Will the Son of Man Find Faith on the Earth when He Comes? - Making Disciples as a Guarantee of a Positive Answer to the Question of Jesus.

Abstract

The mission of proclaiming the Gospel by making disciples is an imperative that applies to the Church and each of its members who, by virtue of Baptism participate in the Priestly, Prophetic and Kingly Mission of Christ. The apostles did not set up a „school of disciples", but they became teachers for the communities they established. By making disciples of the next generation, they crossed the boundaries of time and  place.

A man becomes a disciple of Jesus by responding immediately to the invitation of Jesus to follow him - an only Teacher, leaving everything that hinders us and taking up our cross. The formation process involves learning the content of faith, leads to the adoption of a particular attitude towards it and is verified by behaviour in accordance with the choice made. Forming disciples in the school of Jesus is not limited only to a personal transformation, but it leads to the discovery of their place in the community of disciples - the Church, and enables them to take responsibility for the formation of successors. Failure to take account of this dimension of formation always leads to a crisis of faith.

Making disciples is not only an invitation to preach the Good News, but the strategy of evangelization which Jesus put into practice during his public ministry. Since he has restored human dignity as a child of God, his disciples fulfill a basic vocation to be fertile mothers and fathers giving birth to a new life in Christ of disciples - sons and daughters of God - and, like their Master, give their life for them.