Personal Discipleship and Mission

By Sharon Quek

How does our personal discipleship, affect our involvement in God’s mission? In other words, how does KNOWING GOD affect how we MAKE HIM KNOWN. This reminds me of Zion Bishan’s Youth Fellowship motto: “To know Him and to make Him known”, a simple phrase describing 2 very important things God is calling us to.   

Firstly, God is calling us to know Him, our Creator God, our heavenly father, our Abba. And secondly, God is calling us to make Him known in a world that is broken and who has forgotten their Creator God and heavenly father.

If we were to put the above into a table, it would look something like this:

Knowing God is essential to being able to make Him known. It’s also NOT just knowing ABOUT God but KNOWING Him, as a PERSON, a loved one, a friend. Knowing God this way means being willing to DO what He desires. And God’s desire is to reconcile sinful man back to himself and to restore His loving reign over all the earth. 

Knowing God through our personal discipleship journey gives us the MESSAGE to bring to a sin-broken world. As we read God’s word, and follow him personally, we understand the gospel and it transforms us. These small acts of obedience impresses what we know of God into our minds and deep in our hearts.   

With this intimate knowledge of God, it will be like living waters bubbling up in our hearts, nurturing new life in Jesus. We can share this life and goodness of Christ to all the world and partner with God in bringing the WHOLE world back to Himself. What an amazing God-sized vision that is. 

It will certainly not be easy, and the cost of discipleship is high.  We will not be comfortable, and there will be much discouragement and the temptation to give up. However, let us not give up. As James 1:2-4 (NIV) encourages us: 

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”