Most people love a good transformation story. I was sitting in a church recently listening to a young mum called Sharon share how she had come to faith. It was an amazing story. She had come to church for a few months, done a Christianity Explored course, and decided to marry her long-term partner. The gospel had broken in. There was celebration in the room. But what nobody seemed to notice was how it had happened.
Behind Sharon’s story stood someone called Alison. Alison is an unassuming, quiet lady. Six years earlier, she had become friends with Sharon through a nursery. Over the years, Alison shared life with her, walked through challenges alongside her and gently offered prayer when it seemed appropriate. Sharon became increasingly open to Alison’s faith. She met Alison’s Christian friends, experienced Christian community and eventually started coming to church herself. And the story doesn’t stop there. Sharon would hear the sermons on a Sunday but would sometimes struggle to understand how to apply them in everyday life. Alison continued to meet with her, helping her make sense of her new faith in the realities of work, family and friendship.
Alison would probably never describe herself as a disciple-maker. She has never been applauded at the front of church. Nobody has publicly recognised her role in Sharon’s journey. In fact, she might assume that disciple-making is something for people other than herself: church leaders, evangelists or people with theological training. Yet people like Alison are central to the mission of Jesus.
They are the invisible thread that enables both our missional fruitfulness and our discipleship depth. So often, behind spiritual growth and transformation is someone who has intentionally invested in another person over time. Someone who has listened, encouraged, prayed, shared scripture, asked questions and walked alongside another human being in the ordinary moments of life.
I believe one of the greatest needs in the UK church today is to equip more people to see themselves in that role. It is exactly as Jesus says, in Matthew 9:37: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” The challenge is not the harvest, but the number of people willing to make themselves available to God in the relationships they already have.
What did Jesus mean by “make disciples”?
When Jesus gave the Great Commission and told His followers to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19), they already had a clear picture of what that looked like. For three years they had experienced it for themselves. Before Jesus sent them out, He first called them “that they might be with Him” (Mark 3:14 – 15). He walked with them, ate with them, listened to them, challenged them and modelled a different way of life. If we lose the relational heart of discipleship, we lose something essential.
The people who have most shaped my faith were not simply those who taught me from a platform. They gave me access to their lives. I saw how they handled disappointment, prayed, treated people and what their relationship with Jesus looked like on a Tuesday afternoon, not just a Sunday.
This conviction sits behind The Alongsider Course, a new free video resource from Navigators UK designed to help ordinary Christians be more intentional in the relationships God has already given them. We created it because many believers want to invest in others but don’t know where to begin.
What might it look like to equip more Alisons?
These kinds of fruitful relationships can be described using four words: relational, intentional, whole-life and generational.
First, they are both relational and intentional. A friendship without any spiritual intentionality may be warm and supportive, but it is unlikely to help someone grow in Christ. On the other hand, spiritual conversations without genuine relationship can feel awkward, forced or transactional. Disciple-making requires both.
Second, we need a whole-life vision of discipleship. We aren’t just discipling people to read their Bibles and pray; we are discipling them to display Jesus’ beauty and goodness in all they do. As Dallas Willard famously said, “Discipleship is for the sake of the world!”
Finally, we need a generational vision. Healthy disciples help others become disciples who can then help others grow in faith too. The goal is not simply spiritual consumers, but disciples who make disciples.
If we lose the relational heart of discipleship, we lose something essential.”
When that happens, churches become places where people naturally invest in one another. New believers flourish. Christians gain confidence in sharing their faith. Relationships become places where people encounter Jesus.
Who was your Alison? Who invested in you, encouraged you and helped you follow Jesus? Who might God be inviting you to do that for today?
If you’d like help taking that next step, The Alongsider Course is a free seven-session video resource designed to help ordinary Christians come alongside others as they explore or grow in faith.
Friendship Jesus' Way: Why friendship is part of the God story
In the lead up to International Friendship Day, Phil Knox sets out this four-part series on why we should all be investing in friendship as Jesus followers
