What Kind of Disciple Are We Trying to Form?

There is no shortage of discipleship resources. There are courses, books, and small-group models. These may include Bible studies, spiritual practices, and mentoring approaches. Many are genuinely helpful. So how do we choose? 

For me, the question became clearer when I began with the end in mind: What kind of disciple are we actually trying to form?

I do not simply want people who have completed good material or learned the right Christian answers. I want disciples who are increasingly becoming like Jesus and learning to live His way. I want people who can engage Scripture for themselves and remain responsive to the Holy Spirit. I want them to grow deeply with other believers and continue learning from Jesus through the changing circumstances of life. And as they mature, I want them to help others do the same.

But we do not get to invent the outcome. We look to Jesus Himself. The kind of disciple we seek to form must be shaped by the life Jesus calls us into and the way He formed those who followed Him. Jesus did not merely transfer information. He invited people to be with Him and learn from Him. He reshaped how they saw reality and taught them His way. He gave them opportunities to practice and eventually entrusted them with responsibility.

That led me to a governing conviction: The way we disciple people should reflect the way of Jesus and form the capacities they will need for a lifetime of apprenticeship to Him.

Jesus intends the transformation of the whole person. He renews how we think and reorders what we love. He also purifies our motives as our lives increasingly move toward faithful action under His leadership. So discipleship must ask more than, What does this person need to know?  We must also ask, Who is this person becoming, and are we preparing them to keep growing with Jesus for a lifetime?

Learning to Live as Jesus Lived

Jesus is the living Lord, source, and teacher of our formation. He is also its goal. We are helping people learn to live their whole lives with Him — to know Him, trust Him, and learn from Him.

The movement is simple:

Be with Jesus → Become like Jesus → Do as He did → Live as Jesus lived

For this lifelong apprenticeship, we need Jesus — and therefore we need His Word, His Spirit, and His people.

1. Through His Word, Jesus teaches us and reshapes how we perceive reality. Scripture does more than give us information to believe. As we study it, meditate on it, and respond in obedience, we increasingly learn to see reality through the truth Jesus reveals.

2. Through His Spirit, the risen Jesus is present with His people. The Spirit convicts and guides us. He also comforts, empowers, and transforms us. We learn to remain attentive to His work and responsive to His leading.

3. Through His people, much of what we know about the life of Christ becomes tangible and embodied. We experience Christlike love and forgiveness through one another. We see generosity and faithfulness lived over time. Through shared life, we mature together.

The goal is therefore neither dependence on Christian leaders nor independence from them. It is mature interdependence within the Body of Christ and deepening dependence upon Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Forming Capacity, Not Merely Transferring Content

Biblical truth matters deeply. But we also want disciples who can continue learning from Jesus when a particular discipler, curriculum, or ministry structure is no longer present.

Jesus prepared His disciples for this kind of life. He taught them to abide in Him and promised them the Holy Spirit. They would remain dependent upon Him while carrying His life and mission into new places.

A maturing disciple increasingly knows how to engage Scripture and slow down with it. They learn to recognize the Spirit’s work and reflect on what is happening within them. They bring ordinary life into conversation with Jesus and allow Him to correct their thinking and reorder their loves. They also know they need the Body of Christ. They learn from other believers and grow through shared life. Eventually, they become increasingly capable of helping others live this same way.

This is why reproducibility means more than giving someone material they can teach to somebody else. We want to reproduce capacities, not merely content.

The question shifts from Have I learned this material?  to Am I learning how to keep learning from Jesus?  Eventually another question follows: Can I help someone else learn to do the same?

Discovery, Meditation, and Life

Discovery plays an important role because the process itself forms people. Jesus often asked questions that required people to think. He used stories and real situations to expose assumptions and help people see differently. He was not merely giving His disciples conclusions; He was forming their capacity to perceive reality under the reign of God.

Discovery Bible Study works in a similar direction. Rather than depending primarily upon someone else to explain Scripture, people learn to observe and ask questions. They wrestle with the text, listen to others, and consider how they should respond.

The goal is not independent thinking for its own sake. We can think independently and still think badly. The goal is increasingly to perceive and think like Jesus. This matters because life continually presents circumstances for which we have never received a lesson. Formation must prepare us for meeting tomorrow’s unanticipated situations with Jesus.

Biblical meditation takes us deeper. We slow down with Scripture rather than merely pass through it. We ponder, pray, and listen, allowing the Spirit to bring God’s Word personally to bear upon our lives. We cannot transform ourselves into the likeness of Christ. The Holy Spirit does that work. Yet we are not passive. We yield and trust. We listen and obey.

