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In marks gospel we learn about the nature of discipleship. A disciple is someone who learns form the word of god which comes from Jesus’ teaching. Whereas an apostle is, perhaps in a way, the next stage of discipleship, where they go out and spread the word of god to others making them disciples. They had the courage to do this because of the Holy Spirit descending upon them as tongues of fire so they could preach in every language they had to.

        The purpose of discipleship according to marks gospel is to heal, to spread the word of God and to teach people how to change their hearts and helping people realise the things that stop them from loving God and their neighbour as themselves; as an apostle he has achieved that in most hearts.

        In marks gospel the disciples have an important purpose. Jesus wanted friends to help and support him on his mission. There are a number of references from mark to support this. Mark 1:16-20 talks about when he was on his first search for loyal disciples. He said to two men in a fishing boat (Simon and His Brother Andrew) “Come, follow me” “and I will make you fishers of men.” This story teaches us that Jesus chose ordinary men (Fishermen to be Precise).

Mark 3:13-19 refers to when Jesus sent the disciples out to preach and to have the strength to make others disciples. This means that Jesus wanted the disciples to go out and spread the word of god to others.

Another example from mark to help us understand the purpose of discipleship is in Mark 6:7-13. This is where Jesus sends the disciples out in pairs and gives them authority over unclean spirits. He also tells them not to take anything on the journey apart from a staff!

A final example is from Mark 6:30-44 this is when there is the feeding of the 5000. Where Jesus takes 5 loaves and 2 fish blesses them and asks them to hand it all to the 5000. In the end it turns out that there was enough for every single person to be fed till they are full up and they end up with 12 baskets of leftovers.

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Jesus chose a variety of different people to be his disciples. For example he chose four fishermen as his first four disciples! (Mark 1:16-20) he also chose a tax collector (Levi the son of Alpheus) this shows Christians today that Jesus chose ordinary people not big people that were ‘the best’!

Mark is very clear about the costs and demands of discipleship. Disciples have to give up everything and show total love to God. For example in Mark 12:41-44 it shows a widow putting all she had in the Treasury and Jesus Said that she had put more ...

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