Discipleship: Guiding principles for faith-based professionals who work, train and are developed to succeed in an unbelieving world.

Discipleship
 
Guiding principles for faith-based professionals who work, train and are developed to succeed in an unbelieving world.
 
© 2022 Dr. Samaria M Colbert
 
To be one who disciples means to train, develop another into a particular skill or trade. To be a disciple means to be a student, teacher, and eventually a leader. A disciple is someone developed to lead others. It means to learn from another especially one who is more skilled than you. Let’s be clear you can be skilled, talented and gifted you still need to be developed
 
Think about it, Michael Jordan is considered one of the greatest basketball players that ever did it. He naturally had a knack for basketball. Yet he didn’t make it on the junior varsity basketball team. The following year he did. What happened? He trained and developed his natural ability to become something great.  Even our spiritual gifts must be developed, even though the gift and call of God are free.
 
1 Timothy 4:8 New Living Translation
8 “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”
Clearly if we can train for physical reasons, we can train for all things related to godliness.

To be discipled is not limited to helping others come to Christ and then grow their relationship with God. It also means to be developed into a skill, trade, based upon your unique skill and ability. To cause someone to produce, based on intentional strategy or intentionality.

Remember according to Genesis 1:11 a tree produces after its own kind. You must be committed to growth and development. You must commit to produce in others what you have produced within yourself. If you are not committed to personal and professional growth you are committing to the eventual demise and consequently failure of your purpose, and or your organization.

The commitment to growth shouldn’t be an option, rather a requirement. Remember every franchise started as a single store. Every business started as an idea that they eventually executed.

Think about it the McDonalds brothers. The original McDonald’s creators were really Richard and Maurice McDonalds. They eventually met a man called Ray Kroc. Ray had a vision to expand the McDonald’s brand by partnering with the McDonald’s brothers. However, although the expansion was initially successful, Ray ran into difficulty and ongoing disagreement with the McDonald’s brothers. Ray ended up filing a business named the McDonald’s Corporation. Six years later he brought the exclusive rights to the McDonald’s brothers’ idea. Ray Kroc established a billion-dollar business, at his death he was worth about 600 million dollars. Prior to their death the McDonald’s brothers received a payout of about 1.6 million dollars. Ray’s wife died a billionaire.

Some say Ray was a crook, some say the McDonald’s brothers were at fault for not appropriately protecting their business brand and name. Either way we don’t know the full story, what we do know is Ray was committed to growth, the McDonald’s brothers were not.  The point is if you want your organization to grow you must commit to development, that includes discipling leaders to grow. Your sustainability is dependent upon it.

Principles that govern discipleship for faith-based professionals.

To disciple means you are committed to the growth and development of another.

All great leaders commit to be developed before they can effectively lead and develop others.

A lot of social media followers and high numbers is not an indication of being an effective disciple.

Discipleship doesn’t happen absent from submission.

To be a disciple is not vague but comes with a clear strategy, with the end goal in mind. The goal includes road maps, anticipated and unanticipated barriers along the way.

Disciples commit to teams.

You can’t disciple someone where you have never been. When you disciple you are committed to developing someone to be greater than you.

Proper placement is key.

Proper development is NOT a business strategy alone but includes, your emotional, mental, spiritual and career development.

Process and progress to the goal takes time and cannot happen overnight. However, that does not mean we are to be complacent.

Past emotional wounds, in both the one who disciples and the disciple is a major barrier to progression.

Everyone who disciples must have and understand effective systems. These systems grow, expand, modernize and evolve over time and progression.

Strategic placement is key. Meaning placing people where they will excel in their gift, talent or ability not just where the need is.

Placement is not based upon loyalty. You don’t get a position at the table because you’ve been around the longest. You can be loyal and lazy. What you have already produced, past resume and experience is the qualifier.

Honor also qualifies you; dishonor gets you replaced.

It’s not a title but a grace.
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You can’t disciple if you are not a teacher, they must correlate together. You can’t be a disciple without submitting to being taught.
 
Go in grace and submit to the process.
 
© 2022 Dr. Samaria M Colbert