Plan for Some
To Drop Out

We are looking at how to multiply disciple-makers, and the next point is that if everyone completes your discipleship training, something is not right.

 

Expecting some disciples to drop out is not pessimistic; it is realistic and biblical. How so?

1) God tested or tried His followers in the Bible.
Because the Lord wants the message of salvation to reach everyone in every generation, those serving him may need to be refined, their faith increased, or to draw closer to God to trust Him.

 

A common analogy in the Bible is the refining of metals.

 

Refining involves heat and pressure to remove impurities, leaving only the pure, valuable metal behind.

 

Similarly, God tests His followers to refine their character and faith.

2) Notice what the Bible says about Abraham.
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Hebrews 11:17

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3) Israel in Zechariah 13:9.
The Bible says, And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

4) We see that Jesus also tested His followers.
The Bible says in Luke 9:23.And he (Jesus) said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

5) Jesus intentionally thinned large crowds.
We see two times when Jesus intentionally reduced the huge crowds following Him. His hard teachings were meant to sift the true followers from the crowd.

6) The first time is in John chapter six.
A large crowd near Capernaum assembled and Jesus explains in verses 26 that many were following Him because they were filled from the loaves of bread, and not because of His miracles!

 

Then in John 6:54, to the large crowd, plus His disciples, Jesus said they must eat His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life.

 

And the Bible reads in John 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

 

He intentionally reduced the crowd to the faithful.

7) The next time came later in His ministry in Luke 14.
The Bible reads in Luke 14:25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

 

And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

 

Why did Jesus reduce the crowd? To make sure the Gospel multiplies into every generation through faithful disciples.

 

Jesus explains that His ministry is like building a tower and making sure you have the materials to build it, meaning He can complete His work with faithful disciples.

 

He also explains in Luke 14 that His work is like a ruler going to war to make sure He can win and not surrender, meaning this spiritual war will be decided by having faithful disciples.

8) The Journey discipleship lessons carefully help you properly train the disciple.
And the Journey discipleship lessons have strategic places where we evaluate the disciple.

 

The reason to evaluate the disciple is that we are training them to be a disciple-maker who will have their own disciple.

 

We want the disciple to grow spiritually. We want the disciple to develop perseverance and resilience to prepare for trials and spiritual warfare.

 

We want to strengthen their faith and perhaps prepare them for full-time ministry if the Lord calls them.

9) Not everyone is ready to "move forward" spiritually today, and it becomes easy to see this when meeting one-on-one.
And there are two key indicators that it might not be the right time for a disciple: number one is an inconsistency in meeting and two, failing to do their Daily in the Word assignments, which is explained in the lesson two.

 

In such cases, we pause meeting with the disciple and arrange to pray together periodically, reassuring them that they can resume when they're ready.

 

Or they drop out on their own.

 

Everything is done with utmost care and kindness.

 

This way meeting one-on-one allows you to focus on those who want to grow spiritually, which saves time, and helps us reach the goals that are possible.

10) Not all those who "drop out" are lost causes, as many may rejoin as God continues to work in their lives.

Remember that John Mark from the book of Acts, who, after initially quitting, was later faithful and wrote one of the Gospels.

 

Because of the strategy and checkpoints in Journey, you will be able to focus on those who want to move forward for the Lord, those who want to grow spiritually, who want to do God’s will.

 

So to conclude this topic let’s remember the rich young ruler in Mark 10.

 

He fell on his knees and said to Jesus, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

 

Jesus told him to keep the commandments, to which the young ruler replied that he had.

 

Then the Bible tells us that Jesus loved him and told him to sell everything, give to the poor to have treasure in heaven, take up the cross, and follow Him.

 

The Bible says the rich young ruler … was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions. Mark 10:17-22 The offerings the young ruler could give did not matter to the Lord.

 

Did the Lord’s strategy of requiring only faithful disciples work? Well, the Roman Empire hunted, tortured, and killed Christians, but it was replaced by the steady multiplication of disciples.

 

And all of history is divided by the birth of Christ—before His coming, B.C., and after His coming, A.D.Some have called Him the man who split time. Even your own birthdate is determined by the birth of Our Lord."All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever were built, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.”
Pastor James Allan Francis, The Real Jesus and Other Sermons (1926), “One Solitary Life”

 

So, to multiply disciple-makers, you need a biblical shepherd as the pastor, you need to be a first-century ministry, you need to be careful to start right, you need effective discipleship lessons, you must disciple one-on-one, and plan for some to drop out because you are focusing your time only on those who are ready now to move forward spiritually.

 

In the same way math demands precision, discipleship requires obedience; alter this policy, and multiplication fails.

 

Now let's look at the next point.