Colossians 1:28–29: Why Discipleship Programs Fail
Short answer: Colossians 1:28–29 locates discipleship in a person, not a program: Paul proclaims Christ, admonishing and teaching every person with the aim of presenting every person mature in Christ Jesus. The energy for that labor is not his own, since he strives according to Christ's working, which works in him mightily. A program can organize times, materials and steps, but it cannot supply the working Paul names here or produce the maturity that is God's to give. Programs fail when they are asked to do what only the proclaimed Christ and his working can do.
A ministry summary inside a larger argument
Colossians is a letter, not a sermon transcript or a plan for church growth. Paul writes to a congregation he did not plant and had never visited, as Colossians 2:1 makes plain. The believers there had heard the gospel from someone else, probably Epaphras, and now face religious teaching that could pull them away from Christ. Into that setting Paul inserts a compact first person report of his own ministry. Its shape is deliberate: a threefold announcement about proclaiming, admonishing and teaching, then a stated goal, then a closing word about labor and striving. He is not offering a method to copy so much as explaining what faithful ministry looks like from the inside.
The report does not begin with technique. It begins with revelation. Colossians 1:26–27 describe a mystery hidden for ages and now made known to the saints, and Paul names its content plainly: Christ among the Gentiles, the hope of glory. Verse 28 flows directly from that: because this Christ has been made known, Paul proclaims him. The content controls the method. Whatever admonishing and teaching he does, its subject is a person, not a program. That matters for anyone tempted to measure ministry by attendance or visible results. The message Paul carries is not advice about how to improve, but the announcement of what God has already done in his Son.
Verse 29 then names the cost: labor and striving, yet according to Christ's working in him. Chapter 2 extends that same struggle to people Paul has never met, and Colossians 2:2 states the aim: hearts comforted, believers knit together in love, and full assurance of understanding. Maturity here is relational and corporate, not merely individual. A struggling program is not evidence of God's disfavor, and no better method guarantees mature believers. What stays central is the proclaimed Christ, the one whose working supplies the strength for the labor.
What Paul actually says he does
Start with the verb. Paul says of Christ, "We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus" (Colossians 1:28). The thing announced is a person, not a program. Whatever curriculum a church uses, the content of the announcement is Christ himself. Notice also who is addressed: every man, three times over. Paul does not sort the room into the promising and the doubtful. The warning and the instruction go to all of them, which means a struggling group is not a category of people the message skips.
The two verbs carry different work. Admonishing means warning and correcting; teaching means instructing. Paul does not choose between them, and he does not pretend either one produces instant results. The goal he names is that people be presented mature in Christ, fully formed rather than flawless. That distinction matters for anyone measuring a discipleship effort. Maturity in this life is real progress toward Christ, not sinless perfection, so a program can be honest about slow growth without treating slowness as evidence that God has withdrawn his favor.
Then Paul describes his own effort: labor and striving, ordinary words for hard work and athletic strain. He does not soften them, and he does not let them stand alone. Both are qualified at once by "his working, which works in me mightily" (Colossians 1:29). The toil is real, and the power is not his own. That keeps a leader from two errors: assuming a struggling method proves God is against them, or assuming a better method guarantees mature believers. Work hard, examine the method honestly, and leave the outcome with the one who works in you.
The work behind the work of discipleship
Paul does not describe a curriculum here. He names a message and a person: because the mystery hidden for ages has now been revealed, and that mystery is Christ in you, the hope of glory, Paul says, "We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;" (Colossians 1:28). Notice the repetition of every man. The scope is not a gifted few but ordinary believers of every background, which mattered in a Gentile mission where other religious teaching competed for their loyalty. The method serves the content. Admonishing and teaching are how the proclaimed Christ is pressed into actual lives, and the stated aim is maturity in him, not completion of a course.
Then Paul tells us where the strength for this comes from. He labors and strives, he says, according to Christ's working, which works in him mightily (1:29). The striving is real and costly, yet the power is not his own. That single verse reframes how a struggling ministry should be read. A program can schedule meetings, train leaders and supply material, and those things are not nothing. But no arrangement of resources can generate the working Paul names, and no method can guarantee the maturity that God alone gives. The effectiveness of discipleship rests on the Christ who is proclaimed and on his energy at work in the one who proclaims.
