Last month, I wrote on the spread of the gospel throughout South Asia, focusing on the light of Jesus. Our brothers and sisters there share the gospel in the midst of challenging circumstances with great persecution and significantly less resource materially to assist them. One of the key methods they have utilised to ensure the continuation of the gospel is discipleship. To recap:
People would apply to study for 6 months after having been developed by their own pastors (which were typically in other cities – so people travelled to study at this college). Once they were done with their 6 months, they would graduate and go off to start their own churches in a new village where they’d start discipling others. In due time, these new pastors would recommend their some of their local congregation to apply to join the next batch (and so the process repeats).
Modelling after Jesus
If you had unlimited power, unlimited resources, and unlimited time, what method would you use to transform the world? Jesus thought that 3 years training 12 ordinary men with him (who would then be equipped with the Holy Spirit) was enough. At the end of his life, Jesus notes in his prayer to the Father that he has completed everything that the Father gave him to do (John chapter 17, verse 4). Thus, Jesus, being the all-knowing Son of God, thought that discipling 12 men and teaching them to disciple others was the best method.
Our brothers and sisters picked up something in this process that I had missed in studying discipleship. Jesus knew he had a fixed amount of time on Earth. He knew he was going to pass away, which gave him focus and clarity on what needed to be done to ensure continuity of the gospel. Jesus focused on passing on what was critically important for establishing his disciples, so that they could carry on after he was gone.
Similarly, due to the persecution in South Asia, our brothers and sisters there modelled this with great focus and clarity. They didn’t know when or where they were going to leave, so they ensured the mission of God would continue by raising and investing in disciples. They knew that, at one point or another, they were going to leave. They didn’t want to be lynchpin around which the work of God revolved, because it would cease once they left. So, they focused on training and building disciples who would succeed them once they left.
Who is following us?
So to reflect on our own lives, is there anyone in your life that will succeed you when you’re gone? We are all going to pass eventually. Either God will call us to a new city, job, etc. or we’ll die. Is there someone who will succeed and follow on in the work God has started through you?
This isn’t a new concept – Jesus did it over 2000 years ago, Moses did it with the 70 elders, and then with Joshua. Similarly, in the business world, they always talk about working yourself out of a job with the idea that you’re developing someone who will take over you in due time. We often drift through life forgetting that we are part of the work God is doing. I don’t want to be the limiting factor in God’s work of redeeming and restoring creation, so I want to disciple others to take over for me.
I wanted to write this series of 2 articles at the start of the year, because these two concepts radically shape the direction and choices of our lives if we take them seriously. The new year presents new opportunities to try something new and to refine what is going on. So, in closing: Is the gospel worth paying the price for? Who is going to succeed you when you’re gone?
I disciple university students in the University of Canterbury through the Navigators while currently working towards a Master of Divinity. Outside of this, my wife and I enjoy rock climbing and going on adventures with our dog.