Making Disciple Makers- Spiritual Parents
Spiritual Parents
The Legacy We Leave: Moving From Disciples to Disciple-Makers
What will people say about you when you're gone? Not the polished eulogies or obligatory kind words, but the genuine testimony of a life well-lived—a faith authentically walked out before others.
Recently, an 86-year-old woman's celebration of life service provided a powerful answer to this question. As her children spoke, followed by her fourteen adult grandchildren, a consistent theme emerged: her love and her faith had been replicated throughout the generations. This wasn't about flowery funeral rhetoric. It was the observable truth of a life that finished well—a life that understood the most important legacy isn't the possessions we accumulate but the faith we reproduce in others.
The Danger of Stopping Short
Too many believers have grown up thinking spiritual development is about personal arrival—reaching some plateau of holiness where we can finally rest in our accomplishments. But this fundamentally misunderstands the nature of Christian maturity. Holiness isn't a destination where we plant our flag and declare victory. That's called self-righteousness.
True spiritual maturity is about reproduction.
Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators discipleship ministry, discovered this truth through experience. Early in his ministry, he wrote in his Bible: "Emotion is no substitute for action." He recognized that powerful conversion experiences meant little if they didn't lead to active engagement in the body of Christ.
But years later, Trotman added a crucial second observation to that margin note: "Action is no substitute for reproduction."
He had witnessed a dangerous pattern—believers sinking into church routines, serving on committees, attending programs, yet never actually making disciples. You can be a flurry of motion and activity in church life, but if you aren't making disciples, what you're doing has little eternal value.
The Spiritual Parent Stage
The pinnacle of spiritual development isn't arriving at personal holiness—it's becoming a spiritual parent. This stage is characterized by intentionality and strategy in the disciple-making process. It doesn't happen by accident.
Spiritual parents possess several key characteristics:
**They have a solid understanding of God's Word and a deep, abiding relationship with the Father.** This isn't merely biblical knowledge (though that's important). It's knowledge lived out in daily life, transforming how they interact with the world around them.
**They are others-centered and God-dependent.** The focus has shifted from "What can I get?" to "How can I give?" They recognize that any wisdom they possess flows from the Father, not from their own cleverness.
**Most importantly, they reproduce mature disciples of Jesus by inviting others to follow them as they follow Christ.** This echoes Paul's instruction: "Follow me as I follow Christ." Spiritual parents aren't on solo journeys. They're team players committed to seeing the church accomplish its mission—not just run successful programs, but actually make disciples.
The Multiplication Principle
In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul lays out the multiplication principle that should govern all disciple-making: "You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others."
Notice the generations represented here: Paul to Timothy to trustworthy people to others. That's four generations of disciples in a single verse. This is how the kingdom expands—not through addition, but through multiplication.
But Paul doesn't tell Timothy to disciple just anyone. He specifies "trustworthy people." We should look for FAT people—Faithful, Available, and Teachable.
**Faithful:** Do they demonstrate commitment in their lives? Not just in church, but in their families and vocations?
**Available:** Are they willing to invite you into their lives? If you constantly have to track them down and reschedule, they're not truly available.
**Teachable:** This is perhaps the most crucial quality. You cannot disciple someone who thinks they know everything. Teachability requires humility—a willingness to listen and learn.
Even Jesus, the Son of God in human form, didn't try to disciple everyone. He influenced thousands, impacted at least 72 (whom He sent out), invested deeply in 12, and had an inner circle of just three. If the King of the universe operated with such focus, why would we think we can pour our lives into hundreds of people simultaneously?
Discipleship happens in relationship. It requires focus, intentionality, and strategic investment.
Phrases That Reveal Spiritual Maturity
The words we speak reveal the condition of our hearts. Spiritual parents speak differently than those in earlier stages:
"This guy at work asked me to explain the Bible to him. Pray for me." This reveals someone whose faith is visible outside church walls, who has enough depth that others seek their guidance, yet who remains humbly dependent on God.
"Our small group is going on a mission trip, and I've given each person a different responsibility." Notice the shift from "my" to "our," from being served to serving others, from consuming to contributing.
"I realize discipleship happens at home too. Will you hold me accountable to spend time discipling my kids?" This shows recognition that spiritual formation isn't something we outsource to children's ministry or youth pastors. Parents bear the primary responsibility for discipling their children.
The Mission Clarified
The mission of the church isn't simply making disciples. It's making disciple-makers. This distinction matters enormously.
If we only make disciples, growth happens through addition. But when we make disciple-makers, growth happens through multiplication. Paul warned, taught, and invested in others "with all the wisdom God has given us" so that he could "present them to God mature in their relationship to Christ."
Spiritual maturity is measured by our love for God and our love for others—including our neighbors and our enemies. And mature believers don't hoard what they've received. They pour it into the next generation.
The Challenge Before Us
What the church needs now more than anything is spiritual parents who are intentionally pouring into the lives of spiritual infants, spiritual children, and spiritual young adults, while also reaching the spiritually dead.
The question isn't whether you've arrived at some spiritual destination. The question is: Are you reproducing? Are you inviting others to follow you as you follow Christ? Are you looking for faithful, available, teachable people into whom you can pour your life?
This is how we finish well—not with a trophy case of personal spiritual achievements, but with generations of disciples who carry the faith forward, multiplying the kingdom impact long after we're gone.
