Multiply or Divide? Discipleship is Math!

This was a difficult concept when I taught 5th grade. My students would always stare at a word problem like a deer caught in headlights and immediately I knew I had to give them the tools to decide whether the problem was a multiplication or division problem.

I faced a similar question when I was handed the reigns in college to facilitate a bible study group of young college women that would later become the Impact Movement on Baylor's campus. The lady who discipled me would encourage that as the bible study group grew in number, it would be time to "multiply" (splitting the group and allowing the lady who I discipled to lead a section of the group whom I facilitated). However, the ladies and I never could see it that way because we had developed this close knit family that had grown comfortable through fellowship and sharing our lives every Thursday night from 7-10pm. We didn't want to multiply our group because it felt too much like a division of our bond. We were like a deer caught in headlights deciphering whether this was a good idea or not. Yet we trusted her advise because she, being in the same season as us (singlehood), had already built such a relevant bond with us.

Here I sit, some 13 years later, wondering what would happen if we had not heeded the wisdom of our fearless leader encouraging us to multiply our group. What if we had stayed together? Our multiplying led to ladies discipling other ladies and I see the fruit of that as some of my best friends live lives devoted to full time ministry, some infuse ministry in their corporate jobs, others worship the Lord through their married lives and in raising their children.

Saturday night, I sat with a few of these ladies and in fact with the lady who began it all--Lori Joiner. Not only is she the author of "Disciple Women", but she is the very woman who has walked out every practical piece of advice in the book! Of which I am a witness to and product of! Her faith as she meandered her relationships with the opposite sex, is what has strengthened me to wait on my future mate this long.

Now, she is married (8years strong) with 2 boys and still finds a way to gush out advise relevant to this small group of women who are in (now) very different seasons of life. As we went around the table sharing the ins and outs of our current lives, she intently listened and found ways to encourage us both individually and collectively. As she divulged her own life to us (weaknesses and all), she still managed to teach us about the Lord and what He requires from us through her transparency.

Yes, discipleship is transparency and multiplication. Make no mistake. No division can be found within this type of relationship. The four women who sat around that table are reaching more lives today, because one woman reached ours...years ago! Now, that's math!