In first-century Galilee, many young Jewish people longed to be disciples of a rabbi. It was their highest aim in life to be chosen. And if they would be so fortunate, they would then literally follow the rabbi day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute in close relationship, learning from their every word and every action.1
Eat like the rabbi eats. Sleep when the rabbi sleeps. Pray like the rabbi prays. Interpret Scripture the way that the rabbi does. Treat people just like they see the rabbi do.
The goal was to be so well-trained by their rabbi that they would one day become like the rabbi themselves. There’s even an ancient Jewish blessing that says, “May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.” In other words, may you follow your rabbi so closely that his dust gets all over you, and you start to become like him, act like him, and respond to life like him.
So when Jesus calls his crew of disciples to follow him, he’s inviting them to follow him as their rabbi.
This ancient model of discipleship was bigger than grabbing a coffee or asking one another for prayer requests. While these things are good, following a rabbi involved more. This ancient model of discipleship was about apprenticeship.
Disciple-Making Is Apprenticeship
Can you imagine Luke Skywalker’s journey in Star Wars without the mentorship and training of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda?
It’s doubtful that Frodo would have been able to make it all the way to Mordor without his friend Samewise Gamgee and his mentor, Gandalf’s guidance.
Apprenticeship is vital if we are to become disciples who in turn make disciples. Many models of discipleship are good at dispensing information, but apprenticeship focuses on character transformation and living every day on the Jesus mission. Apprenticeship is action-oriented. It’s theology in a lived-in pair of blue jeans instead of a pristinely pressed suit.
Discipleship Requires Proximity
Many modern models of discipleship emphasize the vertical relationship between a Christian and God. But in apprenticeship, proximity and relationship between the disciple and discipler is essential. We need each other to become like Jesus. Christianity is not a solo sport.
The sacred task before us today as church leaders is to take people on an apprenticeship pathway to train disciples to become disciple-makers.
Could you imagine trying to live out the faith alone? Imagine you had no one to turn to when you had questions, or when you were grieving. But God has given us a family of believers, people to lean on and turn to, to rejoice with, to love. When we disciple others through apprenticeship, we help them to “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:16).
The sacred task before us today as church leaders is to take people on an apprenticeship pathway to train disciples to become disciple-makers.
Model Disciple-Making
In the heat of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. was thinking beyond his own legacy. He knew that for his dream to become a reality, he had to build up and train other leaders. To do so, King intentionally modeled how to face opposition with peace and grace—from the Birmingham Jail to the Lincoln Memorial. Up and coming activists like John Lewis and Andrew Young learned how to wield nonviolent fervor, not from King’s sermons, but from his lived witness.
When we invite someone into an apprenticeship, we begin with: Watch me do it.
When we invite someone into an apprenticeship, we begin with: Watch me do it.
Model is where Jesus began with his first apprentices too. The call to “come, follow me” (Matthew 4:19) is more than an invitation to go where Jesus goes. It’s a call to “come and see“—to be with him and watch how he walks through life (John 1:39). To come and witness his rhythms of teaching, healing, praying, serving, confronting evil, dealing with conflict, and showing compassion. The disciples had an all-access pass to observe Jesus’ dependence on prayer in the face of big moments (Luke 6:12–19) and even enemy-love (Luke 23:34).
Let Your Apprentice Observe You
In this first phase, we invite our apprentices to sit in the front row of our lives. We let our apprentices shadow our calendared events and study every corner of our lives. We want them to see not only the behaviors of a disciple, but the reasoning behind those behaviors. We let them observe how we read and interpret the Bible, how we handle sensitive situations, how we plan and prepare for a gathering, and so much more.
As disciplers, this brings some tension to the forefront. Are our lives worth being modeled after? Can we authentically pray like the apostle Paul did for our apprentices to “follow my example as I follow the example of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
More Than Skill Transfer
Apprenticeship is more than a transfer of important skills. Apprenticeship is witnessing an embodied allegiance to Jesus and a life that’s on mission. We show our apprentices how we follow Jesus, how we lead others, and perhaps most importantly, how we treat other image-bearers in the process.
In every phase of the apprenticeship pathway, we should fall into a rhythm of asking questions of each other.
Questions from the apprentice:
- Why do you do it in that way?
- When you said that, what were you thinking?
- How did you stay calm when speaking to that disgruntled person?
Questions from the disciple-maker:
- What were you surprised by as you observed?
- Where do you feel intimidated by what you saw modeled?
- What principles did you see behind my actions?
These conversations will help the apprentice begin to see the sacred why behind the what.
Let Your Disciple Help You
A vital step of the apprenticeship pathway is to say: Help me do it.
In 2017, NFL rookie Patrick Mahomes apprenticed under thirteen-year veteran quarterback Alex Smith. As a backup, Mahomes was given the opportunity to assist in film prep, practice reps, and sideline reads while Smith was leading every game on the field. Coach Andy Reid and Smith intentionally gave Mahomes increasing responsibility without full authority.
At the beginning of the next season, Alex Smith was traded, and Mahomes was ready to take the helm—not just because of his exceptional mobility and arm strength, but because he had assisted as a backup through a full season. He was now ready to lead, and he proved it by winning the Most Valuable Player award in his first year as the starting quarterback in 2018.
A vital step of the apprenticeship pathway is to say: Help me do it.
Jesus did this same thing with his disciples—he invited them to not only observe, but to participate with him in his kingdom movement.