The struggle widens in the next chapter. Paul wants the Colossians to know how greatly he contends for them and for those at Laodicea and for everyone who has never met him (2:1). His goal is that their hearts be comforted, that they be knit together in love, and that they gain full assurance of understanding in knowing the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ (2:2). Maturity, then, is relational and corporate, not merely personal progress. This is where pastoral care matters: a program that is faltering is not evidence of God's disfavor, and a better method is not a promise of mature believers. Keep pointing people to the proclaimed Christ and trust his working.
Where readers disagree about Paul's striving
Paul says he labors and strives, and the same sentence says the energy is Christ's working in him. That pairing is where careful readers part ways. Some see in Paul's effort a pattern for structured discipleship: set curriculum, regular accountability, leaders who strive on purpose. Others point to the second half of 1:29 and argue that programs easily shift the weight from Christ's working to ours. Both readings want the same thing, mature believers in Christ. The disagreement is over method and emphasis, not the gospel. What the text does not do is command a schedule or a curriculum. It describes apostolic labor and names its source.
The phrase every man draws a similar question. Some readers hear a universal offer, the gospel announced to all without distinction. Others hear pastoral care for each person in the flock, since Paul is writing to a congregation he has not visited. The Greek word behind every man is not in question here; the plain English allows either emphasis. What stays clear is that proclamation, warning and teaching are aimed at individuals, not crowds in the abstract. Admonishing belongs in ordinary church life, though the text gives no script for how firmly or how often. It assumes truth spoken for the good of the hearer.
Notice what Paul does not promise. He does not say that right teaching guarantees mature believers, or that a well-run program produces the outcome. He says the goal is to present everyone mature in Christ, and that the striving depends on Christ's mighty working. That order matters for leaders. A struggling ministry is not evidence of God's disfavor, and a better method is not a guarantee of spiritual health. The text sets the aim and the source, not the schedule. Where readers differ on structure, they can agree that Christ is proclaimed and that the result rests with him.
The message, the goal, and the power belong to Christ
Paul does not describe a curriculum here. He describes a person. Three times in two verses the work bends back toward Christ: the content preached is him, the maturity aimed at is in Christ Jesus, and the energy behind the labor is his working. Colossians 1:28 says, "We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;" The warning and the teaching are real activities, but they are not the point. Christ is both what is announced and where the announcing leads. A discipleship effort can be measured by attendance and completion, yet Paul measures the work by whether people are being formed in a living Lord.
The ground of expectation is stated just before this in Colossians 1:27, where the mystery among the Gentiles is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That indwelling is not a technique a leader can install by running a better program. It is God's own action, revealed because he was pleased to make it known. So the labor in 1:29 is not self-generated effort. Paul says he strives according to his working, which works in him mightily. The striving is genuine, but its power source is outside him. This keeps a struggling ministry from becoming evidence of God's disfavor, and it keeps a successful one from becoming proof that a method produced mature believers.
There is real comfort here for anyone whose program is not working. Paul's own ministry included struggle, and in Colossians 2:1 he tells the church how greatly he contends for people he has never met. Labor and wrestling are normal, not signs of abandonment. What stays central is that Christ is preached, that people are taught toward maturity in him, and that the working is his. No leader can promise that a revised approach will guarantee mature disciples. What can be said is that the Lord who is proclaimed is also the Lord who works, and the outcome rests with him rather than with the plan.
What faithful discipleship looks like when the program is not working
Start with the plain question: is your effort actually announcing Christ, or mostly managing attendance and content? In Colossians 1:28 the object of the proclamation is a person, not a curriculum. Paul does not say he promotes a method or a growth track. He says, "We proclaim him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus;" That single focus reframes a struggling ministry. If the calendar, the sign-up sheet and the lesson slides have quietly become the point, the first faithful step is not a better program but a return to the one being announced.
