Discipleship is apprenticing someone in the Christian life and helping them develop spiritual disciplines. While Jesus could have reached the masses in His earthly ministry, He chose to devote the majority of His time to twelve men. He knew He needed to personally care for and form a small group of men who would be strong enough to do the same for others. In the end, this approach would multiply disciples and reach the masses. In other words, Jesus' plan to reach the world was through the multiplication of disciples, which is why He asked us to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19).
Jesus focused on a small group. Making disciples is very relational and time intensive. There needs to be a strong level of trust, communication, and support in order to create the environment for discipleship. In a small group a teen can feel known, loved, and cared for. A level of confidentiality can be achieved which gives teens the freedom to open up about their struggles and doubts. In a small group there is the greater possibility to catch the things that teens don’t understand and have a discussion. In addition, the small group allows the leader to know their disciples well and thus be able to customize the topics of discussion that best reach those teens.