Disciplemaking 2 - More Is Caught Than Taught

While in college I was discipled by the director of my campus ministry. He had a stock set of aphorisms he repeated to me during our three year disciplemaking relationship. One of them was, "More is caught than is taught." What he meant by this is that the most important thing a disciplemaker does is model what following the way of Jesus looks like. Also, as in the rest of life, people are most shaped by who they spend time with and tend to pick up habit patterns from those persons whether they be friends, family or co-workers.

Disciplemaking is a life on life process rooted in friendship. It is in the context of friendship that the way of Jesus can modeled and imitated. Time together in the context of everyday life is a huge part of disciplemaking and should be factored into any disciplemaking strategy.

This doesn't mean content is unimportant -- it is important, very important. But content needs to be embedded in a life on life process whereby disciples can model for one another how to follow the way of Jesus. Why? Because...more is caught than is taught.