Sailing in the Discipleship

A popular thing for churches and ministries to teach and focus on is the "Great Commission" and the concept of "discipleship". In a rather non-controversially move, I'm going to agree that this is a good thing to do. I agree with Jesus. I've heard some great teachings on it (especially recently). But some teachings out there sound rather elaborate and awkward. Whenever people start inventing complicated phrases and scientific terms during their theorizing of very, very simple things Jesus taught, it makes you start to wonder.

Something that bothers me is the elevation of the role of the discipler. In typical human fashion, people in authority tend to want to make themselves more important. I've heard people say you have to pass along your spiritual DNA when you disciple people. That you should get your disciples to follow you around so they can soak in everything you do and say. I'm sorry. When did you become Jesus?

When Jesus said to make disciples of all nations, I'm fairly confident He meant that we should make them disciples of Jesus, not of ourselves. Let's be honest. It's not about us. It's about Jesus. The most effective way to disciple people is to make them a disciple of Jesus, and get them (as fast as possible) to the point where they do not need you because they can hear directly from the Holy Spirit on their own. At that point you both have the same teacher and discipler (Jesus). Then all you have to do is share with each other what Jesus has been teaching you, and you will learn from each other. One person is not more important than the other. It doesn't matter if you are a brilliant spiritual giant, any person in the world can still teach you a profound spiritual truth if they learn to listen to the Holy Spirit. So we need less strange hierarchical "discipling" relationships, and just more of the body of Christ functioning as it should. Everyone works together and learns from each other, because Christ is the head (brains) of the operation. As people accel in their gifts, they'll have a greater capacity to help others in the body, but they still should focus on making disciples of Jesus, rather than little apprentices of themselves. The world doesn't need more of you, it needs more of Jesus.