week 6

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY

Discipleship and a Healthy Church

Submitted to Dr. Rick Garner in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of

DSMN 500-B06

Discipleship Ministries

By

Christina Porter

March 6, 2018

Discipleship and a Healthy Church

When we look at the lives of those who have come before us and truly lived as disciples sold out and wholly committed to the great commission we see men and women who follow God word wholeheartedly. If you are involved in a Bible believing church the likelihood of you knowing people who not only understand themselves in Christ but also their role in the church is very high. The Lord places specific people in leadership with gifting’s that will not only bring glory to Him but also help in the mission to fulfil the Great Commission. I want to look what a healthy church and its leadership like as well as give personal examples of areas of growth and practical ways to improve spiritual health.

In life anytime I seek wisdom or understanding I look to scripture and the council of others who do the same thing before giving advice. I truly believe that is vital not only as Christians but also as disciples and leaders in ministry. Having been in leadership in many different ministries both in and around the church I can attest to the need for men and women who not only love the Lord but follow hard after Him and His will. Scripture gives us many examples of what a Christian is to look like, as well as the church. In Acts 2:42-47 we see an example of healthy leadership in the church and the impact it made not only on the church but how God honored their faithfulness to follow:

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.[footnoteRef:1] [1: Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture citations will be from the English Standard Bible.]

As a Christ follower I always hope that in response to my faithfulness to follow God and His will, He has favor on me and the people He has given me leadership over.

Healthy Church

There are around 37 million churches in the world today, with a number that large there are bound to be lots of healthy church’s as well as many who are not. Being in ministry for almost 9 years on and off I can give many examples of leaders who lead well and those who honestly shouldn’t have been in ministry and how that effected the ministry and sometimes church as a whole. When I was at a small church in Southlake Texas I worked for a pastor who at first seemed great but as I saw more and more of him and how he led his church I saw that he led the ministry from a heart of “I” and not God. He didn’t allow curriculum that challenged and grew the members, started to hire staff that wouldn’t question him as well as elders and lay leaders, and numbers and money were his only concern. When I would bring up seeking the Lord in decisions being made or would ask if he felt like God was calling him and the church to step in certain directions he would always ignore what I said or gave very vague answers. I felt the Lord calling me to leave due to my inability to follow a leader who wasn’t seeking Christ in all things. A few years after I left the all the leadership that had started to question him was no longer there and he implemented things that many men and women of God had gracefully advised against. Another example of a leader I worked with that was bringing down their ministry was a woman in recent years. She was so busy wanting to grow numbers and looking like the best in her field that she forgot to take time to let God do the work and went miles and miles ahead of His will. While she was trying to implement things that would eventually be great for her ministry she was so caught up in the wrong things she not only overworked her staff – which effected the ministry in more ways than could be imagined – she also ended up hurting the ministry placed in her leadership and making steps back instead of forward. She also let her moods affect her whole staff, to the point that when she was in a bad mood her staff would avoid her at all cost due to the fact that she would lash out and make emotional decision instead of prayed out and or though out ones.

While I am able to give examples of a church leadership that isn’t done right I could also write for pages and pages on the church leadership I have been around that leads in incredible ways, following Christ until their dying breath, and loving those under their leadership well. I pray that at the end of my time here on earth I could have done half the work these disciples have and done it with the same humbleness and willingness to drop all things to seek first the kingdom of God and His will for me and my ministry. The two things I can say about these disciples is they use their character strengths/gifting to bring God glory, and they center and focus not only themselves but their ministry on Christ the foundation. Early and Dempsey speak to the importance of the character of leadership in churches “The first truth in leadership development in this: God assignments are always based on character – the greater the character, the greater the assignment (Luke 16:10)” [footnoteRef:2] Someone in leadership needs to not only have characteristics that mirror those of Christ but also have a willingness to sacrifice. When you are leading disciples you are sacrificing time, comfort, and the selfish desires to put yourself first. We are human and so are the leaders in our churches so sin will happen, mistakes will be made but the desire to serve first Christ and then others is one that is critical when looking at the leaders that make the biggest impact in the church and therefore the world both near and far. A leader also must have a strong foundation that is rooted in Christ and when this is done a direct result is a service mentality as well as desire. Any Christian leader was once a disciple finding their ways through the beginnings of forming a spiritual maturity that is firmly being planted in Christ and His word. This isn’t a process that is done overnight or outside Christian community and mentorship, but inside the church and through a desire to grow and connect with community and a church. Leaders are in a position of having grown in the discipleship process but still realizing they are disciples who will always be growing and learning. When a church is built on a foundation of Christ and had leadership not only leads well but leads back to the cross it is one that has the ability to do incredible things in ministry like the church in Acts 2. [2: Earley, Dave, and Rod Dempsey. Disciple making is--: how to live the great commission with passion and confidence. Nashville, TN: B & H Avademic, 2013, 194. ]

