Leadership Is All About Relationship

The discussion on discipleship must begin and end with the greatest discipler of all, Jesus Christ. The gospels show the key components of effective mentoring in how Jesus discipled His followers. These components are relationship, influence, and spiritual formation. Jesus was intentional about building relationships with His followers. The relationship was essential in establishing influence. This influence allowed Jesus to develop those who followed Him into productive disciples who could, in return, spend their lives mentoring others. This progression from relationship through influence to spiritual formation points to a principle that can be accepted as the premise of discipleship. This premise is that there can be no discipleship without relationship. We must do the hard work necessary to invest in the lives of our followers in a way that will produce deep trusting relationships. The influence gained in such a relationship must then be used for spiritual formation that will develop disciples. This process is then repeated in their lives and they become disciple makers. This will ensure the future of this wonderful Church of Christ to the Glory of God!