In the Hugh Grant movie, “About a Boy,” Grant was a superficial womanizer who could never commit to anything or anyone. He lived in his own self-contained shallow world until a twelve-year-old boy began showing up at his flat to watch TV with him. In spite of himself, he found himself caring about this boy and his issues. The movie illustrated a problem we have in discipleship – the problem of getting into relationship in the first place.

A good place to start is to look at your friends. Who among them is interested in growing spiritually? Would they meet with you once a month to start? Would they be open to an intentional phone call periodically? Would they even allow you to coach them some and ask an occasional probing question? All of us are just potential disciples of Jesus until we really begin walking with him anyway. The idea is to get permission from people to show them how to walk, and sometimes it takes a while to get this permission.

If you’re at a point where it seems there are few potential candidates and you’re concerned about finding someone in whom you can invest, relax. The Lord is not looking for us to leap over tall buildings in a single bound. He wants to bring us along on this issue at a pace.

The fact is, it doesn’t so much matter how long your discipling relationships last or how frequently you meet. What matters is that you’ve got a few with whom to begin practicing and experimenting. You will forever fall short of your potential as a discipler if you don’t learn how to be intentional with the prospects that are currently in your life.