Discipleship Summarized

In his insightful work 7 Laws of the Learner (ISBN: 0880704640), Bruce Wilkinson summarizes discipleship this way:

Instruct –   teach – I tell you

Illustrate – show – you watch me

Involve –    let’s do this together

Improve –   I’ll watch you now

Inspire –     Bravo! You’re free!

 The applications for this pattern are endless.

* A friend wants to learn from you how to study the Bible on their own.

* A boss sets out to teach an employee a new skill.

* An artisan takes on an apprentice.

* Mom has decided her child is old enough to learn to cook.

* Here’s how to effectively share your faith, my friend. You don’t need to rub everyone’s fur the wrong way. Neither do you need to be afraid of what they might think or say.

* It’s the pattern I follow when I teach church musicians how to put down deep spiritual roots while working with things like music, drama, multi-media, etc.

Instruct – teach – I tell you

Illustrate – show – you watch me

Involve – let’s do this together

Improve – I’ll watch you now

Inspire – Bravo! You’re free!

After pondering Wilkinson’s pattern, I’m sure you’ll discover ways to apply it too. It’s Biblical, you know, feel free.  It’s the method Jesus used to grow and develop his men.

(For another well-written work on the process, see Bill Hull’s Jesus Christ Disciple Maker  (ISBN: 0891095160)