The Calling of Matthew ( 1599-1600 ) by Caravaggio
them so that they would be ready to carry on his mission . Today , we continue to be taught by Jesus when we open our ears and come to him day by day . He continues to speak in the Scriptures , through the Church , and through the Holy Spirit in our hearts . Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will continue to teach his disciples ( Jn 14:26 ). The Son and the Spirit remain the primary teachers for Christian disciples , but the disciples themselves also teach others . Teaching is part of forming disciples .
3 . Discipleship includes handson training and testing .
If teaching provides one essential element in Jesus ’ approach to disciplemaking , then hands-on training and testing supply another . On many occasions , Jesus allowed practical , daily events to challenge his disciples so that he could train them in the kind of faith they would need in order to weather the greater storms that would come upon them . We cannot duplicate Jesus ’ hands-on training by following him around the roads of firstcentury Palestine . But if we will let him , Jesus continues to train us as disciples through the various circumstances of our lives . He tests and trains us directly , but also through the help of other disciples so that we will be ready to work alongside him in company with our fellow disciples .
4 . Disciples are formed in the context of a community of disciples .
When we read the Gospels , we often miss something obvious : Jesus forms his disciples , not one-by-one in a solitary way , but in the context of a community of disciples . We often lose sight of the fact that Jesus almost always speaks and acts in the company of his disciples — sometimes with three of them , sometimes with twelve , sometimes with seventy or more . It is important to see that Jesus is not just forming individual disciples in the context of a communal environment ; he is genuinely forming a community of disciples by forming them together . The communal context is not just a means to an end . Jesus is forming a new family , the people of God . Recapturing this communal context for discipleship is an important step in the task for forming Christian disciples today .
5 . Training in discipleship includes being sent out on mission .
There is a perennial temptation to think that Christians should be sent out on mission only after they have been fully trained as disciples : first comes the formation in discipleship , and then we are sent out on mission . But this is not the pattern we see in the Gospels . Rather , we see Jesus sending out various groups on mission as part of their training in discipleship . Now the disciples did not always experience success — this , too , is important for training in mission . We often learn more from our failures in mission than from our successes .
6 . Jesus led his disciples through an intensive period of formation to equip them for lifelong discipleship and fruitfulness .
In this life , the process of spiritual growth as a disciple of Christ never ends . We are always capable by God ’ s grace of advancing in holiness and being further transformed into the image of God . Yet the biblical record in the Gospels also shows us the value and importance of a specific period of formation — of apprenticeship — when Jesus worked intensely with his picked disciples , preparing them for their ongoing mission in the world . Discipleship continues for our whole lives , but where possible , it is greatly helpful to provide a period of training , or apprenticeship , for intensive formation as disciples .
In conclusion , Jesus didn ’ t just call and form disciples . He also called his disciples to make and teach other disciples . A question naturally arises : “ Do we really make disciples for Jesus ?” Can we bring disciples into being ? The short answer is “ no .” Christ Jesus is the one who truly “ makes disciples .” He is the great discipler . That was true when he walked the earth , and it is still true today . Nonetheless , we are called to be co-workers with Jesus — we have a genuine and important part to play — as he calls and forms disciples .
This article is adapted from Called to Christian Joy and Maturity : Forming Missionary Disciples , by Gordon C . DeMarais and Daniel A . Keating ( The Word Among Us Press , 2021 ).
Dr . Daniel Keating is Professor of Theology at Sacred Heart where he teaches on the Church Fathers , Ecumenism , and the New Evangelization . shms . edu 7