We cultivate interest in what we talk about. So, have a sanctified curiosity about how the women in your church are doing and whether they’re relationally connected. Strategize with like-minded women about connecting those who need discipleship. Encourage the women in your church as you see them caring for others. Enlarge their vision for advancing God’s kingdom through one-on-one or small group discipling relationships.
INVEST DEEPLY
Discipling women becomes contagious the more we invest, not less. Like spiritual investment bankers, we want to be good and faithful at expanding our Master’s assets (Matt. 25:14–30). We want to see more people added to the household of God, trained in the truth and godliness (1 Tim. 4:6, 8) and following his example by walking in sacrificial love. (Eph. 5:1–2).
As we share the gospel and our lives (1 Thess. 2:8), we must be vulnerable. In Titus 2, Paul tells the older women to teach the younger women what is good. He uses the word training, which implies time and commitment. It means allowing each other to get close enough to witness God’s divine strength at work in one another’s lives.
An example from my own life: Hannah and I came from different ethnic backgrounds and countries. I was single. She was a mother of young children. She invited me into her life, sharing everything with me—her time, her dinner table, her family, her laughter and tears, her weaknesses and strengths. She always opened God’s Word to me along the way, and I have been imitating her example ever since.
In our low-commitment, low-expectations world, let us invest deeply in others. We will never be ashamed of the investments we made for the sake of God’s kingdom.
INVEST WISELY
It’s easier to commit to and spend time with some people rather than others. But biblical discipleship will never catch on if it’s only driven by comfort and ease. We want to be prayerful and wise about who we meet up with and what that time looks like (1 Timothy 2:2). You can read here for ideas on what that time could look like.
A couple things for local churches to consider with respect to discipling women:
- Consider all the different kinds of women in your church . Are there groups that are being neglected or overlooked? Are there spiritually mature women in those groups who could be future leaders and disciplers but aren’t being discipled? Invest deeply in them!
- Consider spending time with women who, at first, appear to be different than you. The world unites around superficial sameness—from politics to socioeconomic status. But the church? She unites around the gospel of Jesus Christ. We sharpen our understanding of the gospel as we see it applied to the lives of people we seemingly have less in common with.
- Think about spending time with non-believers as well. When I was at a church in Dubai, there was a young woman from Japan who attended our Bible studies. She’d never read the Bible, but she wanted to learn about Jesus. My friends and I invited her to do a six-week study through the gospel of Mark. Having done the study before, I supported my friends Rachel and Rachel as they led. To this day, it’s one of my favorite memories. Encourage the women in your church to creatively work together to bring the good news to those who need it.
INVEST SEASONALLY
We encourage a contagious culture of discipling by acknowledging that discipleship relationships have their seasons. The friendship doesn’t have to end, but the season of deep investment may need to.
When they end, let’s happily encourage those we’ve invested in to disciple others—even if that means freeing up that time slot we’ve come to look forward to. We don’t “lose” these relationships; we steward them through various seasons.
Intentional discipleship changed my life. That’s why I’ve strived to make these kinds of relationships contagious among the women in every church I’ve been a member of. I pray that sisters all over the world would pray and labor to that end as well.
This article on discipling women originally appeared here.
