Latest project: Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples (David C Cook).

Multiply is based around a simple concept, making disciples, but Christians don’t always practice it. Why is that? This is why we wrote this. Think about someone rising from the dead and saying to you, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. …” That’s a huge statement! “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” A lot of people have memorized this passage, but are they actually doing it? Is it actually happening? For the most part, the answer is “no.” And the reason is that we’re all afraid. We all have insecurities. The journey of making disciples begins when I overcome that fear of man and open my mouth and share my faith. We need to work together to get rid of those fears and pray that God gives us power over those things. Then we need to actually go and do what He commanded us to do.

How did disciple-making become something you personally cared about? I grew up in church. I did the church thing for years and I didn’t totally get it. There came a point in my life where I studied the Bible on my own and I finally went, “I get this!” Reading the words for myself, I’d never heard it like that before. So I started praying to this God. The way He answers my prayers today, I could sit here all day long and tell you about answered prayer after answered prayer. My life is an absolute miracle. I know that there’s a God, allowing me to breathe right now, watching me right now. He’s forgiven me, and I know I’m going to spend eternity with Him. This is a real thing to me, and it’s not a game. There’s nothing like this. As much as I love my wife and my kids, there’s nothing compared to knowing God. It’s time for the church to quit making everything easier and easier and dumbing it down, and go back to what Christ commanded us to do, which is, “Go and make disciples.”

How can the everyday Christian get to the point where disciple-making is normal in his/her life? When the Holy Spirit enters a person, there should be some pretty serious life change. There should be a difference between a person who is dead in their trespasses and sins and a person who now has the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwelling in them. He or she should have some desire to tell others about the new love in their lives and a desire for loved ones to escape His wrath. It seems like these would be natural desires for the person with a new nature. I believe that as we are making disciples, we’re really going to experience the presence of Christ with us in a fuller way and a real, tangible way. That’s why He gave us the Holy Spirit. He says, “I’m going to give you this Holy Spirit, and when He comes, you’re going to receive power to be my witnesses.” What does it mean to follow Jesus, surrender completely, and make disciples? It requires saying, “Holy Spirit, what would You like me to say today? What would You like me to do right now? I’ve surrendered to You. I’ve died to myself and I want to follow You.”

Disciple-making is not something Christians should do in isolation, is it? No. Right now in San Francisco I’m gathering with a few guys every morning to study the Word and then go share the gospel door-to-door—and it’s hard. But I’m trying to think how many times in my whole Christian life I had other believers pray for my courage and my boldness to go out and share with other people. Up until this last year, I think I could count the times that’s happened on one hand. Then we wonder, “Why am I so insecure? Why am I so afraid? Do I really believe that prayer and gathering believers together to pray over me is actually going to change something? It’s been awesome to have like-minded people in the room, encouraging one another, “Come on, let’s do this. Don’t be afraid.” We share our discouragements from the day before, pray together, study, worship. I need to be reminded to love others and to be bold. I’ve got to be reminded of who I am, that I’m forgiven, you know? We each need people to do that for us. As we pray for each other in the boldness area, I see that prayer answered. And I see it happen as we go out. There are days where it’s like, “Let’s talk to anyone,” and that’s not normal for me. That’s not something I can’t muster up.

Multiply has links to other resources. How is it more than a book? Multiply is much more than a book. David Platt and I are doing two Multiply events together this fall, and the Multiply site at www.MultiplyMovement.com has a blog, videos and other resources as well.

Read more of this Q&A online at www.christianretailing.com/chan.

• Prev
• Next