Discipleship, yes, but what kind of outline should our work have? As we prayed, we were reminded of this compelling story at the end of Matthew. After He had been with them for 3 full years, loving, teaching, exhorting, and releasing His Holy Spirit to fill and empower them, Jesus rose from the dead and sent them forth with a Great Commission:

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing 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.”

This pattern is ours as well. First we need to be born again, to be saved from the tyranny of our own self-will and the sin of this corrupt world and consecrated to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We need to be cleansed by God’s grace of the baggage we’ve accumulated along the way and set apart as children of God, and then we need to be equipped to share the joy and good news that God is alive, loves us, and has a wonderful plan for all who will open their ears to hear!

We have our outline for making disciples: Saved, Sanctified, and Sent!