Disciple intentionally

Our final practice is to disciple other Christians to go all-in for Jesus with their careers. This fulfils Jesus’ command to make disciples who “obey everything” Jesus taught, and results in a multiplication of our impact.

Josie Gamble

Building Christian creative networks

Josie Gamble is a creative entrepreneur and business owner who has multiplied her impact by building a network to help intentionally disciple Christians in the creative industries.

Josie launched her design business in 2006 specialising in brand, graphic and web design. Then in 2017, she launched the Christian Creative Network to support and equip Christian creatives. CCN now has local branches across England and Wales. Local groups meet up to pray, share about their work, network and support one another, multiplying opportunities for discipling culture.

In 2022, Josie used seed funding to launch the Christian Creative Directory. This led to Josie being featured in The Telegraph NatWest 100 Female Entrepreneurs to watch.

“I am passionate about Kingdom and creativity and can see how God has woven my passion, experience and skillset into a purposeful tool to mobilise others to use their creativity,” says Josie. “I think it’s an exciting time to be a Christian creative and see God moving through creativity in a fresh way, and I believe the value of creativity is being restored in the church. Creativity is a bridge that connects or a vehicle to deliver a message, and as such, I hope to champion and multiply the part Christian creatives will play in seeing the spread of the gospel in the coming years.”

Jesus grew his church through multiplication

Jesus’ ministry was relational. He himself had his inner circle of three – Peter, James and John – who were with him at some of the most significant moments in his life such as his Transfiguration. He had his chosen twelve apostles, and a wider group of seventy-two disciples. In fact, Jesus’ followers only numbered around 120 before the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:15In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)Acts 1:15 (NIV)). Yet now billions call themselves Christian. So by deeply discipling a small number, Jesus multiplied the church.

The Bible calls us to disciple intentionally

Jesus calls us to make disciples who “obey” his teaching.

This is Jesus’ main mission for us. Yes, we’re meant to bring people to faith. Receiving grace and forgiveness, and enjoying a loving relationship with God is the foundation. But just as important is “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.Matthew 28:19–20 (NIV)).

The writer of Hebrews similarly tells us to intentionally disciple others. Hebrews 10:24And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds,Hebrews 10:24 (NIV) encourages us, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”

Notice the word consider. We are not told to hope others grow. We are told to think intentionally about how to help them serve God.

And we disciple others to become fruitful workers because we love them and want them to know Jesus more fully. It helps them into whole-life discipleship, where their 9 to 5 doesn’t feel disconnected from their church life on Sundays.

Raising up others to be fruitful workers is simply taking these commands seriously.

It may be the single most impactful thing we do

Our impact doesn’t have to stop with us. If we disciple just two other Christians to use their careers for maximum disciple-making, we’ve already tripled our lifetime impact.

This is one of the simplest and most strategic ways to multiply your fruitfulness for God’s kingdom. It could be the single most impactful thing we do. And it may only take a few hours.

Start now

Your university years and early career are uniquely high-leverage times to influence the entire trajectory of others’ lives because:

• People are more open to change – They have not yet locked in major life decisions, grown accustomed to higher living standards or taken on responsibilities that reduce flexibility (such as marriage or children).
• More time means more impact – Choosing an impactful route early gives many more years of multiplying kingdom fruitfulness. As businessman and gospel patron Mart Green reflected, “Had I started when I was 25, I could have enjoyed that blessing another 10 years!”
• It helps you stay all-in – As you disciple others to go all-in with their careers, you’ll learn and be challenged by them.

How to disciple others

Influence your network

• Personal conversations with those within your network are powerful. For example, Just Love has a project called 1000 money conversations. They’ve trained up 33 people to have 10 intentional conversations about money per year, so in 3 years, they’ll have had almost 1,000 conversations.
• Share within your community. Speak at your church, Christian Union, small group, Bible study or youth group.

Creating spaces

• Run events
  • One student at Cardiff started a “Christians in Humanities” group to pray and think through the difference being a disciple makes to their studies and future careers.
  • Some Durham students host gospel patronage evenings to encourage their peers in radical generosity.
  • Elizabeth and Isaac are students who started events which attract up to 500 people to equip people to serve God in the workplace.
• Mentor others Do you know anyone you could mentor, meeting with them perhaps weekly or monthly?
• Launch a ministry Perhaps there’s a group of Christians working in a particular area you could support. For example, Jacob Böhm has started Faithful Ventures, to inspire young founders to go all-in for Jesus with their startups, and is teaching them our frameworks.

Online influence

• Share on social media
  • Share encouraging stories, ideas or verses on your social media like Instagram or LinkedIn, enabling you to reach hundreds who already trust you.
  • Amiya often shares videos of where God has been challenging her on her personal Instagram, reaching hundreds of people who already know and respect her.
• Build a platform
  • For influence beyond your network, you could build up a platform, create a podcast, start a blog, or build up a following on social media.
  • Chinazo started a podcast and has built up his LinkedIn to market it, enabling others to see how their faith plays out in their work.

Put it into practice

1. Who are one or two Christians you could disciple in the coming months, and what would that look like?

2. How could you use or create spaces, online or in person, to raise up others into all-in careers?

3. Who can you mentor, and what would it look like?