JANUARY 2026
ASSESSING OUR DISCIPLESHIP TRAINING
Father God has been speaking about what we are busy doing. We all seem so busy, but are we doing what we were asked to do? You may be wondering what we were asked to do. He asked us to occupy until He returns. He gave the Great commission in Matthew 28 v 16:20, asking us to go make disciples. In Genesis 1:28, we were also told to go and multiply. It’s however more specific here in Matthew 28:16-20, because we know what and who should be multiplied to, so that God’s glory fills the earth. So we were asked to be busy making disciples. So let me elaborate on who a disciple is and a bit more on what our process is like, as compared with Jesus’s process and how we can assess our success or result in this.
If we look at Matthew 10:1, and vs 7:11, Jesus gathered His 12 disciples unto Himself. This was discipleship class 101. He then gives us the attendance list of all those who were there.
So here we see Jesus modelling for us and teaching them to do exactly what He did, then sending them out of their comfort zone to go and do the same, thus bringing forth the same type of results. We see the training in the gospel, and in The Acts of the Apostles, we see the results of the training, and the new models are going on to replicate themselves and others to look like Master Jesus.
So what am I saying. Miracles, signs and wonders should be normal for every Christian. It is not only for leaders.
We have all been invited into an exciting, empowering, and miraculous life with the God Head, and we have the help of the Holy Spirit.
So the next question is what was the content of their discipleship class 101.
Below we have the details of what is invloved;
He gave them authority to do the assignments which are listed below.
They were to cast out demons
To heal every sickness and disease.
He gave conditions for the power evangelism, i.e. don’t go into non- Jewish areas, or Samaritan villages.
They were to go find the lost sheep, among the people.
They were to preach saying the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
I love the Passion translation that says make it your habit to continuously bring healing to lepers, and the sick and make it your habit to break off demonic presence from people and raise the dead back to life. Freely you have received, freely release it to others. Don’t take money, trust God for every thing.
So do our discipleship courses look exactly like this, and if it doesn’t why not?
How different are our own courses from the one described here. If it looks so different, why is this?
Is it surprising that what we are producing seems rather different from what Christ produced as seen in the Acts of the Apostles. We see the power and signs and miracles they walked in. After our own discipleship courses, are all our trainees walking in this power.
So any discipleship course should have people walking in
Authority……Remember how those who walked with Jesus remarked how Jesus taught with such authority whereas the scribes did not. So any discipleship courses should have preaching with demonstration of power and showing that the kingdom of God is here.
It should have breaking off the demonic presence.
it should have great miracles and healing the sick
It should have raising the dead! Mine doesn’t have that yet….so I am pressing in. I can’t be fully satisfied with the type of disciples that I am producing.
Remember during Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out and the disciples were preaching with such authority, the people remarked that they were not learned, but they realised that they had been with the Master.
So is it not obvious that we have to look again at the content of our discipleship courses.
When you are cooking with a recipe, you are following certain instructions.
When you finish and it doesn’t taste like what it should, you go back and look at the ingredients you are putting in. Are they all there or are we leaving some out?
I think we have to ask ourselves what type of disciples we want to produce.
Do we want them representing heaven or do we want them only localized on earth, so no impact in bringing heaven down to earth, the exact prayer from our Lord’s prayer that He taught us to say. You and I are called to demonstrate the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. So if something like sickness is not in heaven, we have no business tolerating it on earth. We have to contend for what we allow on earth.
Is it possible that somewhere along the line, we have watered down the discipleship programme. You see, what we produce determines how effective the programme is. if we want the disciples to look like Jesus.
Are we only happy to produce people whose capability is to serve on Welcome team, car park attendants, etc.
Are those on the Welcome team able to walk in healing and show forth the awesome power of God. Should healing and the prophetic, not be a most important aspect to build up in the Body of Christ.
In the Bible, discipleship means…
To be a dedicated learner and follower of Jesus;
It means actively imitating His life, His teachings, and His values.
It implies not just gaining knowledge, but undergoing a transformation to become more like Him.
It involves a lifelong commitment of obedience to One who is all knowing.
It requires helping others do the same through love relationship and service.
I would like to submit that…..Discipleship in the Christian sense is the process of making someone become like Jesus.
To do this, you first, have to replicate the model in every way and secondly you teach the model to replicate itself to be like the Master.
Discipleship means much more than just the transfer of information but refers to imitating the teacher's life, inculcating his values, and reproducing his teachings. Discipleship courses have to be hands on. They need to have a practical aspect.
Finally, what is the main purpose of discipleship as taught by Jesus;
A…..The goal of discipleship, therefore, is not only to make converts that make converts, but for all believers to become increasingly like Jesus. Jesus simply says to me and to you “ Follow me”.
B….A disciple is one who is committed to live in a way that pleases Jesus because you have yielded yourself to be moulded into His likeness with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, Christian discipleship connotes a relationship with a master teacher, following them, and adhering to their way of life.
Discipleship is therefore the lifelong process of becoming that person who not only lives that way, but shows others how to do it also. That person must learn it, do it, and show it.
Let us pray into this area of discipleship and ask God Almighty to help us align with His heart so that we produce the type of disciples, that people recognise as having been with Master Jesus.
God bless you.
Mina Bajomo
