Christ Commands All Christians to Teach

God has clearly called and gifted some people in the church to teach his Word formally. At the same time, he has commanded all of us in the church to teach his Word relationally.

--David Platt, Follow Me: A Call to Die. A Call to Live (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2013), 192.

Discipleship Involves Movement

As witnesses for Jesus, we don't first and foremost call people to a place or a building. We don't call people to make a pilgrimage to the Jesus-temple or to a stable in Bethlehem. Instead, we seek them out, embracing them as Jesus embraces us. Movement can be geographic, but it's often just as difficult to make relational and intimate movement.

--Daniel Montgomery & Mike Cosper, Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 183-84.

Biblical Christianity is More Than a Religious Philosophy

This journey of following Christ as his disciple is a lifelong one. Anything less is a Christless Christianity. Without the reality of following Jesus, Christianity is just a religious philosophy.

--Bill Hull, The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2006), 107.

True Faith Includes Following Jesus

Believing in Jesus has no meaning if we don't follow him in discipleship. Believing without discipleship isn't believing, it's agreeing to a set of facts about a religious figure.

--Bill Hull, The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2006), 43.

Justification is the Starting Line, Not the Finish Line

In other words, the point of salvation (justification) isn't the finish line; instead it's the starting line for a lifelong journey (sanctification).

Discipleship flourishes when we present the gospel as a seamless journey of transformation that begins with new life given by God and moves right along with the joy of following Christ every day.

--Bill Hull, The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2006), 43.

Disciples are Born to be Made

In answer to the age-old question, "Are disciples born or made?" I contend they are born to be made. The vision Jesus set into motion meant finding and training more people like the Eleven, a lifelong experience where imperfect people would be shaped into his likeness--marked by progress, not perfection.

--Bill Hull, The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2006), 33.

Affecting Others by Our Experience of God's Love

The success of discipleship doesn't depend on soldiering forward in a mechanical strategy of reproduction and multiplication. And discipleship doesn't involve developing a well-trained, elite sales force. Rather discipleship occurs when a transformed person radiates Christ to those around her. It happens when people so deeply experience God's love that they can do nothing other than affect those around them.

--Bill Hull, The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2006), 28.

Discipleship is a Way of Life

Discipleship isn't a program or an event; it's a way of life. It's not for a limited time, but for our whole life. Discipleship isn't for beginners alone; it's for all believers for every day of their life. Discipleship isn't just one of the things the church does; it is what the church does. It's not just part of the advancement of God's kingdom; the existence of serious disciples is the most important evidence of God's work on earth.

--Bill Hull, The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2006), 24.

Overwhelmed by God's Love

Disciples who are transformed are still overwhelmed with the truth of God's love; they are continually in awe that Jesus loves them. Transformation is stalled when we grow calloused to His love by moving out of a vulnerable posture and into a position of self-dependence.

--Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow (Nashville: B&H, 2012), 220.

Love is the Defining Characteristic of Discipleship

That's actually why love is the defining characteristic of discipleship--because love--true love--can only come from a true, vibrant, and constant experience of the gospel. The gospel is what love is--that's the true measure of love. Those who truly love demonstrate that they have been loved and are growing in their understanding of the great love of God in Christ.

--Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow (Nashville: B&H, 2012), 209.

The Gospel is All-Encompassing

[W]e have the tendency to think that our justification is accomplished by Jesus but our growth is accomplished by us. We treat the gospel as if it were the starting blocks of the race of life. We brace ourselves against it and push off, but then we're on our own. The speed at which we run is based on our own muscles. We become Christian legalists.

Transformational discipleship, from a biblical standpoint, is different. Rather than an initial posture of weakness, real discipleship involves a perpetual recognition of our great need. Because of this, the gospel isn't the starting blocks of the race; the gospel is the track itself. It's the basis for the way we run every day of our lives.

--Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow (Nashville: B&H, 2012), 147.

The Great Commission is about Lifestyle

The Great Commission is not only a call to bring people into the kingdom of light, but also a call to teach them to live as children of light once they are there.

--Paul David Tripp, War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2000), 171.

Awe for the Gospel

Angels are filled with awe for the gospel; how much more should those who have experienced it? When we are overwhelmed with awe for Jesus and His righteousness freely given to us, we are filled with the motivation to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. We obey because our hearts are melted by the devastatingly refreshing truth of the gospel. The reminder of the gospel motivates us to live out the transformation Christ has already brought to us.

--Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow (Nashville: B&H, 2012), 82-83.

Impressed with the Attractiveness of Christ

Transformational discipleship occurs when people are impressed with the attractiveness of Christ and confronted with the deficiency of lesser gods.

--Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow (Nashville: B&H, 2012), 48.

Real Action Accompanies Real Heart Change

Talk is often cheap. Real faith and real transformation are accompanied by real action. Though transformation occurs in the heart, it is validated by obedience.

--Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow (Nashville: B&H, 2012), 42.

Obedience: The Joyful Result of a Changed Heart

Offensive discipleship understands the power of the gospel, trusts the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, and knows that if Jesus brings His transformation, obedience will be the joyful result. Certainly offensive discipleship includes some protecting as the apostle Paul warned about wolves threatening to hurt sheep, but protection is not the end goal--heart change is the goal.

--Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow (Nashville: B&H, 2012), 33.

Assessing the Human Heart

While defensive discipleship may sound appealing to some, it is theologically inaccurate. Our hearts are not pure in need of protection; they are wicked in need of transformation.

--Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow (Nashville: B&H, 2012), 33.

Christ the Heart-Changer

The distinguishing mark of Christian discipleship is a transformed heart, transformed affections. When someone becomes a true disciple, Christ radically changes the person's appetite.

--Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow (Nashville: B&H, 2012), 29.

The Proper Relationship between Transformation, Information, and Behavioral Modification

Discipleship is transformation, not information overload or behavioral modification. When transformation occurs, there is an increasing hunger for more knowledge of Jesus and His Word, but the primary focus of acquiring knowledge must be the ongoing renewal of the heart. When transformation occurs, behavior will follow. But the focus must be the heart, or the behavior is self-manipulated and short-lived as opposed to flowing from the transformation offered by Christ.

--Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow (Nashville: B&H, 2012), 28.

Discipleship is about Repentance

Leading a ministry that approaches discipleship as merely information and not repentance devalues discipleship and denies the power of the gospel.

--Eric Geiger, Michael Kelley, and Philip Nation, Transformational Discipleship: How People Really Grow (Nashville: B&H, 2012), 25.