Jesus gave the church the task to “make disciples” of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). He did not reserve the task to just a select few, however. All Christians can make disciples…that means you can make disciples! Unfortunately, many pastors and books make discipleship seem complicated. It’s not. Here is a practical guide for how to disciple someone:

Step 1: Develop a habit of daily prayer for yourself

If you don’t pray every day, you probably have no business discipling anyone else. You need to lead yourself first. If you want to be a leader, here are 5 basic habits for Christian leadership.

Step 2: Pray to God and look around for someone to disciple

Next, begin praying that God will bring the right person for you to disciple, then, look around. Who are you serving with in church? Who do you want to get to know more deeply? Who’s younger in the faith that you could bring along?

Step 3: Invite them out for coffee (or something similar)

Walk up to them and initiate a conversation with them. Invite them out for a cup of coffee, lunch, dinner or anything like that. Keep it casual and try to get to know them a little bit. Ask if they would like to read the Bible together, and then schedule a follow up time to read Scripture.

Step 4: Read and discuss the Bible together

Pick a book of the Bible and read it together. Read the passage and ask four simple questions:

• What does the passage teach me about God?
• What does the passage show me about the human condition?
• What doe the passage teach me about Christ?
• What response should I have to this passage?

That’s it. That’s all you need.

Step 5: Don’t count yourself out

There are a thousand excuses for not investing yourself in discipling someone. Resist them. Many Christians believe that they don’t know enough. That’s not true. Panic is a great thing. If you feel panic because you don’t what you’ll say to someone, that will motivate you to really dig into the Scriptures. The best way to learn something is to feel the panic of having to teach it.

Step 6: Repeat the process

Once you finish a book of the Bible, consider picking someone new to disciple. Make sure to encourage the person you are discipling to begin the process with someone else. The goal is to multiply disciple, not to create dependency upon yourself as a spiritual guru.