week4
arnita
wa3.docxLIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Disciple Making in the Local Church
Submitted to Dr. David Earley
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500 LUO D02
Discipleship Ministries
by
Frank D’Errico
December 8, 2017
Introduction
Since Jesus Christ has given the instructions of the Great Commission, the idea of discipling has taken on many forms. What many seem to view as a spiritual gift is mistaken for that is a requirement in obedience as a body of Christ to carry out. The overall body of Christ can be viewed in multiple parts, however, each part needs to be working in sync with one another to be operating effectively. The role the Pastor, Church, Saints, and Spiritual Gifts play in discipling will be discussed and how independently each part is a contributing factor to another.
Church in Discipleship
The term church can often be defined in multiple ways. It is often believed to be the building where people come together to worship the Lord. However, when looking at the term Church biblically, it references to be the body of Christ.[footnoteRef:1] Jesus Christ lives on earth through the Church body.[footnoteRef:2] Ultimately, “Christ is the Church”[footnoteRef:3], and when engaged in a church community one is in Christ. [1: David Earley, Dr. and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is How to Live the Great Commision with Passion andConfidence (Nashville, TN: B and H Academic, 2013), 39] [2: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, vol. 4 (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 218] [3: Ibid., 219]
Understanding what the Church represents begins to provide a clear outline of the role that the Church must play. Jesus was a disciple-maker and therefore has set the foundations for which the body of Christ should continue to follow in. The church needs to be fully invested in God’s ultimate plan of making disciples worldwide.[footnoteRef:4] [4: David Earley, Dr. and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is How to Live the Great Commision with Passion andConfidence (Nashville, TN: B and H Academic, 2013), 39]
The Church helps do this by spreading the Gospel to win people to Christ. However, it is not enough to just win people over to Christ it is important to continue to help them grow in their spiritual walk with the end goal of being able to send them out into the world to disciple others.
The concern that has developed is that not all Churches have developed the same vision and have failed to follow the direct commandment given. Whereas some churches have failed to set their concentration on preaching, condemning, or even just serving others with love, however, the Church is responsible for not only preaching the word of God but helping those grow spiritually and recognize their spiritual gifts so that the role God has intended them to carry out can be.[footnoteRef:5] Many church leaders have failed to recognize that evangelism is a main priority of the body.[footnoteRef:6] It is through this process that the discipling can begin and be successful. [5: Ibid., 43] [6: David Wheeler, Dr. andVernon Whaley, The Great Commission Worship (Nashville, TN: B and H Academic, 2010), The Discussion Begins]
The Church which is truly the body of Christ is to glorify God in all that is done. The body of Christ is to represent Christ and to fulfill the missions that He carried out during his earthly ministry. It is through the scripture that it becomes visible that the Church has a responsibility to not only share the Gospel but to disciple others and help them grow spiritually.
Pastor’s Role in Discipleship
The Pastor’s role is to help prepare the individuals who are known as saints; these individuals are to do the work of the ministry.[footnoteRef:7] The Pastor can only be successful at this task if the body itself is in a healthy functioning status. The Pastor must keep a status check on the body and each individual part that the body entails ensuring that each part is healthy and working. As there are different organizations underneath the umbrella of the church, each must function together to serve one body, Jesus Christ.[footnoteRef:8] [7: David Earley, Dr. and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is How to Live the Great Commision with Passion andConfidence (Nashville, TN: B and H Academic, 2013), 40] [8: David Earley, Dr. and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is How to Live the Great Commision with Passion andConfidence (Nashville, TN: B and H Academic, 2013), 191]
The Pastor helps set the foundation for under which the body of Christ will function. For example, the Church Calvary Chapel is known for there style of teaching verse by verse feeding the body each week strictly by the word of God. However, there are other areas that the church may need to make improvements to better suit the needs of Jesus Christ.
The Pastor must continuously keep a pulse on what the health status is of the Church for that Jesus is always evaluating the health of His Church.[footnoteRef:9] This includes helping people develop spiritually and identifying with their spiritual gifts. It is when the believers begin to grow spiritually and can begin carrying out the missions of God that the health of the local church begins to increase.[footnoteRef:10] [9: Ibid., 187] [10: Ibid 41]
Saints in Discipleship
The field ministry field is one that requires more than just passion but one of preparedness. Although referenced above, that part of the responsibility of the Pastor is to help prepare and raise the saints up for their work in ministry, there still lays a responsibility on their part as well.
