Quotes About Discipleship

There are many that follow Jesus as far as the breaking of bread, few as far as drinking the cup of suffering; many that revere his miracles, few that follow him in the indignity of his cross. THOMAS À KEMPIS[1]

Jesus wasn't so much handing out information as reshaping our imaginations.

Many claim to have been born again, but the evidence for mature Christian discipleship is slim.

Psalm 134, the final Song of Ascents, provides the evidence. The way of discipleship that begins in an act of repentance (t?shubah) concludes in a life of praise (b?rakah).

I was neither capable nor competent to form Christ in another person, to shape a life of discipleship in man, woman or child. That is supernatural work, and I am not supernatural. Mine was the more modest work of Scripture and prayer—helping people listen to God speak to them from the Scriptures and then joining them in answering God as personally and honestly as we could in lives of prayer.

The Christian life is not about leadership but "followership," not about becoming more and more but less and less.

Christian discipleship is a process of paying more and more attention to God's righteousness and less and less attention to our own; finding the meaning of our lives not by probing our moods and motives and morals but by believing in God's will and purposes; making a map of the faithfulness of God, not charting the rise and fall of our enthusiasms. It is out of such a reality that we acquire perseverance.

My security comes from who God is, not from how I feel. Discipleship is a decision to live by what I know about God, not by what I feel about him or myself or my neighbors.

Christian discipleship is a decision to walk in his ways, steadily and firmly, and then finding that the way integrates all our interests, passions and gifts, our human needs and our eternal aspirations. It is the way of life we were created for. There are endless challenges in it to keep us on the growing edge of faith; there is always the God who sticks with us to make it possible for us to persevere.

To follow Jesus implies that we enter into a way of life that is given character and shape and direction by the one who calls us.

Christian discipleship is a decision to walk in his ways, steadily and firmly, and then finding that the way integrates all our interests, passions and gifts, our human needs and our eternal aspirations. It is the way of life we were created for.

Jesus] said "Follow me" and ended up with a lot of losers. And these losers ended up, through no virtue or talent of their own, becoming saints. Jesus wasn't after the best but the worst.

Joy is not a requirement of Christian discipleship, it is a consequence. It is not what we have to acquire in order to experience life in Christ; it is what comes to us when we are walking in the way of faith and obedience.

Christian discipleship is a decision to walk in his ways, steadily and firmly, and then finding that the way integrates all our interests, passions, and gifts, our human needs and eternal aspirations. It is the way of life we were created for.

Let us remind ourselves that if we are to be our Lord's disciples, we must take up his Cross and follow him.

Discipleship isn't a program or an event; it's a way of life. It's not for a limited time, but for our whole life. Discipleship isn't for beginners alone; it's for all believers for every day of their life. Discipleship isn't just one of the things the church does; it is what the church does.

Does the gospel we preach produce disciples or does it produce consumers of religious goods and services?

Rather discipleship occurs when a transformed person radiates Christ to those around her. It happens when people so deeply experience God's love that they can do nothing other than affect those around them.

When discipleship takes a place alongside leadership, evangelism, preaching, worship, counseling, support groups, and other programs, it ceases to be what it was meant to be: the heart of what it means to be a Christian.

It takes five years to establish a discipleship flow and have it bear fruit within the church. Many pastors and parishioners simply don't possess the spiritual stomach for such a journey.

The church best glorifies God by making disciples, simply because fruit-bearing believers glorify God.

So why don't we automatically place discipleship at the center of every ministry? Perhaps certain words put people off: influence, vision, submission, accountability, vulnerability, confession, study, sacrifice, and discipline.

Before you start making disciples in the church, count the cost; don't start unless you plan to finish.

The lack of good lay leadership—people from the marketplace who are fruit-bearing believers, leaders who are disciples and disciple makers, men and women who model and reproduce themselves in the eager growers within their spheres of influence—debilitates the local church.