At the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus had his disciples assist in handing out the meal to the crowd and collect the leftovers (Mark 6:41–43). As Jesus’ kingdom movement spread and many people came to be baptized, Jesus didn’t insist that he’d do all the work himself. He gave the task of administering the baptisms to his disciples (John 4:2).
As Jesus entered new communities, he enlisted his disciples to assist. They handed out supplies, greeted families, coordinated crowds, and handled other important details. Jesus was slowly transferring responsibility, authority, and ownership from himself to his apprentices.
Opportunities to Assist
When we enter the Assist phase of apprenticeship, we learn to loosen our grip on being the hero. As Dave Ferguson, President of Exponential, says, we begin to embody the vision of becoming “Hero Makers.”2
In the Assist phase, we can start small with asking our apprentices to accomplish a ministry task. This could be anything from asking them to pray at the end of a small group gathering, lead a moment in a worship service, or to follow up with someone’s prayer request from Sunday. We coach them and ask questions using hypotheticals, but we ultimately give a bit of the reins to our apprentices to accomplish the task.
This will slow you down.
Letting others assist will be frustrating at times. It will lead to extended conversations. After all, you are better at the assigned ministry task than they are right now. You hold the experience.
Although all of those things are true, none of those dynamics should dissuade you from loosening your grip on leadership. Equipping an apprentice to assist in ministry is your mission. Ministry leaders are called “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4:12). Boldly release control and give that much-needed experience to your apprentice as they take hold of new responsibility. It’s quite possible that you wouldn’t be as gifted at ministry as you are today without someone doing the exact same thing for you.
Watch Your Apprentice
Another critical phase of the apprenticeship pathway is to say: You do it, I watch.
Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was obsessed with simplicity in design and user experience, even down to the packaging of a product. A young industrial designer named Jonny Ive had been working in the shadows at Apple for years, but Jobs began to apprentice him into something more. Jobs modeled his values to Ive and invited him to assist Jobs on projects like the iPod. But then Jobs made the courageous move to step back and watch Ives take the lead on an ambitious project called the iPhone. Jobs still reviewed prototypes and offered feedback, but the creative reins had been handed to Ives.
Another critical phase of the apprenticeship pathway is to say: You do it, I watch.
Jesus practiced this step with his first-century followers. He gathered his disciples, paired them up, and sent them out to preach the message of the kingdom, heal the sick, and cast out evil spirits. Don’t miss this—Jesus sent them out, and Jesus stayed behind. He trusted them to be his representatives to the surrounded villages (Luke 9:1–6).
Amid needy crowds, Jesus also pulled his disciples aside to have private conversations with them, clarifying the meaning of a teaching or offering feedback as to why a healing that they attempted did not work (Matthew 13; Mark 9).
Jesus even beckoned Peter to join him, walking on water during a storm. Peter’s faith faltered, but Jesus didn’t scold him. Instead, Jesus reached out to catch Peter and then seized an epic teaching moment that changed the course of Peter’s life (Matthew 14:28–31).
Coaching Confidence
When we enter the Watch phase of apprenticeship, we move from skills-building to confidence-building. We begin by sending our apprentices out but staying close enough to coach them to reach their full potential. This might look like giving our apprentices a preaching assignment, with the caveat that they first deliver the message to you for feedback. This might look like giving them the responsibility to lead a new small group, but you meet up after every gathering to debrief. This might look like them taking the lead on counseling a member of the church, but meeting with you before and after for coaching.
The Watch phase is an important time to make sure that your apprentice’s character is in line with Jesus’ character. In this phase, you watch their hearts, not just their hands. It’s one thing for them to tell you about their values during early conversations, but at this stage there is no hiding. It’s the difference between a resume and on-the-job experience.
As you live out the coach role, constantly recenter your apprentices on their love of God and their love of people—that’s ultimately all that matters. God is after our faithfulness, not our effectiveness.
Launch Your Disciple-Maker
This final phase of the apprenticeship pathway is to say: You’re ready. Go for it.
In the 1970s, Texan Entrepreneur Bob Buford started a cable television business that grew from a small regional outfit into a successful enterprise. Buford eventually sold the company in the 1980s, but he wasn’t going to rest on his laurels. He focused “the second half” of his life on investing resources into change-making pioneers, faith-based social investment, and mentoring the next generation of leaders by starting Leadership Network.
Although Buford built Leadership Network from the ground up, he was known for stepping aside and releasing control. He didn’t micromanage—he trusted in the leaders he had developed. By 2019, he had launched the next generation of leaders to move the mission forward. Buford is famous for saying, “My fruit grows on other people’s trees.”3
This final phase of the apprenticeship pathway is to say: You’re ready. Go for it.
Time to Commission
The Launch phase of the apprenticeship pathway brings us to Jesus’ last words, “Go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19).
So, in the Launch phase, we commission our apprentices to live out their God-given purpose to make disciples. They have accumulated the values, skills, and by the Holy Spirit, the character to go and disciple others. It might look like sending them out to plant another local church, or it might be sending them to start a new ministry for moms in their neighborhood. They have what it takes to accomplish God’s mission for their lives.
As church leaders, the Launch phase is a beautiful reminder that we are called to constantly lift our eyes from our spheres of influence to God’s kingdom movement. Our fruit grows on other people’s trees.
More Resources to Explore:
Buford, Bob. Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994.
- Lois Tverberg, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012). ↩︎
- Dave Ferguson and Warren Bird, Hero Maker: Five Essential Practices for Leaders to Multiply Leaders (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018). ↩︎
- Bob Buford, Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994). ↩︎
