Staying Focused as Disciple Makers

What is the number one enemy you will face as you pursue the release of a Disciple Making Movement among the unreached?  One would imagine that it would be intense spiritual warfare, keeping a visa platform, persecution, or some other kind of external challenge.  Those are real and they are there to be sure.  In my opinion, however, the greatest obstacle for those pursuing the release of a movement,  is the inability to stay focused on what is most important.  The tendency to become distracted doing many good things without doing what is most important is typical of those who hope to see movements but don’t.

Busyness is a major enemy in our lives.  We can easily get so busy that we don’t have time to pray, to listen to God, to share good news with the Lost, or to adequately spend time with those who are expressing interest in coming to faith.  These things usually happen in the early stages of our efforts to start a movement.  When we don’t see things “take off” as fast as we had hoped, we allow ourselves to get involved in other ministry tasks that give us a bit of a sense of fulfillment.  Teaching here or there, doing emails, making a video for a church about what we do, attending a seminar or conference someone invited us to…suddenly we realize we have had little time for the task of disciple making.

Later, when (and if) we do have some disciples and the first church gets going, it is again easy to become busy with things related to that church’s programs rather than continuing to pursue relationships with the Lost, or to invest in quality disciple making.  We make the mistake of thinking that a weekly meeting of a few hours will make quality disciples. We fail to truly invest our lives in those God has given us whether it be in detailed prayer for them, or in developing deep relationships.

One of my favorite Old Testament Bible Heros is Nehemiah.  In the sixth chapter of the book that bears his name, messengers come asking Nehemiah to attend a meeting with Sanballat and Geshem.  Instead of agreeing he says,

“I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3)

Nehemiah is completely focused on his God-given task.  He is not going to stop his work to go and resolve a conflict, listen to his enemies, or attend a meeting.  He knows how to say a clear “no.” He continues to focus on what is most important.  We need to do the same.

How hard is it for you to stay focused on what is really important?  Do you clearly know in your own mind what is most important in light of your goal to see a movement of disciples?

In a recent training I asked the participants to make a list of everything they had done in the last week that took more than an hour of their time.  After they had listed at least 15 things, I asked them to circle which of those things directly related to making disciples among the unreached.  It was eye-opening for many of them to see how little time they actually devoted to the task they said was their primary vision.  We all would benefit from a similar exercise from time to time.

Feeling convicted?  I truly hope you don’t feel condemned.  It’s very human to get distracted and not at all uncommon! Instead of feeling bad, look carefully at where you are at. Recommit yourself to stay focused on your true calling as a disciple-maker and messenger of the good news.  Be willing like Nehemiah to say no to some things so you can say yes to what is really important.

The unreached wait to hear your message.  New disciples wait to be encouraged, trained and mentored.  Let’s get busy doing the most important things that lead to the release of movements.