It is important that action is taken and that the teaching that is provided is not just stored within and not put to use. It is critical that ministry work is entering the lost world and not staying within the confined walls of those who have already reached the point of salvation. It is here where the love of Christ is shown and demonstrated to the lost world with the ultimate goal of sharing the Gospel.[footnoteRef:11] [11: Jim Puttman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DISCIPLE SHIFT Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 155]
Once the connection is made, there needs to be a relationship established. Even if Christ is not accepted at the first time, it is still critical to develop a relationship with the lost and demonstrate the work on the Holy Spirit in one’s life demonstrating what it is like to follow Christ.
Once an individual is brought to salvation, it is critical to disciple them and teach them the ways of Christ. It is here where the many grow spiritually and can begin to be trained to minister to others by serving them.[footnoteRef:12] [12: Ibid., 160]
As the discipleship continues over time, it is the Saints who are ultimately preparing others to go out into the world and other ministries to ultimately win others to Christ and multiply the disciples in the world.[footnoteRef:13] [13: Ibid., 161]
Spiritual Gifts in Discipleship As members of the body of Christ, each individual is given a spiritual gift. 1 Peter 4:10-11 states “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms”[footnoteRef:14] indicating that these gifts should be used for the purpose of serving God’s overall mission. [14: Unless otherwise noted all scripture comes from the NKJV, 1 Peter 4:10-11]
However, one must become familiar with the spiritual gifts identified in the scripture. 1 Corinthians 12:7 identifies the spiritual gifts in the following:
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.[b] 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.[footnoteRef:15] [15: 1 Corinthians 10: 7-11]
The goal of the spiritual gift is to bring glory to God and to fulfill His plans. What is interesting is that although some people have the gift of knowledge, it can be taken as evangelism which leads to discipling. However, this does not exclude those people who do not have this spiritual gift for that it was a commandment given by Christ for all to carry out. Failure to follow this commandment of the Great Commission is in a sense being disobedient to what Christ has commanded one to do.
The church as a body plays a crucial role in helping the new believers identify their spiritual gifts. It is here that an individual can determine what gift has been given to them and in what area of ministry would best fit their gift. In all things the more an individual is able to develop and grow spiritually, which comes from proper discipling, the stronger their spiritual growth becomes.
Conclusion
I find this such an interesting segment to take on because although each part of the process looks as though it functions on its own, in reality, one must function for the other to operate successfully.
It is truly an eye-opener to take a different perspective of what the church truly is. To stop thinking about the church as a place of meeting but as a representation of the body of Christ puts a different perspective on how I, as a part of his body have been operating. Somedays I can go in the building which I call the church with a smile and put on a front because there is so much going on inside, however, to realize that as part of the body of Christ I am failing to be a functioning part of His body is a deep feeling of conviction.
When the view of the Church now shifts from listening to the word of God to being a working and functioning part of Christ, there are some elements of my life that need to be re-examined. When outside circumstances begin to overwhelm me, and I fail to meet my obligations under which Christ has commanded me to, then I am part of the reason of why my local church begins to become sick. It is not a good feeling to know that when the Pastor does a status check of the churches health that I am coming up on the unhealthy list so to speak.
Just understanding that speaking to people about Christ is not enough and that it is important to disciple them or furthermore get them plugged into where someone else can disciple them has really started to change my view on evangelism. I never realized how much of a two-part process the Great Commission is in that not only is the Gospel being shared but discipling begins immediately.
The church as a whole may function as different parts of a body, but all parts need to function accordingly or else the only one who truly suffers is Christ. My pastor also says who bleeds when two believers are fighting, the body of Christ. That is something that really keeps standing out in my mind as I read through the role of the Church in discipleship.
Bibliography:
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Discipleship. Vol. 4. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003
Earley, David, Dr., and Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is How to Live the Great Commision with Passion and Confidence. Nashville, TN: B and H Academic,2013.
Puttman, Jim, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman. DISCIPLE SHIFT Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013.
Wheeler, David, Dr., and Vernon M. Whaley. The Great Commission to Worship Biblical Principals for Worship-Based Evangelism. Nashville, TN: B and H Academic, 2011.
