Discipleship

Definition and Meaning

Discipleship (Korean jejado, literally "the way of the disciple") is the Korean term used to render the English word "discipleship." The Greek word mathētēs, translated "disciple" in the New Testament, originally means "learner." Discipleship is more than knowing doctrine. It means following Jesus Christ as one's teacher, so that one's whole life comes to resemble his. Protestants treat it as closely related to sanctification, the process of being transformed in holiness through faith.

Biblical and Historical Background

In the Gospels, Jesus calls the twelve disciples, saying, "Follow me." A representative passage is Luke 9:23, in which Jesus says, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." Mark 8:34–35 and John 8:31 are also frequently cited. The account of the rich young man who went away because he could not give up his wealth (Matthew 19:16–26) is read as an illustration of the cost of discipleship. The risen Jesus's command to "teach all nations" (Matthew 28:19–20) is known as the Great Commission. This command provides the basis for regarding disciple-making as the mission of the church.

Throughout church history, various writings and traditions have emphasized discipleship.

• The Imitation of Christ, attributed to Thomas à Kempis in the fifteenth century, was widely read.
• During the Reformation, the Anabaptists placed the practical following of Christ in daily life at the center of faith.
• In the twentieth century, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote The Cost of Discipleship (German Nachfolge, 1937). In this book he criticized "cheap grace" unaccompanied by obedience and emphasized the costly path of discipleship.

Practice in the Korean Church

In the Korean church, discipleship has taken root chiefly in the educational form of discipleship training.

• Parachurch mission organizations such as Korea Campus Crusade for Christ and Korea InterVarsity Fellowship began running small-group Bible studies and nurture programs on university campuses in the 1960s and 1970s.
• This movement later spread to local churches. John Oak (Ok Han-heum) popularized a model of ministry centered on raising up laypeople as disciples.
• Many churches also use methods in which one person disciples another, such as one-to-one discipleship.

The theological frameworks used to explain discipleship differ somewhat by denomination.

• The Reformed tradition, including Presbyterianism, tends to describe discipleship as the life of sanctification that follows a salvation initiated by God's grace.
• The Wesleyan tradition, including Methodist and Holiness churches, treats discipleship within its emphasis on sanctification as progress toward perfection in love.
• Baptist and independent churches often emphasize personal conversion, obedience, and evangelism as the core of discipleship.

Some critics, however, argue that discipleship training has become skewed toward program completion or has been used as a means of church growth. They call for a recovery of discipleship practiced in everyday life and in society.