How do we make disciples?
Question 11020
Jesus did not command His followers to make converts. He commanded them to make disciples. The distinction matters enormously, because it shapes how we understand the church’s mission and what success looks like. A convert has made a decision. A disciple is being transformed. The Great Commission calls us to the longer, harder, and infinitely more rewarding work of helping people grow into maturity in Christ.
The Commission Itself
The command in Matthew 28:19-20 is built around one central imperative: “make disciples.” The surrounding participles, “going,” “baptising,” and “teaching,” describe how disciple-making happens. You go to where people are. You baptise those who believe, publicly identifying them with Christ and His church. And you teach them to observe everything Jesus commanded, which is a lifelong process that never ends this side of glory. The scope is “all nations,” and the promise is “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The task is universal, the method is relational, and the power is Christ’s own presence.
The Pattern of Jesus
Jesus modelled disciple-making before He commanded it. He selected twelve ordinary men (Mark 3:13-19), invested deeply in their lives over three years, taught them through both formal instruction and shared experience, corrected their errors, endured their failures, and sent them out to do the same for others. His method was not a classroom programme. It was life-on-life investment in a small group of people who would in turn invest in others.
This is the pattern Paul articulates in 2 Timothy 2:2: “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.” There are four generations visible in that single verse: Paul, Timothy, faithful men, and others also. Disciple-making is inherently multiplicative. It is not a ministry of addition but of reproduction, where each generation of believers equips the next.
What Disciple-Making Involves
Biblical disciple-making requires genuine relationship. It cannot be accomplished through programmes alone, though structured teaching has its place. It involves walking alongside another believer closely enough to model the Christian life, not just explain it. It means being available for the awkward questions, the moments of failure, and the slow process of spiritual growth that does not follow a tidy curriculum.
Teaching is central. Jesus told the apostles to teach new disciples “to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). This requires a disciple-maker who knows Scripture well enough to teach it faithfully and who lives it consistently enough to teach it credibly. Paul told Titus to “teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1) and then immediately described what that teaching looks like in the lives of older men, older women, younger women, and younger men. Sound doctrine produces sound living, and the disciple-maker demonstrates both.
Accountability is part of the process. The New Testament is full of “one another” commands: encourage one another, bear one another’s burdens, admonish one another, confess sins to one another. These assume a level of relational honesty and proximity that superficial church attendance will never produce. Disciple-making requires the kind of relationship where truth can be spoken in love and received without offence.
The Local Church as the Context
Disciple-making is not a freelance activity. It belongs within the life of the local church, where the gathered body provides the worship, teaching, fellowship, and accountability that individual relationships alone cannot sustain. The local church is God’s chosen vehicle for nurturing believers to maturity. Parachurch ministries may supplement this, but they cannot replace it. When Jesus promised to build His church (Matthew 16:18), He was describing the community within which disciples are formed.
So, now what?
Making disciples is the church’s primary mission between the ascension and the return of Christ. It begins with the gospel, continues through baptism and teaching, and operates through genuine, accountable relationships within the local church. Every mature believer should be investing in someone less mature. Every less mature believer should be seeking someone to learn from. This is not a programme to be launched but a culture to be cultivated, and it is the most important work any church can do.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
