Discipleship When Life Feels Full

There was a time when disciple-making felt more realistic. The schedule had space. Spontaneity was welcome. Late-night talks, impromptu meals, or long morning walks fit more easily into life. Back then, life-on-life discipleship seemed like a stretch but a manageable one.

Then came kids. Careers. Chores. Chronic stress. Suddenly, investing deeply in someone else’s spiritual walk can feel like a luxury few can afford.

If that’s you, you’re not alone.

Moms of toddlers. Businessmen juggling back-to-back meetings. Caregivers, students, and shift workers alike many of us still feel the call to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19), but we find ourselves asking the honest question how?

The desire remains. But margin? That’s gone missing.

Rethinking the Great Commission in Daily Life

We sometimes assume Jesus’s command to make disciples requires a ministry job or missionary context. But Matthew 28 doesn’t come with an asterisk. Disciple-making is for all believers, in every season, not just the unburdened or the unusually gifted.

So how do we respond faithfully when time is tight, and energy is running low?

We start by adjusting our expectations, not our obedience.

God is not asking for more than He’s given. He’s asking us to invest what we do have, faithfully, sacrificially, and creatively. And for most of us in busy seasons, that means discipling differently but not less meaningfully.

What Is Disciple-Making, Really?

David Mathis puts it simply. “Disciple-making is the process in which a stable, mature believer invests himself, for a particular period of time, in one or a few younger believers, in order to help their growth in the faith including helping them also to invest in others.”

From that, we glean four essentials:

1. Spiritual maturity in a specific area.

2. Personal investment offering not just advice, but yourself.

3. Focus on spiritual growth obedience to Jesus.

4. Aim to multiply equipping others to disciple others.

But how we live that out can (and should) look different depending on our season. Consider Paul. He spent years with Timothy but only weeks with other believers, maintaining relationship through letters. Consider older women in Titus 2: they disciple not broadly, but by training younger women in godliness within domestic life.

The principle? All-in disciple-making doesn’t have to mean all-at-once.

Small Windows, Deep Impact

If you wait for a wide-open season of life to start discipling, you may never begin. Instead, start with what you do have a specific area of strength, a specific person, and a specific time frame.

Ask yourself: Where can I honestly say, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1)? Maybe it's...

• How you pray or study Scripture.

• How you steward money.

• How you parent your toddler, share your faith, or confess sin.

• How you walk through grief, manage anxiety, or persevere in marriage.

Now think practically. What’s sustainable, sacrificial, and simple? Don’t propose “Let’s meet weekly forever.” Instead, say:

• “Want to meet every Monday for three months and pray through Psalms?”

• “Want to walk through what Scripture says about food and body image over the summer?”

• “Want to join us for dinner every other Saturday and talk through gospel hospitality?”

These targeted, time-bound relationships lower the barrier while keeping the commitment strong. They multiply grace without draining the tank.

One Body, Many Builders

Rarely does one person disciple someone in everything. More often, growth happens like a mosaic built by many hands. One taught you to pray. Another showed you hospitality. Someone else modeled holiness at work.

That’s not a flaw it’s by design.

In 1 Corinthians 3:21–22, Paul reminds us that all leaders belong to the church. In chapter 12, he describes the church as a body, each part contributing to the whole. So even if you’re not someone’s “Paul,” you can still be their “Barnabas” or “Priscilla” a needed piece in their growth story.

Disciple-making doesn’t mean being someone’s everything. It means giving them your something.

Multiply with What You’ve Been Given

Here’s the good news: disciple-making doesn’t require perfection. It requires faithfulness. Share what you know. Model what you live. Confess what you’re still learning. And then walk with someone, however briefly, to help them grow into Christ and go do the same for others.

Even the busiest seasons can hold space for this kind of ministry. Not because we find more hours in the day, but because we reimagine how to use the ones we already have. Dinner tables become discipleship tables. Coffee breaks become spiritual coaching. Weekend chores become mission fields.

So, busy believer, start small. Share what you have. Trust that God will do more with your five loaves and two fish than you ever could alone.

If this encouraged or equipped you, share it with someone who feels like they don’t have enough to give or subscribe to our newsletter to receive more simple ways to walk out deep faith.