The Disciples' Mission
Although I have bought into disciple-making as THE MINISTRY of every believer, I was a bit surprised and saddened that I could find so few people whom I've influenced who have reproduced second, third, or more generations of other disciples. You see, the purpose of discipleship is to make disicples who make other disciples. Nothing else is sufficient.
Consider this: It took almost 1,800 years for the world's population to reach 1 billion. In 1910, the population reached 2 billion, and by the year 2,000, it was almost 6 billion, which means that in less than 90 years, the world's population had tripled. Every two seconds, 9 babies are born and 3 people die. The net increase is 3 people per second; 10,600 people per hour; 254,000 people per day; 1.8 million per week; and 93 million per year. Of the billions of people in the world today, approximately 75% of them do not worship Jesus Christ. Simply adding new converts to the faith will not get the job done! We must have a movement of multiplying disciples just to keep up with the growth of the world's population.
My question to you is do you have a personal vision for making disciples in YOUR LIFE??? Let me ask it this way: Whom are you intentionally investing in so that they will be ready to reach and invest in others? I am a bit embarrassed to say that I have not done as good a job as I should have in communicating this vision to everyone I have discipled. A disciple is to be living out the Greatest Commandment (loving God, self, and others) as well as the Great Commission (making other disciples). This is the simplest and clearest definition of what a disciple is.
It is my intention with this article to challenge all of you (and myself) to focus on this task of making disciples above all other ministries. I am convinced that the Great Commission is for everyone. We are responsible for making more disciples.- Rod Zwemke