Creating a healthier body of Christ

Being a member of Prestonwood Baptist Church gives so much opportunity for me to see ministry done well but also gives me the ability to see room for growth and ministry opportunities. While Prestonwood does a lot of things well I can also say there is room for growth in some very specific areas. I am involved in the young singles ministry there and I can honestly say it can be a struggle weekly to walk in the doors and interact with some of the singles there. I say that because some of the people there are the ones who make a show of getting drunk and sleeping with people the night before and show up to church the next day claiming to be sinless and the best of the best. One of the biggest issues in this in not only that these singles thing this is holiness but the fact that the leadership at Prestonwood hasn’t taken a more active role in trying to call out biblically not only in a smaller setting but from the pulpit. While I have been able to see in certain situations the staff stepping in I think that if there was more of a call to action and more talking about leading life this way there would be a far reaching and lasting impact not only in the young singles ministry but also the church as a whole. I think another area of growth needed would be more of a call to mentorship for those in the church. It is very rare that I hear about the importance of spiritual and life mentors and a call to seek relationships that align with this mentality. My mentor has been able to call me out when I need it, show me things I was unable to see, as well as teach me things I wouldn’t have learned without God placing them in my life to do so. This relationship has been one that has called me to accountability and a deeper level of my relationship with the Lord through someone taking time to disciple me biblically and love me well. As a result of more people seeking mentors the church would have the opportunity to help those who are starting on the discipleship journey as well as those who have been walking it for years but needing to be challenged and called to a deeper level. This would also be able to challenge those who have been walking with the Lord for many years to pour into those younger than them while learning new things about the Lord and potentially being given the opportunity to get excited about the “little things” in the discipleship process you can forget when having walked through it longer. And the final area would be more care for those in leadership and ministry. Prestonwood is a huge church with lots of things happening not only weekly but sometimes daily. While this is a huge aspect of ministry I also think its important for time to be taken to pour into staff and take time to set aside the work and have fun while being poured into. I can say from experience working at Prestonwood for years that it can get so busy that we just go from one thing to the next and don’t stop to not only bask in Gods sovereignty and grace to provide and do exceedingly and abundantly more than could we could do ourselves. In that business it can also be hard to remember to thank staff with investing in them as well as taking time to set aside work and have fun and bond as a staff. I have seen this done well and it creates a energy and excitement that resets the staff and gives a renewed excitement for the ministry and where it’s going. Not every church is perfect of gets it all right, it is a ministry that is run by sinners being led by a sovereign and all-knowing God that requires constant restructuring, surrender, and humbleness to admit wrong and try to grow. I am very lucky to be led by the staff at Prestonwood as well as get the chance to be a leader in its partner ministry serving alongside men and women who see the sin in their life and know the only solution to that sin and as a result of that knowledge are so passionate their God and chain breaker that dedicate their lives to Him and His call.

Spiritual Health

And finally I want to talk about improving spiritual health not only the church but ministries and individuals associated with it. One of the first steps would be for leadership to be bold in its teaching and preaching and call out the sin in the church in a way that points to the love and forgiveness of Christ while calling those in sin out and into the light so they are able to seek accountability and healing so they are able to try to leave sin behind instead of wearing it. This is obviously something that has to be looked at carefully and handled with grace and seeking the Lord but is done through leadership. As the leadership begins to take a more active role in equipping and empowering the believers, the church will naturally begin to become healthier. In terms of mentorship in the church this can be done by creating programs or revamping and promoting of programs already in place to show those in church the opportunities available. There would need to be a challenge presented to seek biblical mentorship and examples made to help others seen the incredible benefits of it. And finally just taking time to invest in staff trainings that give information but take time to pour into and rejuvenate the staff and those in leadership would be an incredible start to helping pour into those in leadership.

In conclusion I hope to encourage the importance of leadership in the church as well as ministries its involved in order for disciples to be made and grown and disciples send out to tell the world about God and His life saving and changing sovereignty that created generations and generation of believers willing to go to the ends of the earth to tell about His goodnesss.

Bibliography

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Discipleship. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2015.

Earley, Dave, and Rod Dempsey. Disciple making is--: how to live the great commission with passion and confidence. Nashville, TN: B & H Avademic, 2013.

Putman, Jim, Bobby Harrington, and Robert Emerson Coleman. DiscipleShift five steps that help your church to make disciples who make disciples. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.