The best model for what discipleship looks like is the Biblical model we see portrayed in the Gospels. Discipleship isn’t anything but how Jesus took His followers - a wildly diverse bunch of people - and taught them how to see God and His kingdom the way Jesus did.

If that process took Jesus Himself three years to really communicate what it meant to be one of His disciples, and even then one of them didn’t seem to get it so much, did he? And of course, Jesus’ disciples didn’t quit growing after Jesus’ ascension. They kept right on growing the rest of their lives. I think it’s particularly telling that none of them wrote the books we associate with them for the first Easter Sunday service. What did get recorded came after they’d matured with a lifetime of ministry experience.

Personally, I think it’s because they wrote and ministered and evangelized with increasing maturity that they and their work still ministers to and matures Jesus’ followers today.

If looking at the first disciples’ lives teaches us anything, it has to be that discipleship is NOT for the faint of heart. The world has not grown simpler but never fear. The world will never be “too much” for God to reach.

So - what was it that they did to keep growing their understanding of just what it means to follow Jesus year after year, long after Jesus was no longer leaving literal sandal prints across Judea for them to follow in?

Well - they told us, but it’s easy to miss. They continued spreading the good news, and they engaged in raising up the next generation of disciples. They continued to grow their walk deeper and encourage those who follow Jesus to grow their walks deeper too. They continued to love God as much as they could, and love His people as much as they could, and love those who had not yet heard and believed as much as they could.

That same formula: Love God, Love the Church, and Love Others still produces stunning growth today.. It’s a daunting challenge though, and once you start to pursue growth through it, the ease with which you can write that formula out belies the complexity of living it out. We just CANNOT do it without leaning on Jesus heavily. But, the reward of diving in and submitting ourselves to Jesus’ formula is THE WAY to enjoy a life of purpose, connection with God, growth in wisdom.

Following Jesus will challenge us constantly to put our egos down and walk in more and more humility. Living by Jesus’ formula for spiritual maturity is how we experience the “easy yoke” and “light burden” He mentions in Matthew 11:28-30, the fruits of the spirit and the abundant life and the rest of Jesus’ promises.. It’s a peace-filled, heart-expanding, and mind-blowing adventure. It’s a tremendous gift that He invites us into such an existence with Him.

So - to answer that question, clearly evangelism and discipleship are related. You can think of evangelism as disciple-birthing, and the rest of our lives as the baby-hood, childhood, teen-years, and on and on through all the stages of life - but for our spirits. Or at least this is available if we will engage it.

Here’s praying that you can follow Jesus to wonderful wisened maturity, full of ministry-gifts, obedience, peace, grace and love!