“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19-20

It is our belief at The Tapestry that when Jesus said these words he wasn’t just giving us a command, but also a model of ministry. That is to say that discipleship isn’t just another ministry that we add to the church, but that every ministry of the church should have the objective of discipleship. The desire within any given ministry then, is not to try to maintain or grow itself, but to see itself as a vehicle with which disciples of Jesus can be nurtured and released to disciple others.

Jesus Himself lived out this model of discipleship in that the first ministry he established was a small group. He found a group of twelve in which he nurtured and planted deeply into even though he had many other followers during his time on earth. And, in the midst of teaching crowds, and healing, and preforming miracles, his disciples were always with Him.

It is because of what Jesus said and how Jesus lived that we believe that discipleship is vital to the health and life the church. It is a key way that we grow into the character of Christ and become Christ’s hands and feet to others. This is because as we grow to be more like Christ through being discipled, there will naturally grow in us a desire to be disciplers ourselves and help others grow in their faith for a season. The process of discipleship is therefore the soil that not only grows our own intimacy with Christ, but is also how we participate in multiplying and growing the church and it’s mission to the world.

At the same time we are not idealistic. We know that it is often easier to preach the comfort of Christ without the call of Christ. We also know that discipleship can bring along with it unhealthy comparison, self-righteousness, in grouping and out grouping, and even become an idol in and of itself. We need to be actively pray and struggle against such pitfalls. One of the ways that we do that is to say that no matter where we are in our walk with Christ we are all still under spiritual formation and in need of His grace. In other words, we are all in need of Jesus our great discipler, and the discipline of others.

Our hope at the Tapestry is that we can grow a deep culture of discipleship. That we can be about disciples that make disciples in all that we do, and through that process grow to know Christ more, share Christ more, grow into the character of Christ more, and draw Christ nearer to the waiting world.