Following Jesus: Purpose

Last Updated on November 14, 2024 by Rocklyn Clarke

Contents

1 Purpose
2 Goals
3 Habits and Ministries
4 Assignments

Purpose

Here you will learn how to help other believers develop a lifestyle of understanding and obeying the Bible – God’s Word. Helping to train other believers is the best way for you to ensure your own spiritual growth. This material is designed to help train you to follow Jesus with confidence and then, confidently train others to do the same.

Key Questions

How will following Jesus help me pursue my passions?
How will following Jesus help me fix the problems in the world that break my heart?

Key Passages

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

“ ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”
Acts 2:17-18 (NIV)

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
John 10:7-10 (NIV)

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)

Implications and Answers

The first passage (Proverbs 3:5-6) above instructs us to trust God completely. The second (Acts 2:17-18) makes it clear that God can plant dreams in our hearts. The third passage (John 10:7-10) describes Jesus’ intention to give us a fulfilling life. The final passage (Ephesians 3:20-21) declares God’s ability to greatly exceed event our imaginations.

Our passions and heartbreaks have various possible sources:

They may have been planted in us by God.
They may come from spiritual forces other than God.
They may come from our own merely human experiences.

If your passions and heartbreaks come from God then rest assured that, as you follow Jesus, he will empower you to do more about them that you could ever possible do on your own. If the passions and heartbreaks you have now don’t come from God, please know that following Jesus will enable him to replace them with passions and heartbreaks that come from him. If you follow him, he will empower you to have a greater impact in the world than you could ever possibly imagine!

Audience

This material was developed in the context of a mostly African-American congregation in a Boston neighborhood. It is informed by the history of African-Americans in the United States in general and in urban settings in particular. My intention is, first and foremost, that it will encourage and strengthen the ministry of African-Americans following Jesus in an urban context. I am confident that, by God’s grace, it will encourage and strengthen people from many other backgrounds and in many other contexts as well.

Key Passage – Make Disciples

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:16-20 (NIV)

Key Questions About Making Disciples

“What is a disciple and how will I know when I’ve made one?”
“How do I produce a disciple?”
“How long should it take me to produce a disciple?”
“What does my membership in a life group have to do with making disciples?”

Simple Definitions

Convert – Someone who has begun following Jesus.
Evangelism – The process by which a person becomes a convert.
Disciple – A convert who is learning by following Jesus with a goal of becoming like Jesus.
Discipleship – The process by which a convert becomes a disciple.
- Followup
  This is the initial stage of discipleship (perhaps the first 12 weeks) devoted to stabilizing the new convert.
  Our goal here is to ensure that the convert will continue to follow Jesus without depending on us.
- ?
  This is the subsequent stage of discipleship training devoted to stabilizing discipleship.
  Our goal here is to ensure that the convert will continue to pursue discipleship without depending on us.
- We have organized our discipleship process around our discipleship curriculum.

How It Begins: Good News!

The definitions above reflect the fact that people are not born following Jesus. Rather, each person goes through a process by which he/she encounters the good news about the Kingdom of God and salvation through Jesus and becomes a follower.

Of course, you can only disciple someone who has already become a follower of Jesus:

	Evangelism	>	Conversion	>	Discipleship
	leading to Jesus		committing to Jesus		training to be like Jesus

Discipleship Curriculum

Our discipleship curriculum is designed to help you establish a convert in a lifestyle of following and becoming like Jesus that will last without ongoing dependence on you. The first component, Focus On the Message, uses the Gospel of Matthew as a framework to help the disciple explore becoming like Jesus in:

beliefs
behaviors
relationships

Our discipleship curriculum should take roughly 3 – 3.5 years to complete. It will help you understand how to follow Jesus. Our evangelism curriculum will help you understand how to win people to Christ. You will introduce your disciples to our evangelism curriculum at a later point in this training (e.g. Matthew 10 & Matthew 28). In the mean time, if you’re not already familiar with it, take a sneak peek and try it out for yourself, so that you will be prepared to teach it at the appropriate time:

Sneak peek for trainers: Good News!

Answers to Key Questions

“What is a disciple and how will I know when I’ve made one?”
A disciple is a convert who is learning by following Jesus with a goal of becoming like Jesus.
“How do I produce a disciple?”
By working through our Matthew-based curriculum as you walk through life with your disciple.
“How long should it take me to produce a disciple?”
Roughly 3 – 3.5 years.
“What does my membership in a life group have to do with making disciples?”
Jesus formed his disciples in a group setting. Life groups provide a group setting for our discipleship process.

Goals

This training has the following goals:

Knowledge & Skills

You will understand God’s agenda and how to align with it.
You will understand the Gospel, God’s Kingdom, what it means to follow Jesus, and how to explain each of these to others.
You will learn how to be an overcomer and live a life of victory in Christ.
You will understand how to consistently connect with a small group of believers for evangelism, community, deep fellowship, prayer, accountability, and spiritual growth.
You will understand what your sphere of influence is and how to bless people and represent God’s Kingdom within it.
You will understand how to do outreach by regularly bringing new unchurched people into your sphere of influence.
You will understand how to evangelize by being a Kingdom influence on people in all five stages of unbelief.
You will understand how to lead seekers into a life of following Jesus and how to disciple them.
You will understand how to help disciples discover their own ministries.

Lifestyle

You will become more and more like Jesus.
You will establish a lifestyle of representing God’s Kingdom within your sphere of influence.
You will establish a lifestyle of outreach, evangelism, discipleship, and ministry development.

Challenges

You will be able to handle an environment in which people are skeptical about Christianity.
You’ll be able to handle questions about historical issues like slavery, colonialism, missionary misdeeds, etc.
You will be able to handle questions raised by alternative religions in your environment (e.g. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Nation of Islam, Five Percenters, New Age, etc.).
You will be able to handle questions arising from science and technology, politics, public policy, social science, economics, capitalism, communism, socialism, etc.
You will be able to handle questions related to racism, sexism, feminism, homophobia, patriotism, nationalism, etc.
You will be able to handle the fallout from failures and scandals among Christian ministries.

Expectations

This will not happen overnight, but it won’t take forever either. Expect it to take about 3 years.
The Gospel of Matthew will be a skeleton from which you can hang various Kingdom concepts.
You will use the Gospel of Matthew and the Book of Acts as a basic framework for both understanding how to follow Jesus and for instructing others.

Habits and Ministries

As your disciple works his/her way through our “Following Jesus” discipleship curriculum you will help him/her to:

Develop godly habits (e.g. prayer, reflection, reading the Bible, fellowship, etc.)
Turn godly habits into skills.
Turn godly habits and skills into his/her ministry.

Assignments

Most, if not all, of the lessons on this page include a section titled “Training assignment” appearing as follows:

Training assignment (do this yourself, and use it to help train someone else):

They are designed to assist you with training others. Use the assignments to guide the people you’re discipling into a deeper understanding of God’s Kingdom and the life of following Jesus. This will typically involve the following:

Listen to God.
- Set aside a daily time to spend with God when you won’t be disturbed.
- Use this time to pray. Ask your discipler to teach you how if necessary.
- Keep a notebook that you can use to write down what the Lord says to you during this and other times.
- Review what God says to you with the person who is discipling you.
Read some Bible passages.
Watch some videos.
Discuss answers to some relevant questions.
The discussion is an important part of the growth process. The relevant questions will often include the following:
Standard Discussion Questions:
- What did this passage teach you about God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)?
- What did this passage teach you about people?
- In what ways does this passage apply to your own life?
- How are you measuring up to what God is requiring of you?
- How can we help you in this area?

Life Church