God wants every individual Christian and local church to have a multigenerational vision for discipleship as seen in 2 Timothy 2:2. The first generation in this verse is represented by the apostle Paul (“me”) who discipled Timothy (“you”) “among many witnesses” – a reference to the second generation of disciples. Timothy was to disciple the third generation consisting of “faithful men.” They are to be “faithful” so they can teach the fourth generation consisting of “others.” If they are not faithful, there will be no future disciples of Jesus Christ and the local church will become extinct. Like any living organism, the church will no longer exist if we do not reproduce (spiritually) through the discipleship process.
While it is important to focus on the people we are currently preaching the gospel to and discipling, it is equally important to focus on the people they will witness to and train in discipleship, and the people they will witness to and train, and the people they will witness to and train (cf. John 17:20-26). Failure to have a multigenerational vision for discipleship is likely to result in a lack of intentionality, motivation, and strategy for making disciples of Jesus Christ in the future.