14 Apr Mission and Discipleship – Two Sides of the Same Coin

Henry Martyn said, “The spirit of Christ is the spirit of Mission. The nearer we get to him, the more intensely Missionary we become”.

In Christianity, missional discipleship is a process of deepening one’s discipleship and participation in God’s mission. It is a calling from God for believers whose identity and values are transformed by acknowledging the Lordship of Christ. They are committed to impacting individuals and societies as they walk in true “followership”, demonstrating Christlikeness.

Today, the deep connection between Mission and Discipleship is somewhere lost. In this contemporary mission era, missionaries are inclined to take a reductionist viewpoint and understand mission as evangelism or church growth, emphasizing God’s redemptive work but overlooking the importance of making the redeemed follow Christ. As far as Mt 28:19-20 is concerned, Christ has commanded His followers to make disciples and teach others, all that He has commanded them or taught them. Teaching as a continuous process involves Commitment, whether it is to a single person or a crowd.

According to Willard [2014], for several decades the churches of the western world have not made discipleship a condition of being a Christian. In this context, it becomes so crucial to understand the order: “the disciples began to be called as Christians” rather than “Christians became disciples later” in the 1st century church. If we remember the ultimate goal of Christianity, even to us as children of God is to – “Become like Christ”. This is possible only when we follow Him closely and not only receive the teaching but also put it into practice. This is the mission of Christ. He needs disciples, not ordinary Christians.

David Platt [author of the book – ‘Follow Me’] says, “Making disciples of Jesus is the overflow of the delight in being disciples of Jesus”. Missional Discipleship is not a new trend or movement but the essence of Christianity. Mission devoid of discipleship is an empty slogan for the expansion of God’s kingdom, and discipleship without mission is a bottomless trap called religious self-satisfaction.

There are three common features in mission and discipleship –

1} Both of them are God’s call to believers. Believers become missionaries and disciples by acknowledging the Lordship of Christ in their lives. Both are fundamentally related to the believer’s identity rather than his activities. Mission and discipleship require a radical change in identity to participate in the missionary nature of God and to follow Christ.

2} Both of them are Transformative: Missional discipleship is more than the transmission of the gospel, it is the transformation of individuals and societies by demonstrating true followership of believers whose values are transformed.

3} Finally, both of them are Progressive. It is not a result-oriented approach obsessed by growth ideology for remarkable success through evangelistic programmes. Rather it seeks maturity and is a life-long process of growing into Christlikeness.

The scripture given to us is all about missions, from the account of creation to the final revelation. Every word of scripture is evidence of the longing of God for every individual to turn to Him and comprehend the unity between God and man. This is God’s mission and we can witness it woven beautifully throughout the entire scripture and it has been carried out by Christ through the disciples. Whenever we talk about discipleship and mission together, Matthew 28 rings a bell but there is another important verse that shows how God started His ultimate mission. Gen 12:1-3 chronicles the idea of God behind His creation i.e. His plan to draw them [us] to Him. He destined one nation, Israel to be a light to all the rest, blessing them with His presence and Word that they may spread it. In the same way, Jn 17:18-21 is just the verse to reflect upon when we consider the ultimate plan of God that has been revealed to us through Christ – “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

When the Son of God became flesh and walked among humanity, He became the conduit of God’s mission, seeking to bring salvation to all who hungered and to make hungry all who did not realize their need for what He was bringing.

As Jesus became the way for salvation, He made His disciples to be His body on earth for the coming generation. Even today He hungers for this generation to be His disciples and to carry out God’s mission. Our God is a missional God and His mission is to fulfil His will. It is to bring all things in subjection under the Lordship of Christ [1 Cor 15:27 and Eph 1:22]. His disciples who participate in the triune God’s mission must yield more fully to His lordship by acknowledging His sovereignty and authority in their lives. “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ”. In Luke 6:46,47, Jesus earnestly desires His disciples to see Who God really is: His nature, His character and His ultimate purpose. The character of one who is following Christ truly matters. Sometimes in the threatening storms of our life, we forget about our character, and it is only by following Him closely that we learn to stay still. Not all storms come to break us. They can even build us. God is fulfilling His mission through Christ and Christ through us.

In this scenario, discipleship becomes so crucial because when we follow Him, we come to understand and comprehend His overall mission and become an essential part of it and this will certainly yield fruitful results. It’s like a big chain, in which God uses each and every one who is ready to participate and surrender themselves to become like Christ and be more of Christ and less of themselves. C S Lewis says, “Until you have given up yourself to him, you will not have a real self”.

Disciples are called to share Christ’s mission and it is certainly not optional [Luke 18:28]. Missional discipleship requires commitment to follow Christ and participate in His mission, which in actuality is followership. It is a radical call which requires totality i.e. the fullest. It is relationship-centered. Followership is fundamentally supporting your master or leader and developing at the same time. A believer’s obedience and commitment to following Christ is not a result of training but the natural outcome of their loving relationship with Christ. It is our partnership with Christ that makes this mission possible. Missional discipleship is based on the notion of Misio Dei: disciples are partners with God in His mission. Christ Himself sets the frame for it and disciples need to participate in it as partners. As said earlier, discipleship is a journey in which the ultimate goal is to become Christlike. As Kierkegaard said, “When believers abandon the desire of imitating Christ, they devaluate the importance of Christlikeness and make light of victory over sin through holiness, but just pursue success in mission projects for growth”. It is to abandon the worldly perspective of self-growth and other approaches in mission. God’s mission is that we believers make it our heartbeat to go and find as we have been found, making disciples who truly know the living God.

Missional discipleship is a call to demonstrate the missionary nature of God and His holiness in the public spheres where the gospel needs not only to be proclaimed but also to be seen through the transformed lives of His disciples. It becomes a challenge for us to think of ways to carry out God’s mission and also to see mission and discipleship as two sides of the same coin.

Preeti who has completed a master’s degree from Lucknow, has been involved with UESI since 2019. She was a part of Port Blair ICEU and Lucknow EU. She can be reached at godsavior24@gmail.com