What Does Discipleship Look Like on a Day-to-Day Basis?

So when it comes to disciple-making on a practical level, there are core truths, core principles, practices that then play out in all kinds of ways in different people’s lives, in different situations. So the core principles or practices would involve going and baptizing and teaching and doing that in all nations. Going and sharing the gospel.

So disciple-making practically involves sharing the good news of Christ with people who are lost, proclaiming the gospel. Baptizing. So inviting people into Christ and his church and showing people what the life of Christ and the body of Christ looks like. Demonstrating what it means to be identified with Christ in our lives. And teaching the word, teaching people to obey everything Christ has commanded us. And so word-saturated lives, word-saturated conversations, where we are constantly taking the word that’s been received in us and reproducing it in others’ lives. Teaching the word and then doing that in all nations, so it’s not just go and make disciples, it’s make disciples of all nations.

How Can I Participate In Day-to-Day Discipleship?

So we’re praying and we’re giving, and we’re asking God how he wants us to go. Does he want us to go short-term? Does he want us to go mid term? He want us to go long term? Are there ways that he wants us to go? How can we be a part of spreading this gospel to the ends of the earth? So then practically, on the day-to-day life of a businessman, a stay-at-home mom, a college student, that’s going to look different, but it’s the businessman, stay-at-home mom and college student saying, “Okay, how can I share the gospel where I live? How can I share the gospel in the network of relationships I have? Who do I know that’s an unbeliever? How can I intentionally foster relationships with unbelievers and put myself in situations where I can be sharing the gospel?”

That answer’s going to look different in each of those people’s lives. But that’s kind of the central practice. Now, how does it play out? How can I in the process of doing that, and as a part of doing that, show them what the life of Christ looks like in action? How can I in a Corinthians I 11:1 way say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” So we want to call people to, in a healthy sense, see Christ in us and follow Christ in us. So this is where we need to take responsibility.

Businessman, stay-at-home, mom, college student. How can I, in the people that God has entrusted around me, how can I show them what the life of Christ looks like in business? How can I show them what the life of Christ looks like as a mom? How can I show them what the life of Christ looks like on this campus and very intentionally? And show people, what does praying look like? What does walking with God look like? What do purity and holiness look like? To be intentional about that and the process, teaching the word so we’re not indoctrinating people with our own thoughts, our own opinions, but in the context of business, as a stay-at-home mom, and a student’s life on campus, how can the Word saturate my conversations? How can I be intentional, especially with a few that are closest around me? How can I be intentional about investing the word in them? And then how can I mobilize those people around me in the process to pray, give, and go to the ends of the earth?

Share and Show the Word

So there’s so much there, and it’s tough to boil down, but when it comes down to the essence of disciple-making, involves sharing the word, showing the word, teaching the word, and doing all that with the goal of serving the world and seeing the gospel spread to the ends of the earth. And that comes alive in beautiful ways, in a businessman’s life and a stay-at-home mom’s life, and a college student’s life.