In this video, Rev. Joel Kim explores how discipleship thrives through authentic presence and modeling Christ in everyday relationships rather than through formal programs alone.
Discipleship is such an essential part of what we do as Christians. And to think about how we as a Christian should disciple one another, I think is a natural question that all of us should be asking on a regular basis. It could be a very complicated thing oftentimes because we think of methods, we think of books that are written for these things, and we think of certain ends that we think we have responsibilities for—to direct someone to a particular end in mind.
To me, at the end, the Lord is the One who works within the person to shape that person to become more like Him. We are aids walking alongside the person to help them better understand and perhaps even modeling what that looks like. So here the engagement that seems to be ideal for me in terms of discipling one another is about being present with that person. A family member that you're engaging in conversations with, not necessarily formally about theology or the Bible, but informally about life and applications that are taking place is already a discipleship. And of course, I think there is importance to our lives being conformed to the image of Christ Jesus in the sense that we desire to live our lives for Christ according to the Word. If I think about people who discipled me, it’s not just individuals who formally sat with me to disciple, but those who modeled for me, even if they were not my discipler. And so, for us to live our lives faithfully before the Word I think is also an essential part of what discipleship should look like.