And formation does not stop when Bible study ends. Life itself becomes a classroom. Conflict can expose our loves and fears. Suffering can reveal what we trust. Relationships can reveal how well we actually love.

So we learn to ask: What is this revealing about me? What might Jesus be showing me? What would faithful obedience look like here?

Insight becomes formational as we bring what we see under the leadership of Jesus and begin to live differently.

An Ecology of Whole-Person Formation

No single practice accomplishes all of this. Whole-person formation happens through several interacting dimensions of life with Jesus:

1. Truth and Scripture renew our minds and reshape how we perceive reality, helping us increasingly see, understand, and respond to life from God’s perspective.

2. Encounter and attentiveness to God deepen our relationship with Him as we learn to recognize His presence, discern His activity, and respond to His leading in everyday life.

3. Discovery and reflection develop our capacity to observe, think critically, and navigate life’s realities wisely as we learn from Scripture and experience.

4. Practice toward embodiment moves truth from understanding to heartfelt conviction and into consistent, faithful action, making what we believe increasingly visible in how we live.

5. Community and shared life provide relationships where we are known, loved, and challenged, while allowing us to experience Christlike maturity embodied in others and grow together toward His likeness.

6. Response and obedience turn what we discover and understand into faithful action as we learn to trust Jesus and live under His leadership.

7. Responsibility and mission develop Christlike maturity and capacities through real-life participation, equipping us to carry increasing responsibility, serve others faithfully, and help them grow in Christ.

These are not seven steps to complete. They are interacting dimensions of an intentional, whole-person apprenticeship to Jesus. Through them, our minds are renewed and our loves reordered. Our motives are increasingly purified, and our lives move toward faithful action.

Designing for Formation

If the way we disciple people helps shape the kind of disciples they become, then how we build matters. The foundation beneath everything is Jesus Himself—His teaching, His way of life, and His disciple-forming practices.

From that foundation, the Seven Core Values of a Christ-Centered Discipleship Plan provide a framework for building toward this kind of formation:

FOUNDATION → FORMED

Discovery (Find) → Depth (Own) → Integration (Relate) → Embodiment (Model) → Reproducibility (Equip) → Multiplication (Disciple)

• Discovery develops the capacity to learn and discern with Jesus.

• Depth moves that learning toward mature understanding, trust, and surrender.

• Integration connects what we are learning with the whole person and the whole of life.

• Embodiment moves truth toward practiced and lived reality.

• Reproducibility develops the capacity to carry this life with Jesus into other relationships and settings.

• Multiplication develops our capacity to help others enter this life with Jesus and eventually help others do the same.

These values do not manufacture transformation; the Holy Spirit transforms us. They help us participate intentionally in His work and design pathways consistent with the kind of disciples Jesus intends to form.

The method does not merely carry the formation. The method participates in the formation because it helps shape the capacities, habits, and posture of the disciple.

Preparing Disciples for a Lifetime

This brings us back to the governing question: What kind of disciple are we actually trying to form?  We want people increasingly becoming like Jesus who are learning to walk with Him for a lifetime — to live as Jesus lived. If that is the goal, completing our material cannot be the ultimate test of success. Neither can attendance or biblical knowledge. Even the ability to reproduce our particular method falls short.

A more revealing question is: If the leader, curriculum, and ministry structure disappeared tomorrow, have we helped form disciples who know how to continue learning from Jesus, living in His way with His people, and helping others do the same?

They will still need the Church. Spiritual self-sufficiency is not the goal. But neither is perpetual dependency. We want disciples who know where to turn. They continually return to Jesus through His Word. They rely upon His Spirit and remain rooted among His people. They are learning to see reality through the eyes of Jesus and bring their whole lives increasingly under His loving leadership.

This transformation is ultimately God’s work, yet disciples actively participate in it. Again and again, they return to a simple question: What is Jesus showing me now, and what would it look like to faithfully respond? That question can travel anywhere. It keeps us learning, realigning, and walking with Jesus.

We must help form people who can continue being formed. The aim is a disciple who can walk with Jesus into circumstances neither of us can anticipate and continue becoming like Him there. As they mature, they help others enter that same life.

We never graduate from apprenticeship. There is always more of the inexhaustible Christ to know and trust. There is always more of His life to embody and share. The goal is not merely informed disciples. It is formed disciples who help form other disciples — disciples who make disciples.