How Would Dr. Dann Spader Explain The Discipleship Dilemma?

I remember 30, 40 years ago when we started training in the Great Commission, and the command was to go and make disciples with the emphasis on the command being a disciple-making.

When we began to train on that, it was radical. Until then, we were seeker-sensitive, Sunday school-driven, or purpose-driven. A lot of different themes, but only a little thought on making disciples as Jesus did and what that looked like. More churches have started to discuss disciple making, which is encouraging.

They’re talking about making disciples who can make disciples, which is a mandate because you haven’t made a disciple until they reproduce. But here’s my fear; it’s just becoming a phrase.

The church, every ten years, picks up a new phrase, and we work that phrase. We write books on that phrase, and then we wear out that phrase and move on to something else. And that’s always been my fear because the moment you do that with the Great Commission, where do you go next? You know, the Great Commission is our mission, and the core of the Great Commission is making disciples who can reproduce. So Jesus, five different times, gave us that commission.

Mentioned

Thomas & Gundry’s A Harmony of the Gospels

Resources: likejesus.church

Dann’s previous episode on inContext

More about Dr. Spader

About Dr. Dann Spader

Dr. Dann Spader (Moody Bible Institute, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) has dedicated his life to disciple-making, teaching others how to take someone from seeker to making disciples themselves. More than 1 million people in 100-plus countries have been trained to make disciples through organizations he has led. He is the founder of Sonlife Ministries and currently serves as president of Global Youth Initiative. He dedicated his life to disciple-making, and more than 1 million people in over 100 countries have been trained to make disciples through organizations he has led. Dann is the author of 4 Chair Discipling, Walk Like Jesus and Live Like Jesus. He has written more than a dozen leadership training manuals, contributed to several other books, written numerous articles, and produced over 30 training videos. He and his wife, Char, have three daughters and live in Phoenix, Arizona.