In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus says "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely lam with you always, to the very end of the age."

When we look at the original Greek writing of this passage, there is only one main verb that is stated here: “Make Disciples.” Some people think that the focus of Jesus' final words is to "go." Others have focussed on "teaching", while still others on "obedience to everything Jesus commanded". The main verb of the sentence, however, is "to make disciples". Thus, Jesus is telling us that that the going, the baptizing, and the teaching should all lead to the goal of discipleship. God gave us many different gifts to EDIFY the Church (Eph. 4), and how we can do just that is to make disciples of all people. In other words, God gave us the different gifts and talents so that we can go out and make disciples and edify the church.

Taking this fact into account, we are all commanded to make disciples. To do that, we have to become His disciples first. Jesus lays out some of the requirements for discipleship in the following passages: Luke 9:23-24 “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” Luke 14:26-27 “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” Matthew 10:38-39 “And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me. He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it.” What Jesus is telling us is that in order for us to be his disciples, we have to completely surrender our life to HIM and be totally committed to HIM.

Blessed has grown because discipleship has taken place. We do not have any program or curriculum that we use to disciple one another, but we depend on the Holy Spirit and His Word to bring discipleship naturally. We encourage our members to be constantly led by the Spirit to see how we can help one another. Discipleship can only take place when someone is willing to share his or her life with other people and make certain sacrifices as Jesus did. Here at Blessed, natural course of discipleship is taking place where the Holy Spirit leads our members to share their life with other members of our church. Although we have nothing concrete we can share about how our discipleship process is working, we can tell you that people’s lives are changing through greater intimacy with Jesus. It is our goal to be Holy as He is Holy. (I Peter 1:16).