Discipling the few

Pete Scazzero shared this helpful graphic and a few thoughts on disciplemaking in a recent newsletter. 

Jesus focused a disproportionate amount of time discipling the Twelve -- and one of them didn't even work out. This was His upside down strategy to reach the world with the love of the Father.

Yet we have programs to run, meetings to lead, people to pray for, money concerns, attendance to monitor, administration to be done, messages to prepare, strategies to execute, visions to cast, and crises that won't wait till tomorrow.

We live in the great tension of the big and the small -- a tension I carry with me each week as I set priorities. How do I focus on the few, my Twelve, when modern culture demands the big! and now?

It helps me to remember that so much in and around me resists focusing on the few. Why?

• Discipling the few is slow. The kingdom of God is a mustard seed and always will be.

• Discipling the few is hard. People are complex and formation is messy.

• Discipling the few is limiting. Limits and rebellion are closely related. We have been resisting limits since the Garden of Eden.

• Discipling the few demands a lot from me. I cannot give what I do not possess, and cannot help but give what I do possess.  It requires I keep growing and learning.