Making Disciples...(from Kenya)

Of the three areas that I try to use to live out my new identity in Christ (love God, love others, and make disciples), none is more difficult to think through than making disciples.  What does it mean?  How do you even start?  Well...the answer to the last question (if I read my Bible and the command of Jesus correctly) is to emphasize the role of baptism.  After all, that is where discipleship begins.  With God stamping the name of the Trinity on us and claiming us as His kids.  But what do we do then?  What does it look like to live out that identity by making disciples of others?  How does discipleship work?

This past week, I got a small glimpse of what I think might be part of the answer.  You see, I spent the day last Tuesday (with Pastors Short and Trump) meeting with Church leaders here in Kenya.  It was a VERY cool day!  In the midst of the day we met with the Archbishop of the evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya, we met (in the Nairobi hospital) with a high ranking Church leader, we met with the incredible team from Nuru (Lutheran Hour Ministries), we met with a very cool volunteer teacher/administrator/missionary.  Like I said, it was a very cool day.

But I also noticed something interesting.  In most of the meetings, the person we were to meet with invited others to join us.  No big deal, right?  Well...it might be.  You see, for the past week I have reflected on my day and I thought about something.  It is something that I have thought about before, but last week it was fresh on my mind.  What if making disciples is (partially at least) as simple as including others people in your day and allowing them to walk with you?  What if making disciples was about sharing life...functionally, by trying to never do things alone?  What if we fought our individualistic tendencies and invited others to share our daily experiences with us?  How might such an approach to life help in our attempts to make disciples?

Just a thought...