the road trip::tales of ambassadizing the nation

The first goal of discipleship is to see your disciple's character develop. This includes the way that your disciple loves others & loves God.

Character change involves identifying and overcoming sins and bad habits, and replacing those things with attitudes and behaviors that honoring to the Lord. Of course, that's often easier said than done.

I think we have seen churches attack this goal through accountability groups (your church may call them something different, but you know what I mean). We get involved with one other person, or even a small group of people, we let them know what we struggle with, and then we check up on each other once a week or so. Of course, if we're honest, we have continued to struggle with our sin or bad habit, and admit that to the group. Most accountability groups I have been a part of end up being a time where we lament how badly things are going, or where we (silently, of course) compare ourselves to each other and breathe a sigh of relief that at least we're not as bad as that person.

(Now I'm sure that some of you have been involved in groups that have been nothing like that, and you have seen good encouragement and growth. Praise God for that. I certainly believe groups like that exist out there.)

I've learned something important through this though. Accountability, or character development, can't just be about identifying the sin/bad habit and fighting against it with all your might. It has to start with a love for Jesus. I mean, a real, deep love for Jesus. Because when you love someone, you want to please them. If your disciple loves Jesus, he or she will want to please Jesus. And pleasing Jesus includes living in freedom -- freedom from habitual sin, and freedom to love Jesus & love others.

That said, I believe character development must begin with a focus on Jesus Christ. Your disciple needs to have a vital walk with Jesus, including:

• daily Bible reading
• consistent time in prayer
• confession of sin

As your disciple spends time in the Word and in prayer (and you, as the discipler, will likely need to instruct your disciple on these things. Read with them, pray with them, set goals for their time in the Word and in prayer, and hold them to it), he or she will have to come face to face with the kind of life that Jesus requires of HIS disciples. So now it is not just you, the discipler, 'nagging' over 'unacceptable behavior', but the Holy Spirit of God is involved in the process of identifying and convicting the sin.

Certainly there will be times (particularly, I think, when your disciple has a young or immature faith) when you will need to point out the area(s) of sin that exist. Sin (and the Enemy) have a way of blinding us, and as the discipler you have the privilege and responsibility of bringing those areas to light.

Pray for your disciple. Pray that the Lord gives you insight and discernment, that you would know the strongholds of sin that exist in your disciple's life, and even that you would know what specific areas the Spirit is working on so that you can be on the same page. And then set goals for addressing and overcoming that sin or bad habit. Remember, goals are measurable and attainable. Give your disciple a project, a set of verses, anything that will help to make progress.

Loving Jesus deeply doesn't just eradicate us of all sin instantaneously. Obviously. We know that in our own lives. So we shouldn't expect that of our disciples. We need to recognize, and help our disciples understand, that character development is a process. It's not an overnight quick fix. And, praise God, we are not in this process alone - we have the Holy Spirit of God living in us and working with us.

A quick summary:

• character development starts with an intimate walk with Jesus (including Bible reading, prayer, & confession of sin)
• pray for insight and discernment into the stronghold of sin in your disciple's life
• work alongside the Spirit: deal first with the sins that the Spirit is convicting your disciple of
• set goals for your disciple to assist in overcoming a sin or habit
• remind your disciple (and yourself) that this is not a quick fix, but a growth process
• you have the power of the Holy Spirit. use it.

Lastly, I'll leave you with some 'marks' of character development:

(This list, and some of our ideas taken from Organic Disciplemaking, by Dennis McCallum & Jessica Lowery)