And he said to them, “ Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
What is “Discipleship?” As long as I can remember, that’s been a buzzword in the Christian world. “Discipleship” is usually what people say when they are describing a class or a way to help Christians “go deeper” than the basics. Now, I am for helping Christians go deeper in their faith, to know more about God’s word and how to live it out every day, but I don’t think “Discipleship” is the best word for that. In fact, the word “Discipleship” isn’t even a biblical word. The closest we get is when Jesus says we should go and “make disciples” in Matthew 28. But how do you make disciples? Well, you do it by proclaiming the Gospel. Mark 16 has the parallel to this passage. Discipleship (if it is anything) is first telling people the good news that Jesus died for their sins, was raised as the proof that he conquered death, and if they would follow him, they can be saved. When people believe that, are baptized and become part of His church, that’s how disciples are made. Obviously, we are commanded to then teach them to obey all that Jesus commanded… yet, prominent among those commands is to proclaim the Gospel. So let’s boil it down to this: anything we call “discipleship” that doesn’t place the proclamation of the Gospel as a prominent component, isn’t really making disciples. Let’s do that in stead.
