week 1 db

Andrea Young

DSMN 500 –Discipleship Ministries

Prof. Richard Odom

Week 1 – Discussion Board

Topic: Define and Describe “Discipleship”

Synthesize the readings from the Dempsey & Earley and Putman et al. textbooks and give 3 characteristics of a follower of Jesus Christ. Create your own definition of a follower of Jesus; use Scripture to support your definition.

For your replies, compare and contrast your definition of a follower of Jesus with the definitions given by your classmates noting the differences and similarities presented as well as the outcomes of the differences as they relate to disciple making.

A disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ who is prepared to dedicate his life to Him no matter what, totally committed to his will, will love everyone and share God’s powerful love to all. Therefore, discipleship is doing the work of Jesus Chris and chiefly winning souls for the Kingdom. One must possess certain characteristics to be a follower of Christ and the first and foremost is to accept Christ as there lord and personal savior, one must develop and have a relationship with Christ. A disciple of Christ will understands the gospel, wants to fulfill God’s divine purpose over everything else. The scripture teaches us that by confessing our sins and accepting Jesus Christ as our lord and savior, by putting our faith and trust in Him, we have become followers of Christ. Roman 10:9-10 state, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” and in the scripture of Matthew 17:19-20, “Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” This scripture confirm a person of faith. Another characteristic of a follower of Christ is a person who puts Jesus Christ before others. Luke 14:26 state, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own life - such a person cannot be my disciple.” The scripture is quite clear of the characteristics of followers of Christ or a disciple who takes Jesus` words seriously: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

According to Dempsey and Earley, we have to truly understand what it takes to be a disciple of Christ and that we have to be truly committed and give up the things of the world. “Being a disciple means abandoning the things of the world and following Jesus” (Earley & Dempsey 2013, 22). We have to give up the worldly things and are prepare to go where God leads us. Luke 14:26-27 discusses the commitment and the sacrifice of a disciple. I agree with Dempsey and Earley statement, “We have to be prepared to sacrifice for Christ and his cost.” Luke 14:27 states, “And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. In verse 27 it is truly telling us of the cost and the sacrifice associated with following Christ. We have to be ready to give up all things of the world and even our own life if necessary to be a good disciple of Jesus, to be totally committed and total surrender to God’s will (Earley & Dempsey 2013, 23).

I clearly find that most of Putnam definitions were comparative to Dempsey and Early definition of a disciple of Christ. However, Putnam had more transparency and simplicity than that of Dempsey and Earley. Putnam’s definition was a simple enough to understand with the scripture as his vocal point of explaining what a disciple is, Matthew 4:19 “He (Jesus) said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Putnam & Harrington 2013, 45). Putnam share with us his framework and model for understanding discipleship by using three attributes to describe a disciple with three levels: “Follow Me”, “And I Will Make You” and “Fishers of Men”. A believer must accept who Jesus is and as there lord and personal savior. The decision to follow Christ will not be easy but one continues to learn and believe in the Truth of Christ Jesus. Jesus transforms us to be better people and to be more like him and this transformation takes place in our hearts where the outcome is a spiritual response, with this we learn to be “fishers of men” by bringing souls to the savior by sharing the word and Jesus’s love for us that he died on the cross for all our sins. (Putnam & Harrington 2013, 46-47)

Bibliography:

Earley, Dave, and Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is…: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013.

New International Version (NIV)

Putman, Jim, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman. DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.