Who is a true Disciple?
What is a discipleship relationship?
What’s the difference between a follower and a disciple?
What are the characteristics of a disciple?
Do you also think about these questions? I did and I still do ask myself regularly “What makes me a good disciple?” Do you know why? Because we all want to be experts in learning and creating a space for others to learn, in relating to one another and building healthy relationships, in growing as people and helping others to grow. But how do you do that? I love Dallas Willard’s view on discipleship:
“Who, among Christians today, is a disciple of Jesus, in any substantive sense of the word “disciple”? A disciple is a learner, a student, an apprentice—a practitioner, even if only a beginner. The New Testament literature, which must be allowed to define our terms if we are ever to get our bearings in the Way with Christ, makes this clear.”*
When you read the New Testament, what do you notice about Jesus’ approach? How and when did the followers become disciples?
I'd say partly through questions. Jesus was a master of questions… But what questions did he ask? Did he answer directly all of the questions he was asked? (Not that he couldn’t or didn’t know the answers, but did he answer them?)
How about you? How confident and good are you at asking great questions?
Personally I’m not that good and confident at asking great questions. But it definitely is a skill that I’ve been learning and developing since I started discipling others, leading small groups and helping students to discover what the characteristics of a disciple is for themselves according to what Jesus says and how he made disciples.
One of the tools helped me to develop my questions asking skill, was the Discipleship Deck. It helped me to learn what questions to ask myself regularly to stay accountable in my faith and what questions to ask others. I personally use the Discipleship Deck questions as a daily devotion and challenge, and in 1-1 mentoring and discipleship meetings.
Do you also need a tool to develop your question asking skills? Then grab yourself a Discipleship Deck and get one each for those whom you think would benefit from it this week while there is 10% off!
Also, great news! If you need any training for your students, student leaders or Small Groups in “Asking Great Questions in Discipleship and Mission,” we have training for you and would love to come and equip you in that. Get in touch with your regional team to book a date in the diary.
We believe in the art of great question asking so we created a tool to help conversations get real, quickly. We want to get the Discipleship Deck into the hands of as many students, Student Workers and Small Group Leaders as possible so for this week only we are offering 10% off, no matter how many you buy!
*Dallas Willard, The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship
