What is Discipleship?

Encounter is the first stage of this path. “This personal encounter is the key event in the life of every disciple that changes the direction of life as we see happen so often in the lives of the disciples recounted in the Scriptures. Meeting Jesus Christ changed everything.”  Pope Francis sums it up well, “It is impossible to persevere in a fervent evangelization unless we are convinced from personal experience that it is not the same thing to have known Jesus as not to have known Him; not the same thing to walk with Him as to walk blindly; not the same thing to hear his word as not to know it; and not the same thing to contemplate him, to worship Him, to find our peace in Him, as not to.”

Accompany is the second stage. The personal encounter with Christ leads one to a “lived” relationship with Him and growth in prayer. This is the response to the encounter. Just like with any human relationship, when you encounter another, you are drawn into relationship with them. This response often needs accompaniment. “Being a disciple is a challenge. We cannot live a life of discipleship alone. We need others to model lives of discipleship and accompany us as we grow in the spiritual life and experience ongoing conversion. Similarly, as missionary disciples, we are called to love and accept all people in a way that invites each person to a deeper relationship with Christ and a greater alignment of their lives with His teachings.” It is in this stage of accompaniment that one is formed and catechized in the great riches of the content of our faith.

Community is the third stage of the path to discipleship. Evangelization invites someone not only into relationship with Jesus, but also into relationship with  everyone else who is in relationship with Him.  This is the community we know as the Church, which is brought together by the unique work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, transforms our hearts and enables us to enter into the perfect communion of the blessed Trinity, where all things find their unity. He builds up the communion and harmony of the People of God.  

Send is the fourth and ongoing stage of the discipleship path. We cannot separate the call to holiness and communion from the universal call to mission, that is, to the work of evangelization. The Church exists in order to evangelize. God’s desire for all disciples is to draw them into His mission. 

“Go and make disciples.” Matthew 28:19