During a morning devotion last week, I was reading Luke 8-10. In Luke 8:15, Jesus says,
As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Luke 8:15 (See also Matthew 13 and Mark 4)
I stopped when I read, bear fruit with patience. The 30, 60, and 100 from Matthew and Mark are what usually come to mind. When we sow (or are faithful as believers), we should be seeing fruit, but what about seeing it with patience?
Healthy leaders are both patient AND consistent. The seed sower spread the gospel seed liberally. Some fell on the path, some on rocky soil, and some on good soil. It’s my experience that those who are patient and consistent in their disciplemaking leadership tend to see more fruit in multiplied leaders than those who lead by adopting the newest method. They pick up on the good soil quickly. They learn to spend quality time with those who are available and teachable. I learned this as I used Billie Hanks Jr.’s Operation Multiplication in disciplemaking. It’s dated, but it’s a good track to run on. The first set of books helps a new believer learn the basics and the second set helps them feed themselves and learn about evangelism and mission. They learn patience and consistency as they learn to trust you as a discipler. I make it my own as I go and I’ve seen more leaders encouraged to do the same simply because they now have a frame of reference for consistent disciplemaking.
Recently, our discipleship group (3 guys-now 4)) did a test run on the Small Circle discipleship material. This method blends a digital delivery with a systematic way for a new believer to gradually learn the basics of the faith while putting what they’ve learned into practice. As we went through the Small Circle material, I was reminded of patience and consistency. We met starting in July, got to know each other for a few months as we went through the material, and are now at a point of trust, addition of group members, and encouraging one another to take risks in areas we would like to grow. Patience and consistency. Saturday morning by Saturday morning. Weekly story by weekly story.
What if every leader poured into one other person for 12 months in such a way that expected the new leader to do the same? I think Luke 8:15 would apply and we would bear fruit with patience.
Toby DeHay 