Then recover the two verbs Paul pairs. Warning and teaching belong together: warning names the real danger of drifting, and teaching fills out what is true so people can walk in it. Both are aimed at every person in reach, not only the responsive ones who show up and nod. Notice also that Paul expects labor. In 1:29 he describes toil and striving, so difficulty is not automatically a signal that the effort is wrong. A hard season may simply be the shape of the work. What it does not prove is that God has turned against you or your church.
The outcome rests somewhere other than your planning. Paul labors, yet he strives according to Christ's working, which works in him mightily. So pray for maturity and teach toward it while leaving the timing and measure to God. Do not promise that a better method will produce mature believers, and do not read a struggling program as evidence of his disfavor. Grace is the ground: the Christ you proclaim is the one who works, so your obedience is a response to his working, never a payment for it.
The outcome rests somewhere other than your planning. Paul labors, yet he strives according to Christ's working, which works in him mightily. So pray for maturity and teach toward it while leaving the timing and measure to God. Do not promise that a better method will produce mature believers, and do not read a struggling program as evidence of his disfavor. Grace is the ground: the Christ you proclaim is the one who works, so your obedience is a response to his working, never a payment for it.
Biblical fidelity check
Colossians 1:28–29 was read with attention to who acts in each clause. Paul names the content first, Christ proclaimed, then the twofold work of warning and teaching aimed at every person, then the goal of presenting each one mature in Christ. The risk here is turning a description of apostolic labor into a prescribed method. Paul does not outline a schedule or curriculum. The second risk is flattening the last clause, where his striving is measured by Christ's working in him, so the effort is real but never self-generated.
Evangelical readers agree that Christ is the substance of the proclamation and maturity in him the aim, yet they differ over how structured discipleship should be. Some see Paul's labor as a pattern for intensive accountability and curriculum; others stress that the working is Christ's and warn against measuring health by program participation. The text prescribes no method and promises no program will produce maturity. What stays central is Christ proclaimed, warning and teaching directed at every person, and the outcome resting on his working, not ours.
Where Colossians 1:28-29 connects to the rest of Scripture
Trace how Paul prays for the same believers' understanding and assurance in Philippians 2 Humility: The Mind of Christ in You, then compare his description of his own labor with the ministry picture in Colossians 1:27 Meaning: Christ in You, the Hope of Glory. Consider how the goal of maturity reappears in 1 Corinthians 14:26-33: Order Instead of Confusion, and how the letter's opening prayer for knowledge and endurance in Judith 8: A Widow's Courage and the Wisdom of Deed frames the work described here.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my church's discipleship program seem to produce so little spiritual maturity?
Paul answers the question with a method: maturity comes where Christ himself is proclaimed, every person is admonished and taught, and the labor is done in his strength, not a program's momentum. A program that moves people through material without ever confronting and instructing them in Christ will produce information rather than growth. Paul says he labors and strives according to Christ's working in him, so prayerful dependence on that power belongs in the plan. Ask whether your program aims at presenting every person complete in Christ, or at finishing a curriculum.
Does Colossians 1:28 require one-on-one discipleship, or is preaching enough?
Colossians 1:28 does not command a single method, but it will not let preaching stand alone. Paul describes his labor as proclaiming Christ while admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, so the goal is every person brought to maturity in Christ. That aim needs both the public announcement and the personal, corrective, patient instruction implied by admonishing and teaching. The verse sets the end, mature people in Christ, and calls for whatever faithful warning and teaching serves it, whether from a pulpit or across a table.
What does it mean that Paul labored and strove according to Christ's working in him?
Paul's labor was real effort, but its energy came from Christ working mightily in him, not from his own reserves. In 1:28 he describes the work itself: proclaiming Christ, warning and teaching every person with wisdom, aiming to present each one complete in Christ. Then 1:29 names the strain of that ministry and immediately traces its power to God's working. So exertion and dependence are not opposites here; Paul strives, and the strength is supplied. This is description of apostolic ministry, not a promise that our efforts will always succeed.
