Quotes About Discipleship

Rooting out bad habits is not enough. If we merely attack what is wrong, we create a vacuum that will inevitably be filled by some new behavior or addiction that does not shape our worldview according to the gospel. The solution, I believe, is discipleship, the process of becoming more like Christ.

Philip Nation is right when he says the foundational truth of discipleship is this: "Love is the central discipline of the Christian life. Everything else will flow from that as the centerpiece of spiritual formation.

have heard plenty of sermons that address the problem of pornography, but I can count on one hand the number of times a pastor or Sunday school teacher discussed a more comprehensive online discipleship.

Actually, reading the Bible was the factor that had the highest correlation with every other factor of discipleship. Now when people ask me, "How do we get people to witness?" "How do we get people to serve others?" or "How do we get people to pray?" I give them the same answer: Get people to read the Bible.

A disciple who grows spiritually will have a growing desire to be a witness and reach out to those who are lost.

Therefore, it is vital for churches to provide a clear target explaining the attitudes and behaviors of a disciple; you must have a clear definition of disciple.

Just as the true fruit of an apple tree is not an apple, but another tree; the true fruit of a small group is not a new Christian, but another group; the true fruit of a church is not a new group, but a new church; the true fruit of a leader is not a follower, but a new leader; the true fruit of an evangelist is not a convert, but new evangelists. Whenever this principle is understood and applied, the results are dramatic.

Contrary to Western evangelicalism's obsession with the individual, discipleship is and always was a group project. No one in the New Testament followed independent of other followers. —Steve Murrell, Wikichurch

One of Jesus's secrets to fruitfulness in ministry is pruning.

Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

What good is having someone who can walk on water if you don't follow in his footsteps?

It's like Christians who want to be like Jesus. We're just trying to follow in someone's footsteps. Might as well be The Beatles.

Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion - it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.

The Baptists stood alone, but stand they did. If you have been discipled in a faith that takes seriously the Apostle Paul's words that to suffer for Christ is gain and are prepared, as the Orthodox Kaleda family was, to live with reduced expectations of worldly success, it becomes easier to stand for the truth.

a church that is a church only on Sunday and at other formal gatherings of the congregation is not only failing to be the church Christ calls us all to be; it is also not going to be a church with the strength and the focus to endure the trials ahead.

A church that looks and talks and sounds just like the world has no reason to exist. A church that does not emphasize asceticism and discipleship is as pointless as a football coaching staff that doesn't care if its players show up for practice. And though liturgy by itself is not enough, a church that neglects to involve the body in worship is going to find it increasingly difficult to get bodies into services on Sunday morning as America moves further into post-Christianity.

Finally, Clement laid down a principle of Christian leadership and discipleship: "Therefore it is right for us, having studied so many and such great examples, to bow the neck and, adopting the attitude of obedience, to submit to those who are the leaders of our souls, so that by ceasing from this futile dissension we may attain the goal that is truly set before us, free from all blame."4

St. Paul did not baptize uninstructed converts apart from a system of mutual responsibility which ensured their instruction.

how often', he said,'does a man ruin his disciples by remaining always with them.

If we are followers of Jesus Christ, we are part of His church, not just a small group of people who may be discussing the latest Christian book or meeting around a social cause.

The route of the Christian is never clearly laid out beforehand. Like Matthew the tax collector, the disciple is simply called out. He is not immediately told where he is going, but he knows the One who has called and promises to walk with him. Consequently the journey, although never easy, is joyous and fruitful.

I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel that it would be truer to give prayer the first, second and third place, and teaching the fourth.