50 Discipleship Quotes About Being a Disciple of Jesus

By Stephanie Kirby

Writer, Entrepreneur and Inspirational quote curator

Published July 25, 2023

If you have heard the word “discipleship” and wondered what it means, check out these discipleship quotes to learn more.

Discipleship is simply the state of being a disciple, so to understand discipleship, you must understand what a disciple is.

In Christianity, a disciple is a person who follows Jesus by learning more about Jesus and living their life committed to Jesus.

When you become a disciple, you first learn more about Jesus through the scriptures and from other disciples.

As you mature in your relationship with Christ, you will continue to learn, but your life will continue to reflect the values expressed in the Bible.

Take a look at these discipleship quotes to learn more about being a disciple.

The Best Discipleship Quotes

Here are some of the best discipleship quotes.

1. “Only a disciple can make a disciple.” — A.W. Tozer

2. “Cheap grace is grace without discipleship.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

3. “You cannot impart what you do not possess.” — Howard G. Hendricks

4. “You never graduate from the school of discipleship.” — Howard G. Hendricks

5. “The Christian life is the discipled life and the discipling life.” — Mark Dever

6. “Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

7. “His voice leads us not into timid discipleship but into bold witness.” — Charles Stanley

8. “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

9. “Making disciples of Jesus is the overflow of the delight in being disciples of Jesus.” — David Platt

10. “What we need is for discipleship to become the goal, and then the process never ends.” — Robby Gallaty

Convicting Discipleship Quotes

Discipleship can be hard, and these discipleship quotes are sure to convict Christians.

11. “Discipleship is crucial to our ultimate destiny, but its cost is total commitment.” — David Jeremiah

12. “The one indispensable requirement for producing godly, mature Christians is godly, mature Christians.” — Kevin DeYoung

13. “In the school of discipleship, suffering for Christ is never an elective course, but a required core class.” — Steven J. Lawson

14. “The cost of discipleship is to live the life God has given us, serving in mundane ways the people he’s put in our path.” — Mark Galli

15. “Love is the measure of our faith, the inspiration for our obedience, and the true altitude of our discipleship.” — Dieter F. Uchtdorf

16. “Through discipline, discipline is the other side of discipleship. If you want to follow Jesus, you have to have discipline.” — Henri Nouwen

17. “Discipleship never consists in this or that specific action: it is always a decision, either for or against Jesus Christ.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

18. “Those who teach by their doctrine must teach by their life, or else they pull down with one hand what they build up with the other.” — Matthew Henry

19. “No matter how high the powers of reason, no matter how deep the intellect, no one can discover God’s secret messages without paying the cost of true discipleship.” — Winkie Pratney

20. “The kingdom of heaven is worth infinitely more than the cost of discipleship, and those who know where the treasure lies joyfully abandon everything else to secure it.” — D.A. Carson

Discipleship Quotes to Inspire Christians

These discipleship quotes can inspire Christians as they walk through life.

21. “Making disciples of Jesus is the overflow of delight in being disciples of Jesus.” — David Platt

22. “The Christian belongs not in the seclusion of cloistered life but in the thick of foes.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

23. “The Great Commission was given by Jesus to all and every Christian, not only to pastors or missionaries.” — Cristina Boersma

24. “Success should be measured not by how many disciples are made, but by how many disciples are making other disciples.” — Bill Hull

25. “Making disciples is not a 6-week event, but rather a relationship journey. How can you build in more margin for people time?” — Lorma Johnston

26. “Disciple-making is not a call for others to come to us to hear the gospel but a command for us to got to others to share the gospel.” — David Platt

27. “To become a disciple of Jesus requires intentionality—a purposeful attempt to foster the discipleship process day in and day out.” — Richard Foster

28. “If we’re going to impact our world in the name of Jesus, it will be because people like you and me took action in the power of the Spirit.” — Alan Hirsch

29. “Making disciples is all about seeing people transformed by the power of God’s Word. If you want to see that happen in others, you need to be experiencing such transformation yourself.” — Francis Chan

30. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” — Matthew 28:19-20

Discipleship Quotes to Encourage Christians

These discipleship quotes can be used to encourage Christians.

31. “Jesus was a great worker, and His disciples must not be afraid of hard work.” — Charles Spurgeon

32. “Disciples of Christ abide in His Word. Those who abide in His Word know the truth and are free.” — R.C. Sproul

33. “Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man.” — Dwight L. Moody

34. “But Jesus gave the command to make disciples to you. And part of being a disciple, in fact, is to disciple.” — Mark Dever

35. “Even if our own troubles are great, we should still serve. Jesus washed His disciples’ feet on the way to the cross.” — Timothy Keller

36. “A disciple is a person who has decided that the most important thing in their life is to learn how to do what Jesus said to do.” — Dallas Willard

37. “Discipleship is the term I use to describe our own following Christ. Discipling is the subset of that, which is helping someone else follow Christ.” — Mark Dever

38. “We need to remember that the first disciples were ordinary men called to an extraordinary mission. Their devotion to Jesus outweighed- by hair- their fears and insecurities.” — Max Lucado

39. “Disciples of Jesus are people who do not just profess certain views as their own but apply their growing understanding of life in the Kingdom of the Heavens to every aspect of their life on earth.” — Dallas Willard

40. “It is impossible to live the life of a disciple without definite times of secret prayer. You will find that the place to enter in is in your business as you walk along the streets, in the ordinary ways of life, when no one dreams you are praying, and the reward comes openly, a revival here, a blessing there.” — Oswald Chambers

More Discipleship Quotes

Consider these discipleship quotes.

41. “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

42. “Until you have given up yourself to Him, you will not have a real self.” — C.S. Lewis

43. “The cost of discipleship is indeed great. But the cost of non-discipleship is far greater.” — Dallas Willard

44. “Discipleship is a decision to live by what is true about God, not by what I feel about Him or myself or others.” — Eugene Peterson

45. “A disciple is a life-long learner: not an academic acquiring information about God, but a craftsman acquiring skills in the faith.” — Eugene Peterson

46. “As preachers of the gospel of Jesus, do not expect worldly honors: these Jesus Christ neither took to himself nor gave to his disciples.” — Adam Clarke

47. “Perhaps the greatest malady in the Church today is converts to Christ who are not disciples of Christ – a clear contradiction in terms.” — Richard Foster

48. “Christian discipleship is not some enormous, monolithic task, but rather the sum total of lots of small decisions, thoughts, words, and actions.” — Will Faircloth

49. “The correct perspective is to see following Christ not only as the necessity it is but as the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities and as life on the highest plane.” — Dallas Willard

50. “Discipleship – the process of learning to walk every moment with (and for) Jesus – is not in the strategies and methods by themselves; it is in the life of faithful obedience to God that the most consistent fruit is borne.” — Nick Cash