By Eric Rafferty
One of Paul’s clearest and most consistent commands to his followers was to imitate him. Modeling and imitation were essential ingredients in Paul’s discipleship.
I urge you, then, be imitators of me. – 1 Cor 4:16
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ – 1 Cor 11:1
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit. – 1 Thessalonians 1:6
For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you. – 2 Thessalonians 3:7
Imitation is a core part of discipleship. Jesus laid it out clearly in Luke 6:40, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” The process of discipleship is about being trained up to be like Jesus.
If you look at almost anything that Jesus did in the gospels you can find his disciples doing similar things in Acts. They imitated what they saw Jesus doing.
When Jesus recognized that it was time to raise up more leaders he went away for a whole night to pray and hear from God about who to appoint as his apostles (Luke 6:14). When his disciples recognized a need to appoint another apostle they followed his example and turned to prayer for discernment (Acts 1:24). And when Paul and Barnabas wanted to leave young leaders behind in the churches they planted they did it with prayer and fasting (Acts 14:23).
Jesus’ disciples watched Jesus perform hundreds of healings and miracles. And miraculous ministry was something they imitated as they spread the gospel and planted churches.
They also watched Jesus multiply influence by finding “people of peace” and empowering them to reach their networks. They watched amidst criticism from religious leaders as Jesus called Levi to follow him and then immediately attended a party at Levi’s house to meet his friends (Mark 2:14-15). They watched with jaws dropped as he struck up a conversation with a woman at a well in Samaria and then empowered her to reach the network of her whole town (John 4). Peter imitated this strategy with Cornelius and his household in Acts 10. Paul imitated the “person of peace” strategy with Lydia and again with his jailor in Philippi (Acts 16) and with Crispus and his family in Corinth (Acts 18:8).
Even before he met Jesus miraculously, Paul had many Christian examples to imitate. One of the first evangelistic sermons Paul heard was at Stephen’s trial (Acts 7). Paul’s first evangelistic sermon recorded in Acts was at Pisidian Antioch and it followed Stephen’s sermon almost word for word (Acts 13).
It turns out that just opening up a Bible and trying to act like Jesus isn’t enough. We need flesh and blood examples of faithful people right in front of us. We need men and women that we can watch and then we need to try imitating them! When Paul wrote to Timothy with instructions for leading the church in Ephesus he exhorted him that even though he was young, he should live as an example in his words, his purity, his love, his faith, and his actions so that the church could imitate him in those ways (1 Timothy 4:12). Imitation is not just about ministry skills, but character, suffering, and faithfulness!
How Have We Missed This?
Imitation is a missing ingredient in our discipleship. Why is that? For one, originality, authenticity, and individualism are among our highest values, and being an imitator feels antithetical to these values. And unfortunately, if we do imitate it’s to skip the steps in the learning process and jump right to applying the latest strategy that worked somewhere else.
Another miss in our discipleship culture is that we disproportionately focus on information. But information alone without a lived-out, embodied example does not make disciples. Disciples are made on the mission field, not in classrooms. Paul sent Timothy to Corinth so that the church there would have a person to consistently model the content of Paul’s teaching in the context of their city (1 Corinthians 4:17). He said that Timothy would remind them of his ways, his actions and his lifestyle, which were consistent with his teaching.
Who are you watching?
As APE leaders it’s imperative that we have models and mentors that we can watch and imitate. Maybe you’ve been reading this blog and you’ve come to identify with an apostolic, prophetic, or evangelistic gifting but all of the examples of leadership you’ve seen have been shepherds or teachers. Find an APE leader and ask if you can spend time with them in life and mission. At least initially, we desperately need models to imitate.
Who’s watching you?
In your church, ministry, or organization, how are you making disciples? Are you giving them information alone or also a model for imitation? Do they have enough access to your life to actually imitate the way that you follow Jesus? And most challenging of all, is your life even worth imitating?
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