19 "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, aven to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19, 20

During the Viet Nam War, one clear sign that our nation's leaders, both military and civilian, had lost confidence in our ability to win was the subtle shift from reporting achievement of military objectives to focusing on "body count". Regardless of the strategic situation, we would win if we consistently killed more of them than they killed of us. Then one day, our television screens were filled with images of helicopters taking off from the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon, trying to get the stragglers to safety before te arrival of the victorious enemy.

Today, some Christians exhibit this same "body count" mentality. In the face of an increasingly secularized society beset by all manner of moral ills, we convince ourselves that the battle is being won because "x" number of "salvations" or "decisions for Christ" have been achieved by this church or that parachurch organization. We take our prospects down the "Roman Road", pray the sinners prayer with them, and count our victories, blind to the fact that we have failed to gain meaningful ground in the battle for our culture.

With so many new recruits, how is it possible that we are still losing ground? Quite simply, we have too often failed to follow the clear orders of our King and have left our new recruits on the field of battle naked, hungry, and unarmed.

Our orders were clearly given in the "Great Commission" quoted at the beginning of this article. We are to make disciples; we are to teach. Of course, teaching and discipling cannot take place until our prospect accepts Christ, but this is only the beginning of our responsibility to the convert's soul, not the end.

For those of us in recovery, there is an obvious parallel to Step Twelve of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. To the recovering addict, twelfth step work means more than getting an addict who still suffers to some meetings and through Step Three. It is listening patiently, and with compassion, while a broken man or woman reads us their moral inventory. It means teaching those who are new in the fellowship the entire program. It is answering the telephone in the middle of the night when a fellow addict is locked in mortal combat with the craving to return to their old way of life.

Perhaps the best picture that can be drawn of twelfth step work is that of an "old timer" bending down to comfort a nauseated fellow who has "slipped", wiping the sufferer's forehead with a cool rag and, when a semblance of sobriety has returned, exhorting, encouraging, and supporting the suffering and guilt-ridden friend.

We have been commissioned to make disciples. To understand Christ's meaning, (if the words themselves are not sufficiently plain), we need look no further than His example. He taught His disciples patiently and persistently. He confronted them when they were wrong. He cared for them when they were sick or hurting. For twelve of them, He stayed with them almost constantly for three years and never ceased to love them. Finally and most importantly, He laid down His life for them. It is time for us to follow His example.