According to the Book of Acts, a disciple is an individual who has placed his faith and trust in Jesus Christ and is following Jesus Christ’s teachings and direction for his life. A disciple is connected with other disciples through the church and participates in Jesus’ mission to spread the good news to the ends of the earth.

A disciple is an individual. While Acts points us to the church’s work as a gathered group of disciples, we do not escape the spiritual reality that God deals with us as individuals. Each person is responsible for their sin, as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, and individuals are invited to call on the name of the Lord and be saved (Acts 2:21). 

A disciple is an individual who has placed his faith and trust in Jesus Christ. What makes one a disciple is a personal and individual decision to follow Jesus by faith. Peter, who gave the first post-ascension proclamation of the good news about Jesus, had responded in faith to Jesus in Matthew 4:19-20, when Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men.”

A disciple is following the teaching of Jesus Christ. Disciples are seen in the book of Acts, acting in obedience to the words of Jesus Christ. They obey his words and pray in an upper room in Jerusalem, waiting on his promise (Acts 1:12-14). They obeyed his words and witnessed about him across the known world (Acts 1:8, Acts 8:1-4). Paul obeyed his words even at significant cost to his reputation, physical body, and life. Disciples are always responsive to the words of Jesus.  

A disciple is following the direction of Christ through his Holy Spirit. Not only do we observe the disciples obeying the teaching and commands of Christ, but we also see them being responsive to Christ’s leadership through the Holy Spirit. Cornelius responded when directed to go and seek out Paul after his Damascus Road experience with Jesus. Paul and Barnabas responded when the Holy Spirit directed them not to go in a particular direction on their missionary journey. Disciples listen and obey both the words of Jesus and the direction of his Spirit.   

A disciple is connected with other disciples. There are few instances in the Book of Acts of disciples acting alone. Jesus modeled and commissioned his disciples to serve and share the gospel in groups of two or more. Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs. Jesus prayed for a unified mission force in John 17. The only ministry interaction in the Book of Acts that is not done as a team is Phillip’s remarkable evangelistic exchange with the Ethiopian Eunuch. From the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, through the book of Acts, we see that disciples are meant to relate to other disciples in fellowship and in pursuit of Jesus’ mission.

A disciple participates in Jesus’ mission of spreading the good news to the ends of the earth. Throughout the book of Acts we see disciples walking in obedience to Jesus’ commission to be witnesses of him. Peter proclaimed the Gospel everywhere he went, beginning in Jerusalem. Phillip shared the gospel cross-culturally with the Ethiopian Eunuch. Paul proclaimed the gospel everywhere he went and taught others to spread the gospel throughout his three missionary journeys. The most remarkable statement in Acts 19 is that all of Asia heard the word of the Lord. A disciple is obedient and responsive to the words of Jesus and the promptings of the Spirit, and those words and promptings throughout the book of Acts guided them toward gospel proclamation. Disciples will find a way to participate in Jesus’ mission to spread the good news of his death, burial, and resurrection to the ends of the earth.