As Jesus called the first disciples to follow him, He was very clear about the destination of their journey. He told them that after they spent time together and being taught by Him, they would become fishers of other men. This is an interesting description considering He was speaking to professional fishermen who spent their lives catching fish. Personally, I am the furthest thing from an outdoorsman. I know very little about hunting and fishing, but there are two things that I'm certain professional fisherman like Peter, James, and John were good at. One, they had to find a body of water where fish were, and two, they had to be diligent to keep fishing that area until they caught something. This sounds like common sense, but it's very practical when it comes to disciple making. If we are to be fishers of other people, at the very least we should know where to find them and be committed to the long process of catching them. Some of the most frequently asked questions about disciple making are, "Where do I start?" and "Who should I disciple?" The obvious answer to those questions is to start with prayer. (Luke 6:12-13) But then we also need to be able to identify a "fishing pond" where we know we will find people, and set ourselves to be steadfast in the labor of winning the people we meet.
A fishing pond- When you trace the movements of Jesus' ministry in the gospels and Acts 1, you will notice that the Bible tells us He went into Galilee and called His disciples. (Matthew 4:12-16) You will also notice that when commissioning the disciples, he gives them locations to go and do ministry. (Matthew 10:5-6, Acts 1:4;8) The principle here is that disciple making requires a place for you to intentionally meet people and intersect your life with theirs. I have used the illustration before that if you are sent as a missionary with the International Mission Board, you are not sent to an ambiguous destination. You are not sent generally out there to hopefully run into some people to evangelize. You are sent to a specific place, to engage a specific people, with a specific plan. We saw a beautiful picture of this during the missions emphasis at our Combined Campus Celebration this week. We prayed for missionaries in specific places like Nigeria. Everyday disciple making must be just as specific. A disciple maker should have a "Nigeria" here at home in which they are fishing for people. Just like you don't sit on land and expect fish to accidentally jump into your net, you will not accidentally make disciples. So where is your fishing pond? Where is your Nigeria? The most natural way to find this place is to ask yourself where do I already spend a lot of time? Do I have hobbies, responsibilities, or Interests that put me in the same area around the same people often? This is a fishing pond. These are people you are already around, in places you already have to be. The only difference is starting to be there on purpose to reach them with the gospel. Most of us have places like this in our lives, however if you do not, you should be intentional to find one. Join a gym, join a club, start a neighborhood hobby group, get involved in your kids programs. I would say the more unchurched and lost people that frequent those places, the better.
Diligence to catch something- I have found that evangelism can tend to be more like a series of conversations and sharing life, than a one-time presentation and sharing facts. I can think of maybe one or two people that I shared the gospel with just one time and they became believers who continued in discipleship after hearing once. Most of the people I have seen become disciples of Jesus who remain walking with Him do so through many conversations over a long period of time. This is not to say one time evangelistic conversations don't work, but it is to prepare our hearts to understand that you will have to keep throwing your nets and reeling them in over and over and over again. I think this means a couple things practically. One, a disciple maker must fervently pray for the people in the area you are trying to reach. As you get to know people's names in your area, write their names down and pray for them regularly, and consistently that God would save them and make them hungry for Christ. Two, it means disciple makers will have to push through the awkwardness of lots of rejection in order to experience receptiveness. We must anchor our identity in Christ, not people's response to our message. We also must trust that God in His timing will change people's hearts. Another important factor in being diligent to win souls is a commitment to continual invites into your home, to coffee, and to your community group. Hospitality is a bridge that allows us to carry loads of gospel truths into people's lives. Lost people must be able to see Jesus in us. When we open our lives to people they not only get to see how we love each other and live differently in the body of Christ, but they also begin trust us and take to heart what we say. One of the most comforting passages on this is principle is Mark 4:26-27
"And he said, the kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. "
This is a reminder that in disciple making we have now idea when God is going to move. We simply sow seed and go to sleep praying that one day we will wake up and see some fruitful results. So, to be a fisher of other people, we cannot wait for them to come to us. We must be intentional to go look for them and bring them in to disciple them. We should always have people around us that we are trying to win to faith in Jesus, as well as newer converts that we are trying to train and disciple to go and do the same thing. While you are discipling your current D-Group you should still have some nets in your fishing pond trying to find the next converts who will one day be in your d-Group when God is ready.
The Reproductive Impulse of Discipleship
Kennan Vaughn of Downline Ministries speaks about the principles of discipleship being focused on multiplying disciple makers.
http://gcdiscipleship.com/2011/11/07/the-reproductive-impulse-of-discipleship/