In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus made it clear that his followers were to go and make disciples.
Disciple-making focuses on non-disciples. It is joining the Father where he is already working as we intentionally link with others inviting them to follow Jesus, helping them discover him as the Christ, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey the word of God resulting in more disciple-makers.
If we are going to take the command of making disciples seriously we must make prayer for a disciple-making movement a priority. David Garrison writes:
“We pray because our vision exceeds our abilities. Prayer is the soul’s deepest cry of rebellion against the way things are, seeing the lost of this world and crying out, ‘This does not glorify God, and so, by God’s grace, it must change!’ Prayer comes from God and ascends back to God on behalf of those who do not know God.”
Seven Steps in Praying for Disciple-Making
An effective way to make disciples is to use the example and instructions of Jesus in Luke 10:1-16.
- Pray for Christ-followers to be obedient in going and finding the place where the Father is working.
- Pray for the discovery of and linking with the person of peace whom God has prepared to receive the good news of Christ.
- Pray for seeing and meeting needs in love.
- Pray for an open door to gather with the person of peace, their friends, and their family.
- Pray for the planting of a simple church or discovery community within this pocket of people where they can discover and obey treasures from God’s Word.
- Pray for people to discover Jesus as the Christ and for baptisms and obedience.
- Pray for the maturating of new believers and for their going out and repeating the process of making disciples.
Missional Challenge
Don’t wait.
Set aside 5 minutes right now and pray that you and other Christ-followers will be faithful in making disciples.