount
for Christian ethics.)

However you choose to do it, we encourage church

leaders to have some kind of discipleship curriculum
that teaches the basics of the Christian faith as part of
their overall plan for making disciples.

Seek Out Additional Resources for the Journey

There are lots of discipleship resources out there,

some good, some not so good. Here are a few we
recommend:
Discipleship Books

 Our forthcoming book Having the Mind of Christ:

Eight Axioms For Cultivating a Robust Faith by
Ben Sternke and Matt Tebbe (you can preorder
now!)
 The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden
Life in God by Dallas Willard
 Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a
Rebellious World by Lee C. Camp
 Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for
Christians by Lee C. Camp
 You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of
Habit by James K.A. Smith
Podcasts about Discipleship

Here are some podcast episodes on various aspects of

discipleship:

 Becky Castle Miller on the Role of Emotions in

Christian Discipleship
 How to Disciple People With Trauma with Heather
Davediuk Gingrich
 Keeping Discipleship Simple with Derek Vreeland
 David Gushee: Christian Ethics in a Pluralistic
World
 Curt Thompson: How Naming Desire Leads to
Transformation
 Mark Scandrette: The Beatitudes For Today
 Andrew Arndt: Learning to Live in the Trinity With
the Ancient Church
Discipleship Communities

It’s vital not just to learn about discipleship, but to

journey with others in discipleship. Joining a
community of people committed to learning from Jesus
how to be like Jesus will help Christians stay connected
and learn from each other.

Joining a Gravity Leadership Academy cohort is a

“deep dive” way of joining a discipleship community,
but if that isn’t in the cards for you right now, consider
joining the Gravity Commons, our online membership
community for Christians who want to stay connected
and learn together how to follow Jesus in today’s
turbulent times.

the condition or situation of being a disciple, a follower

1. Disciple – someone who is following Jesus, being

changed by Jesus, and is committed to the mission of
Jesus (Matt. 4:19)