Jesus' Disciple-Making Principles

Jesus' disciple-making was:

1. Intentional

   1. Jesus was very clear that He would develop men who could continue His mission. "Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of people."

2. Relational

   1. It was life-on-life. His disciples were with Him, observing Him, imitating Him, asking questions etc.

3. Focused (on a few)

   1. Even Jesus could not do a deep work in a crowd. He focused primarily on only 12 men but that proved to be a brilliant strategy.

4. Stage-appropriate

   1. Jesus led the disciples through some clear growth stages from unbelief to maturity. He knew where they were up to in their development.

5. Practical.

   1. Jesus trained on the job not in a classroom.

6. Costly

   1. Jesus invested heavily into those 12 men. It cost Him in terms of time,

7. Reproducible

   1. He commissioned His disciples to go and make another generation of disciples who would also go and make yet another generation of disciples, etc.. They did that repeating the principles they had seen modelled by Jesus.