Dear Pastor,
What kind of disciples are you making?
Do they look more and more like Jesus everyday? Or more and more like you? Or are they staying the same?
Of course, every single person gets to choose and so you are not responsible for their choices, but for those who do choose to follow you, heed your words and emulate your example, are they more like Christ because of it?
The world definitely doesn’t need more “clay jars” or “earthen vessels;” instead what the world needs is the all-surpassing greatness of the power of God that we are supposed to carry around in us and release to everyone we meet.
Something to think about: Is your discipleship more focused on programs, routine, experience, tradition, or Jesus? God of course uses so many different tools to shape and form people, but above all our discipleship efforts need to be Christocentric. Jesus needs to be in the middle of our conversations, our goals, our meetings, our ministries.
I will leave you with this:
As you make Christ the center of your life and ministry and He simply overflows out of you, because you are filled to the max with the Holy Spirit (and His fruits and His gifts), then you can be sure that whether or not the program grows or the church/ministries gets earthly accolades, God will get the glory and people will be changed! We know this for certain: when you connect people with Jesus, and they are surrendered to Him, He does His supernatural work and the results are eternally significant and extraordinarily profound!
Let us pray that we make Christlike disciples. Let us put Christ first, and front, and center. And then let us pray that God radically works among us!
Pastor Michael Johnson 