Where do we even begin when we decide to start making disciples? In this video, Pastor David Platt discusses how Christians should practically approach the primary steps of making disciples. Instead of broadly approaching the often overwhelming idea of staring at the world to figure out where to begin, Pastor David Platt points us to simply look around where our feet are planted. Disciple-making does not have to be overcomplicated. It does not require a program or step-by-step routine. When we begin to ask, “How can I love them and lead them to Christ,” disciple-making starts to play out within our obedience and actions.
- Getting Started
- What it Means to Make Disciples
- The Bottom Line
If somebody’s not making disciples and thinking, “Well, where do I even begin?” My encouragement would be for that person to start, just look around them. Who has God put around them that they have an opportunity to influence with the gospel as a follower of Christ? And so maybe it’s people around them who don’t know Christ. And so then for that person to begin intentionally thinking through “How can I share the gospel? How can I pray intentionally for this person to come to Christ? How can I create opportunities to share the gospel with this person?”
How Do I Start Making Disciples?
Maybe take them to lunch, take them to a meal, spend some kind of concentrated time with them at some point, but to look intentionally at, “Well, right? How can I share the gospel with this person?” And then if by God’s Christ, that person comes to Christ, and to say, “Okay, how can I begin to spend some intentional time teaching this person to follow Christ and teaching them to pray and teaching them to study God’s Word and teaching them how to live out the life of a follower of Christ, get plugged into a church?”
So that should start by looking, “Who do I know around me that doesn’t know Christ? And how can I intentionally work to lead them to Christ?” At the same time, I would encourage somebody to look around, maybe even, and see if is there any followers of Christ that God has put in your sphere of influence who you have an opportunity to help grow in Christ. And then to say, “How can I meet with one or two or three of those kind of people? And for us to intentionally walk through the word together for me to pray for them, encourage them, and for us to think together about how we can share the gospel in our lives, for us to think together about how we can help one another grow in Christ.”
Make Disciples by Truly Following Christ
To make disciples, is to intentionally, actively lay down your life to show other people what it means to follow Christ, to intentionally do that. And you can’t do that with a lot of people. You can only do that. And this is what Jesus shows us when it comes to his disciples. He did this with 12 guys. And so to start with a few people around you, either who aren’t followers of Christ or maybe who are followers of Christ, or you can help grow in Christ and to say, “How can I, through sharing a life with these people, intentionally help them either become followers of Christ or help them grow in their relationship with Christ where they begin to do the same thing in other people’s lives around them making disciples?”
We need to be careful not to so overcomplicate the disciple-making thing, well there’s got to be some set regimented program or this or that. Just start with the people around you that God’s put there and say, “How can I love them, lead them to Christ and lead them to walk in more intimacy with Christ?” And start to act on that and disciple-making will start to play out in your life.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
