Summary

It is the purpose of God and the task of His people to develop disciples. A disciple is someone whose life is focused on God and others. Love is the telling earmark.

Development of disciples is the process of developing love in people by confronting and inviting them with the Gospel of grace — we are enabled to love because we are loved. Grace confounds our self-focus; surrender to grace enables us to be other-focused. Therefore, all development strategies must be centered around continually bringing people to the place where they must choose whether to surrender to God’s grace.

That place of choice is found wherever sin is exposed and hunger for God is aroused. In that place, the Gospel can speak to hungry and sinful people, and people must choose. For some, it will be a place of sweet relief from a burden far too heavy to carry. For others, it will be an angry, difficult, and defensive place. The important thing for the discipler is to know where that place is, and then bring people to it in the best possible way.

The work of developing disciples is a wonderful, soul-wrenching job. Because of our love for these people, we will suffer anguish of soul as we watch them struggle with the choice and suffer in their own pain. We will grieve in prayer over others. We will wonder at the mysterious work of God that is wrought in the soul of humankind. And, we will rejoice as, lo and behold, God works and people grow. Our souls will be knit to theirs, because we will both share in the wonder of surrender to God’s love.

I know of no better way to keep our need of God before us than to participate in discipling another human being. In the process, we will be continually confronted with our own sin, our own hunger for relationship, and the message of grace. As we desire to love even more deeply, we will have the choice to surrender more deeply.