I’d like to share a story with you that has inspired me. It comes from Joanna Chapa, a Mission Mobilizer from the southern United States who recently returned from serving for several years in Peru. Joanna is a living example of a legacy of faith and discipleship only because someone else was first sent to her people two generations ago. This is her story:
I grew up hearing my Grandma Guadalupe often say, ‘Porque ellos vinieron, nosotros conocemos al Señor’ which means, ‘Because they came, we know the Lord.’ She was one of the first disciples of Mennonite Brethren missionaries from Oklahoma and Kansas who came to our south Texas community of La Grulla in the 1930s and 40s. Grandma remembered those missionaries by name and would often tell and retell us the stories of their love and compassion. She was so thankful for the freedom and purpose in Jesus that they passed on to her, and to us. She was always calling us to remember and not to forget. I can still hear her voice, saying, ‘It is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us!’ Like Timothy, I’ve had the gift of sharing the genuine faith that first filled my grandmother, Guadalupe, and then was passed on to my mother, Idalia. Also, like Timothy, I’ve had many Pauls (and Paulas) in my life. Each one has fanned the flame of faith in me, and because of that, I’ve been enabled to fan the flame in others! Grandma would say, ‘What we got, we now get to give!’ We were introduced to Jesus and now we get to introduce him to others. Now I like to add to her phrase, ‘Because they came, we know the Lord, and now we go and do the same!’
This is how a legacy of faith is built—we are invited by Jesus to follow him, to become like him, to enter into his kingdom, and to experience all that he has for us, and then we invite others to join us on this journey, one generation of faith to the next. It is a person-to-person journey with family, friends, and strangers.
I was recently leading a workshop with Lloyd Letkeman, Regional Mobilizer in Central Canada. Lloyd pointed out that Jesus’ call to discipleship in the Gospels begins with a simple invitation to “come and see.” Then Jesus invites the curious to the greater challenge of “follow me.” Then comes the invitation of exchanging our previous identity and calling to become “fishers of men.” And then we are asked to surrender our lives fully for the kingdom of God with the call to “take up our cross” and, as we go, to “make disciples of all nations.”
Sometimes, in our mission efforts, we run past discipleship to focus on church planting, or we unintentionally by-pass discipleship to develop leaders. And yet, both church planting and leadership development require healthy, intentional discipleship. We are not only called to be disciples ourselves, but to make disciples who will, in turn, make disciples. We are called to be multipliers.
In 2 Timothy 1:5, we see that Timothy was discipled by his mother Eunice and grandmother Lois. His family shaped his character and his faith, and Paul encouraged him to continue generations of discipleship (2 Timothy 2:1-2).
You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.
Each one of us is called to this ministry of multiplication. We must persevere in the task of finding other leaders in which to invest ourselves, to pass on the hope that we have received from our family and our leaders, so that the next generation of disciples will continue the task of disciple-making. As Paul, we need to find our Timothy. As Timothy, we need to find others who will, in turn, teach others. This is how the story of transformation continues.
Another passage from Paul that challenges my understanding of discipleship is from 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 where he describes the evidence of effective discipleship:
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
In today’s world, we know that we can connect with one another remotely through various technologies, but that needs to supplement rather than replace our in-person interactions. Discipleship happens in community as we live life together with others, our lives rubbing up against each other, while encouraging one another in a life of faith.
This mutual discipleship also happens as we serve alongside one another. As we work in teams, we see the strengths and weaknesses of peoples’ gifts, personalities, and contributions. Our lives impact and influence one another’s lives.
We experience this community of discipleship most intensely in the context of family. For me, this has been a very real challenge. I never realized how selfish I was until I got married. I never realized how angry I could get until I had kids. But by the grace of Jesus’ ongoing work of redemption within me, I trust that my family members have also seen expressions of Jesus through me that have impacted and influenced them also.
God has called us to make disciples within our personal families and within our ever-expanding spiritual family. This happens in the simple, everyday acts of following Jesus ourselves, living open, honest, and transparent lives, and allowing the light of Jesus to shine through our darkness. As we also invite others to do the same, may the letters of our lives give honor and glory to Jesus for generations to come.
