A little over a year ago, a friend of mine, who is a board member of a mission agency, shared some disturbing news with me. Their mission group serves over 80 remote churches. The pastors and elders of these churches were lamenting to the director of the mission that they did not know how to disciple people. I’ve heard this often from other churches and Christians as well.
But this news really hit me hard! Excitedly, I told my friend, “Making disciples is not rocket science! But we’ve complicated it so many ways that many Christians feel like it’s out of their grasp.” My friend and I discussed the simplicity of disciple-making for the next hour.
When I got home after that meeting, I couldn’t let this issue rest. So, I started writing and over the next few days wrote the little book, The Simplicity of Disciple-Making and 7 Ways We’ve Complicated It!
In this short book, I offer a simple, biblical definition of disciple-making and discuss the ways we’ve complicated it. Then I give very practical solutions and methods for making disciples of Jesus Christ. I believe anyone who calls Jesus “Lord” possesses all they need to lead others to Christ and help them grow in Him.
But the Lord continued challenging me about disciple-making. In prayer one day, I distinctly heard Him ask me to trust Him to mobilize and equip one million disciple-makers. Since that day, I’ve prayed daily that God would bring this about.
I also established a website: www.skillsforfollowingjesus.com in which I offer a BIG Challenge to followers of Jesus to disciple others. As of this writing (July 5, 2020) 4,742 people have accepted the challenge to disciple others. This is extremely encouraging, but we still have a long way to go.
Jesus is coming again soon! I’m sure of it. But my heart aches for the sinful state of our country (and the rest of the world). For this reason, I’ve joined thousands of other followers of Jesus who are praying daily for spiritual awakening. We desperately need to turn to Jesus Christ as a nation and it needs to start with those of us who know Him.
In order to put feet to our prayers, I want to get a copy of The Simplicity of Disciple-Making and 7 Ways We’ve Complicated It! into the hands of a million people. The book is so short and simple you can read it in a couple of hours. I’ve had so many followers of Jesus tell me how its message resonates with them and gives them the tools and courage to disciple others.
If you have any ideas for helping me get this book in front of other followers of Jesus, please let me know by leaving a comment associated with this blog post. And please pray with me for spiritual awakening and that the Lord would help us mobilize and equip one million disciple-makers. The Lord is coming soon!
Thank you, Rob Fischer