Leadership: Apprenticeship to Jesus
The call of Jesus is not just to believe in him, but to apprentice ourselves to him—to learn to think, speak, act, and live like him. That’s what it means to be a disciple. Mike Breen
Gregg’s Reflection
I am struck by how many times I hear discipleship described as apprenticeship, a term that has fallen into disuse today. Many pastors I know came out of seminary with an understanding that they should hesitate about sharing personal life in the pulpit. They also learned not to be close friends with those in their parish, to keep a professional distance. The problem is, this posture of aloofness does not allow for the kind of life-on-life discipleship that Jesus demonstrated in his three years of work with his disciples.
Jesus lived with the disciples, walked with them, worked with them, slept with them, ate with them. They got the full treatment. Paul and the early church leaders understood this idea of apprenticeship. He said in 1 Corinthians 4:15-16:
Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul says in Chapter 3: 6-9
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.
The author of Hebrews, identified as a friend of Paul’s close companion Timothy, twice makes the exhortation to imitate. We see the call to imitate first in Chapter 6: 12:
We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Again, in Chapter 13: 7, we see:
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. In this letter, we can see that this tradition of life on life discipleship being passed on from one generation to the next.
Consider how hard it is to imitate someone from afar. Without some close contact, the attempt to imitate will be fruitless. Discipleship happens life on life. Rob Bell, in his Nooma video Dust, talks in these terms.
As Bell describes it, the disciple would be covered in the dust of his Rabbi as he followed him from town to town, trying to learn to do what the Rabbi did. Jesus equipped his Disciples, and then sent them out to heal and cast out demons in His name. And, they did.
For several years, I’ve been using the Renovare Life With God Bible. The study notes are all focused on applying the lessons of Scripture to your daily life as we try to walk with God. I was intrigued by what I saw about apprenticeship to Jesus from the Renovare preface to the book of Revelations:
Apprenticeship to Jesus remains a widespread ideal, but there is often little understanding of what it means for spiritual formation in Christlikeness. Now, only in the rarest of cases do we find in Christian churches purposeful, continuously progressive, and all-inclusive spiritual growth through discipleship to Jesus. Through the ages we have seen many brilliant examples of what discipleship can be, but on the present scene what we generally face, and what the world sees, especially in the West, is a Christian culture without discipleship to Jesus.
I have found this to be true in my walk across the church. I did an event with Mission Developers from the Lutheran tribe. I asked the 20+ pastors in the room this question, “Pastors by what means will you disciple people in your new church plant?” I then invited them to discuss their strategies in triads for fifteen minutes and then asked them to share with the room. There was not a cogent thought in the room about discipling. See posts here on Discipleship and Pathways to God. Here is another post dissecting the difference between worshiping Jesus and putting your identity in him.
My friend Mike Foss wrote a book on Discipleship called Power Surge.
Mike Breen explains it this way. An Anglican priest by training, he says,
I was trained for Temple duty. Most pastors have been trained by Seminary so that their operating system is the church. Unfortunately, that is not the operating system of Jesus. His operating system was discipleship. We start churches and hope discipleship happens, and it rarely does. When we start with discipleship, God will build the church.
Mike uses this diagram to describe the discipleship process:
Discipleship begins by giving Information, sharing the Gospel with people. Then you invite them into apprenticeship through joining a discipleship group. As Mike Breen’s partner Steve Cockram said,
Imitate those parts of me where you see Christ. The rest of the stuff, don't imitate."
So, imitation is the next step. The final step is innovation. As people, through prayer and meditation, become fluent in the ways in which God has gifted them, they can discern a calling of God in their lives. This calling will take them on a path unlike anyone else's. That unique path will take us through the stage of innovation, as we figure out and live out our unique calling. For more about Gifts and Calling, look here.
So, the mission developers I worked with were trained in the operating system of the church, and did not have clear strategies for discipleship. It is truly the missing link.
