What Is Discipleship?

During our team formation last week we looked deeper into the topic of discipleship. It seems like a common idea among Christians is that you need to be "a disciple of Christ". But what does that really mean? That has been a question I have been asking myself lately and, essentially, I believe that being a disciple means simply to follow what Jesus said and did. That may seem like the easy, obvious answer but if we really think about it, it's something that we have to keep being reminded of every single day. Not just follow the commandments of Jesus that we think are easy or convenient, but those actions and commands of Jesus that make us cringe or stretch us outside of what we are comfortable with. More so than just following Jesus, we need to help others follow Him too.

What is at the center of all that Jesus said and did on this earth was to help others become His hands and feet that would do His work after He left. That is where discipleship really comes into play. We are to follow Jesus' example by guiding and supporting people we meet so that they can spread Jesus' teachings. Hopefully they will lead others into this chain of discipleship that reaches all the way back to Jesus himself. Jesus taught the apostles to proclaim His message who, in turn, taught others. This process has continued throughout the centuries and is still working today. We are all called to this type of discipleship. Now if you're anything like me, you might be doubting your ability to disciple someone. Many times I do not feel equipped to help someone else in their faith. I don't know enough about the Church, I haven't read enough books or I don't have all the new translations of the Mass memorized. In reality, all those reasons are exactly why you would be perfect to disciple someone. Because you are broken. Because you still need to learn. Discipleship is about working together with others to make Jesus the center of your life. When you teach someone else how to be a disciple of Jesus, you will learn more about yourself and about faith than you can even imagine. I find the thought of having an all-knowledgeable, perfect person that wasn't struggling with anything teaching me about Jesus as rather unappealing. I can't relate with that. So it's okay to not know everything because it is through that that we can relate to others, grow ourselves and encourage others to do the same. Discipleship is something we all need to take seriously because it is all our calling. We are all called to spread the teachings of the Catholic Church and to help others in the same journey. We must follow what Jesus says in John 13:15, "I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do".