If the primary focus of God's mission is making disciples, the followers of Jesus, of necessity, need to be disciples.
"Disciple" is a term that is similar to "apprentice." An apprentice gives allegiance to a master, follows, observes, and practices what the master does. Usually, that refers to skills, and practices of a trade. To be a disciple of Jesus, one does need to follow, observe, and practice what Jesus did. One also needs to practice how he lived. And one needs to recognize his teaching, that each person is imperfect in his human core, in his heart. So, one also needs to change his core, his heart, because people live from their heart.
So, to be a disciple of Jesus, one turns away from how normal life is practiced, to how Jesus practices life. One agrees that one's actions, words, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes do not agree with God's design, and each person needs to change. in all parts of life. Changes to thought, words, feelings, and actions.
There are some, who say that Christians of today have decided they don't need to be disciples. Being a disciple means one of the Twelve. Or being a pastor. Or a missionary. Or super spiritual.
Jesus commanded his disciples to make disciples. The Twelve began a chain. A disciple makes a disciple. Anyone who believes follows Jesus, and becomes a disciple of Jesus.
A disciple sees Jesus, believes in Jesus, gives him his allegiance, and follows him. Following Jesus means agreeing to submitting to a process of heart transformation, which results in a process of life transformation. Which means changes in priorities, changes in goals, and changes in practices.
God has purposefully designed his family with a huge amount a diversity. Scripture says that people from every tribe, people, and language will be part of his family. So, there will be different nationalities, different genders, and different Myers-Briggs Temperament Indicators. But only one family.
I say this to help people realize that complete God's mission requires the whole family. Each one in the family will be one of Jesus' disciples. We need to be ready to obey all of Jesus' commands. We need to continue to lean into heart transformation, and therefore, action transformation. But none of his family is a stereotype. There is not one path for a member of his family to complete the mission. There are as many paths as there are family members. We may think we are on one path. We need to be alert, and remain connected to the Vine. God may want you to change direction. Or he may want you right where you are. We need to learn to listen to him, to pay attention, and to do what he gives us, with all our hearts.
To use another analogy: Everyone in God's family is part of God's mission, God's army. Some of us are infantry. Some are artillery. Some in the Air Force. Some maintain the chain of supplies. All needed. All valuable.