The Renovare preface continues:
Apprenticeship to Jesus Christ, under the direction of the revealed Word of God and the administration of the Holy Spirit, is the single most powerful and beneficial transformational process known to humankind. Suffering turns away “lukewarm Christians”, but those who face suffering and death on Jesus’ behalf will without doubt be his intensely devoted apprentices.
Movement forward in Christlikeness, for the individual of for society is highly time-insensitive. Character is costly, and only choice and experience through time can produce it. Apprenticeship to Jesus in the fellowship of his people is the only assured path of life under God. On that path we move from faith to more faith, from grace to more grace, and are able to walk increasingly in holiness and power.
I have found these statements to be the truth. It amazes me that most churches I’ve seen have somehow lost discipleship. How do we let the main thing not be the main thing in churches? I just don’t get it.
I’ll leave you with one more quote, this one from the Renovare Bible notes to 2 Timothy 2:10:
The Christian faith is contagious. If we are to endure as Christians, it must be through apprenticeship-observing more experienced and well-formed Christians, following their moves, taking up their way of life, inculcating their virtues. Through such observation and imitation, we take up the practices of faith and come to embody those practices for ourselves. The church must look for ample opportunities for its members to be observed by and to observe one another as we mature in the faith.
So, pastors, what have you done to make your spiritually mature leaders visible and to encourage them to mentor others on the path? Let not those gifted people labor under the radar at your church. Blessings
Journaling Prompts
When have I experienced life-on-life apprenticeship to Jesus—either as a learner or as one who helps others grow? Reflect on the relationships, mentors, or communities where you’ve witnessed or experienced this kind of discipleship. What was impactful about it? Where might I be keeping a professional distance from those I lead, rather than living alongside them as Jesus did? Are there places in your work, ministry, or friendships where you could be more present and vulnerable to foster deeper discipleship? How can I practically cultivate a community of apprenticeship—where I and others learn from each other and grow in Christlikeness?
Scripture
He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.
Mark 3:14
The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.
Luke 6:40
Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.
Philippians 3:17
You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
1 Thessalonians 1:6-7
And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.
2 Timothy 2:2
I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
John 13:15
Ancient Writing
Do not desert a friend in time of need, nor abandon him, for friendship is the apprenticeship of virtue.
St Augustine, Paraphrase from De moribus ecclesiae catholicae, 1.25
Let the Abbot show equal love to all and apply the same discipline to all according to their merits.
St Benedict of Nursia, Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 2, on the Abbot’s duty to model life-on-life discipleship
He who is not yet able to teach by speech should teach by example.
Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels, Homily 17)
Let us imitate Christ as far as possible, though it is impossible to reach His perfection.
John Chrisostrom, Homilies on Matthew, Homily 70
Let all the brothers strive to follow the humility and poverty of our Lord Jesus Christ.
St Francis of Assisi, Rule of 1221, Chapter VI
The Lord gave me brothers, and no one showed me what I had to do; but the Most High Himself revealed to me that I should live according to the pattern of the Holy Gospel.
St Francis of Assisi, Testament of St. Francis, 14
Modern Writing
The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples—students, apprentices, practitioners of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.
Dallas Willard, The Great Omission/d
Spiritual formation is not a program. It’s not a curriculum. It’s a relationship with Christ—an apprenticeship with Jesus.
Eugene Peterson, Adapted from various interviews
Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
The spiritual life does not remove us from the world but leads us deeper into it.
Henri Nouwen, Making All Things New
Jesus built a movement of disciple-making disciples by inviting people to follow him, live like him, and ultimately do what he did. That’s the core of apprenticeship: becoming like the master by learning in real life with others.
Mike Breen, Building a Discipling Culture
The call of Jesus is not just to believe in him, but to apprentice ourselves to him—to learn to think, speak, act, and live like him. That’s what it means to be a disciple.
Mike Breen, Multiplying Missional Leaders
You can’t make disciples from a distance. Discipleship happens life-on-life, in the context of a discipling relationship where people learn from watching and imitating.
Mike Breen, Building a Discipling Culture
Jesus’ plan for the world was not to plant churches. It was to make disciples who would make more disciples and, in so doing, transform the world.
Mike Breen, Building a Discipling Culture