LeRoy Eims - The Lost Art of Disciple Making

When my daughter Becky was in grade school, we often took walks together. We would stroll among the towering pine trees, the scrub oak, and various plants and flowers in a beautiful area near our home. One day we had a conversation about a scrawny little bush that was growing along our path. I explained to Becky that we should be proud of that little bush, because even though it wasnt nearly as big as the magnificent blue spruce growing nearby, it had grown to its maximum potential. It was as fully developed as it could be with the amount of rain and sunshine it had obtained. It had not held back; it had grown to its limit.

Babies are somewhat like that too. They will grow if someone will help a little. They are only too happy to eat if someone will but put milk in the bottle or take the cap off the jar of strained peas and spoon them in.

Now that Becky has grown up, married, and had a child of her own, I watch with amazement as she feeds her daughter. When little Joy Elise sees the food, it prompts all the excitement of a circus coming to town. All we have to do is get the food within her reach and Joy will do the rest.

Every believer in Jesus Christ deserves the opportunity of personal nurture and development. Every new believer is expected to achieve his or her full potential for God. And most of them would if they had the opportunity, if someone would get the food within reach, if someone would give them the help they need, if someone would give them the training they should have, and if someone would care enough to suffer a little, sacrifice a little, and pray a lot.

In this book we want to look at the growth process in the life of a Christian, from the time that person comes to Christ to his or her becoming a disciple and then a worker for Him. We will examine what nurture and guidance it takes to develop spiritually qualified workers in the church of Jesus Christ.

The concepts and principles we will be suggesting and examining do not emerge from a philosophy of speedy growth and instant maturity. True growth takes time and tears and love and patience. On the leaders part, it takes the faith to see people as God expects them to be and wants them to become. And it takes some knowledge to help get them there.

This book does not pretend to be the entire chain in the training process; it does not presume to contain all the answers to the problems of spiritual growth. In fact, it does not even presume to have many answers to many problems. What it does try to do is provide some information to help Christian leaders strengthen one small link in the entire chain of their ministry for Christ. It is not the whole chain. It deals only with one link: how to train spiritually qualified workers for Christ.

The book is based on a study of the Word of God and the experience of many in an organization committed to making disciples and helping produce workers for the cause of Christ. It is sent out with the prayer that the Holy Spirit will use it to strengthen a weak link here and there, thus helping Christians to be better equipped and more effective in their service for the Lord.

L EROY E IMS

Colorado Springs, Colorado