disciples

Have you ever noticed how Jesus handles a crowd? It seems everywhere He goes, there’s a whole group of people following Him. Sometimes He feeds them, sometimes He teaches them, and then other times... He just leaves them behind, right there on the shoreline...

“When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.” - Matthew 8:18

What?

He does... what? What kind of church leader would do that? What kind of pastor would drive off when a huge crowd shows up at the church front door?

Well here’s what I think. Jesus is much more interested in disciples than numbers. He invests His time in the few: the handful, the ragtag fishermen and taxmen, and the doubters and shouters, the disaffected and the dysfunctional - just like you and me. Why? Because He knows that discipleship was, and still is the way to change the world, one precious soul at a time.

In three years, Jesus turned those men into world-changing apostles. They shook an empire, they interrupted history, they changed an entire culture, still affected from those days to this, and they did it all fearlessly and fervently. It’s impossible to look at their stories and conclude that discipleship doesn’t work.

What would they teach us? What can we learn from them?

If you feel lost in the crowd, it might be that you’d come alive if you could be discipled! Ask your church leader to help you find a way! And if you’re wondering whether you can help to disciple someone else, why not speak to your pastor or leader too. There’s a world-changing adventure ahead for you.