That's a legacy worth leaving.
The Legacy We Leave: Moving From Disciples to Disciple-Makers
What will people say about you when you're gone? Not the polished eulogies or obligatory kind words, but the genuine testimony of a life well-lived—a faith authentically walked out before others.
Recently, an 86-year-old woman's celebration of life service provided a powerful answer to this question. As her children spoke, followed by her fourteen adult grandchildren, a consistent theme emerged: her love and her faith had been replicated throughout the generations. This wasn't about flowery funeral rhetoric. It was the observable truth of a life that finished well—a life that understood the most important legacy isn't the possessions we accumulate but the faith we reproduce in others.
The Danger of Stopping Short
Too many believers have grown up thinking spiritual development is about personal arrival—reaching some plateau of holiness where we can finally rest in our accomplishments. But this fundamentally misunderstands the nature of Christian maturity. Holiness isn't a destination where we plant our flag and declare victory. That's called self-righteousness.
True spiritual maturity is about reproduction.
Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators discipleship ministry, discovered this truth through experience. Early in his ministry, he wrote in his Bible: "Emotion is no substitute for action." He recognized that powerful conversion experiences meant little if they didn't lead to active engagement in the body of Christ.
But years later, Trotman added a crucial second observation to that margin note: "Action is no substitute for reproduction."
He had witnessed a dangerous pattern—believers sinking into church routines, serving on committees, attending programs, yet never actually making disciples. You can be a flurry of motion and activity in church life, but if you aren't making disciples, what you're doing has little eternal value.
The Spiritual Parent Stage
The pinnacle of spiritual development isn't arriving at personal holiness—it's becoming a spiritual parent. This stage is characterized by intentionality and strategy in the disciple-making process. It doesn't happen by accident.
Spiritual parents possess several key characteristics:
**They have a solid understanding of God's Word and a deep, abiding relationship with the Father.** This isn't merely biblical knowledge (though that's important). It's knowledge lived out in daily life, transforming how they interact with the world around them.
**They are others-centered and God-dependent.** The focus has shifted from "What can I get?" to "How can I give?" They recognize that any wisdom they possess flows from the Father, not from their own cleverness.
**Most importantly, they reproduce mature disciples of Jesus by inviting others to follow them as they follow Christ.** This echoes Paul's instruction: "Follow me as I follow Christ." Spiritual parents aren't on solo journeys. They're team players committed to seeing the church accomplish its mission—not just run successful programs, but actually make disciples.
The Multiplication Principle
In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul lays out the multiplication principle that should govern all disciple-making: "You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others."
Notice the generations represented here: Paul to Timothy to trustworthy people to others. That's four generations of disciples in a single verse. This is how the kingdom expands—not through addition, but through multiplication.
But Paul doesn't tell Timothy to disciple just anyone. He specifies "trustworthy people." We should look for FAT people—Faithful, Available, and Teachable.
**Faithful:** Do they demonstrate commitment in their lives? Not just in church, but in their families and vocations?
**Available:** Are they willing to invite you into their lives? If you constantly have to track them down and reschedule, they're not truly available.
**Teachable:** This is perhaps the most crucial quality. You cannot disciple someone who thinks they know everything. Teachability requires humility—a willingness to listen and learn.
Even Jesus, the Son of God in human form, didn't try to disciple everyone. He influenced thousands, impacted at least 72 (whom He sent out), invested deeply in 12, and had an inner circle of just three. If the King of the universe operated with such focus, why would we think we can pour our lives into hundreds of people simultaneously?
Discipleship happens in relationship. It requires focus, intentionality, and strategic investment.
Phrases That Reveal Spiritual Maturity
The words we speak reveal the condition of our hearts. Spiritual parents speak differently than those in earlier stages:
"This guy at work asked me to explain the Bible to him. Pray for me." This reveals someone whose faith is visible outside church walls, who has enough depth that others seek their guidance, yet who remains humbly dependent on God.
"Our small group is going on a mission trip, and I've given each person a different responsibility." Notice the shift from "my" to "our," from being served to serving others, from consuming to contributing.
"I realize discipleship happens at home too. Will you hold me accountable to spend time discipling my kids?" This shows recognition that spiritual formation isn't something we outsource to children's ministry or youth pastors. Parents bear the primary responsibility for discipling their children.
The Mission Clarified
The mission of the church isn't simply making disciples. It's making disciple-makers. This distinction matters enormously.
If we only make disciples, growth happens through addition. But when we make disciple-makers, growth happens through multiplication. Paul warned, taught, and invested in others "with all the wisdom God has given us" so that he could "present them to God mature in their relationship to Christ."
Spiritual maturity is measured by our love for God and our love for others—including our neighbors and our enemies. And mature believers don't hoard what they've received. They pour it into the next generation.
The Challenge Before Us
What the church needs now more than anything is spiritual parents who are intentionally pouring into the lives of spiritual infants, spiritual children, and spiritual young adults, while also reaching the spiritually dead.
The question isn't whether you've arrived at some spiritual destination. The question is: Are you reproducing? Are you inviting others to follow you as you follow Christ? Are you looking for faithful, available, teachable people into whom you can pour your life?
This is how we finish well—not with a trophy case of personal spiritual achievements, but with generations of disciples who carry the faith forward, multiplying the kingdom impact long after we're gone.
That's a legacy worth leaving.
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