How Jesus Made DisciplesNäide

Day 4: Jesus gave people opportunity to reflect after acting.

Several times in the Scriptures, we see Jesus send out the disciples to engage in ministry tasks and allow them to reflect on their experience afterward. In Luke 10:1-12, Jesus commissions the 72, instructing them on how to engage in the work of the Kingdom. When they return, He gives them the opportunity to talk about their experience.

In verse 17, they report, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” Now they should have already known this from watching Jesus and from the instructions that He gave. However, they learn this truth in a deeper way through experience, and they reflect on that experience with Jesus. It is then that Jesus gives them even more information about the fall of Satan, Jesus’ authority over the enemy, and His protection of the disciples.

Follow up is extremely important to maximize learning. The standard five-step process for helping people learn a new skill is

1. I do, you watch, we talk

2. I do, you help, we talk

3. You do, I help, we talk

4. You do, I watch, we talk

5. You do, someone else watches

This process helps ensure that people have adequate opportunity to reflect even before they are directly engaged with a ministry task and then continue to reflect as they assume various degrees of responsibility for a task.