When I was studying the Bible to become a disciple, I was not only impressed by the brothers’ knowledge of the Bible, but also grateful that they took the time to build deep relationships with me.However, in the first two years of my young spiritual life, I counted at least 4 people discipled me. What is discipleship?In the past, I defined the term, “discipleship” as a “friendship with a purpose of training.”I believe spiritual training is important, for the Bible tells us, “we do it (training) to get a crown that will last forever.”(1 Cor. 9:25)Therefore, as a disciple, we must be looking for ways to get trained.There are 3 groups of disciples that need different type of training: 1. Young Disciples? Within the first two or three years after becoming a disciple, our faith is still young.Many things are still new, and we are establishing new spiritual habits.This is when we need more direct challenges and inputs in our lives.If you are not getting direct challenges, please let me know, for you are being neglected. 2.Old Disciples? This group differs from the mature disciples.Although people no longer consider you a “young” disciple, people may not be ready to call you mature, either.Bible says, “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly.” (1 Cor. 3:2-3)Without forming good spiritual habits as young disciples, we could easily be sucked back into the value and tradition of this world and “acting like mere men.”No wonder Paul was upset with these people.In Hebrews, the Bible’s challenge is the same: “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”(Heb. 5:12-14) Here we see, once again, it is through training, can one grow to “solid food” stage—maturity.Without “strict training,” some of us, although no longer a young disciples, still require milk.The only problem is that people around us might be already sick and tired of spoon feeding us.Meanwhile, we walk around spiritually “malnourished,” wondering why we have no impact and why people don’t believe in us… 3.Mature Disciples ? As church gets bigger and older, this group will become larger.I thank God that the Taipei Christian Church has many mature disciples, most of whom I know and respect personally.Your love for God and sacrifice for the Great Commission have not been in vain.You ARE the Taipei Christian Church!However, as we grow older, one of the things I am learning in my Seminary studies is that anyone could “plateau” out.One of the ways to overcome this obstacle and continue to grow in Christ is a deeper understanding of discipleship—“Advanced” discipleship, which is termed, “mentoring” by one of the classes I am taking.(This word and concept is also very popular now in the business world.)According to one of the books, “mentoring,” could be broken down into eight discipling “modes:” ? Intensive Mentoring A: Discipling ? Intensive Mentoring B: Spiritual Guiding ? Intensive Mentoring C: Coaching ? Occasional Mentoring A: Counseling ? Occasional Mentoring B: Teaching ? Occasional Mentoring C: Sponsoring ? Passive Mentoring A: The Contemporary Modeling ? Passive Mentoring B: The Historical Modeling

Not only that, one should be able to draw a “constellation” about one’s mentoring relationships:

I remember we used to talk about who disciples you and who are you Discipling.Then, we emphasized how important peer relationships are.This model went even further to talk about difference between “External” peer and “Internal” peer.(Being such a spirit-led mature disciple, I don’t think I need to tell you the difference between them two.)Anyway, this is the “advanced” discipling, or Discipling Network, I want to bring to your attention.There are two important points to learn:

1. There are many ways to learn from one another.
As we mature in the Lord, the over-and-under discipling will become less clear cut.Instead, we will have to rely on different discipling “modes” to relate to one another.

2. We need multiple relationships in our lives.
We need these relationships as our mentors to produce the Discipleship Network that will sustain us through our Spiritual journey in this life.With people involved in our lives, not only will we enjoy these meaningful relationships, our spiritual lives will be protected and enriched.This is what Paul meant in Eph. 3:17-18:

“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ”

So, today, which group of disciples do you fall under?If you are a young disciple, get some “Seal” milk—high protein, high fat, and high powered stuff, from someone you know who will tell you the truth so that you could grow as much as you can to be like Jesus.If you are a mature disciple, start to think about your Discipling Network and ask how many people are in your lives playing the different mentoring roles with different discipling modes?There should be at least 4 people all around you.Can you put four names in that discipling “constellation?”Are they achieving the desired and specific “functions” in the Lord?If you are neither of the above, be careful, Satan has you marked.You are not taking “solid food” right now, but people have grown either tired of nursing you, or you have refused their milk.Although you may be used to it by now, your skinny spiritual limbs and bloated spiritual tummy are scaring people left and right…It’s never too late, for we are more than conqueror!The answer lies in the training.Get a great brother or sister who loves you enough to tell you the hard truth, and start making plans to “train yourself to be Godly!”(1 Tim. 4:7)

We have a long journey home and many people to bring with us.So, we can and we must, through our discipling network, learn to be strong and growing, to glorify His name.

Steve Chin
Evangelist