.LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Disciple Making Plan
Submitted to Professor Dr. Jonathan Geukgeuzian
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500
Discipleship Ministries
by
Joseph Lee
May 1, 2019
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CONTENTS
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................3
Vision ..............................................................................................................................................3
Current Personal Status...............................................................................................................5
Discipleship Beginnings.............................................................................................................6
Values ..............................................................................................................................................8
Willingness in Discipleship.........................................................................................................8
Views..............................................................................................................................................10
Vehicles..........................................................................................................................................12
Verifiers..........................................................................................................................................14
Bibliography .................................................................................................................................15
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INTRODUCTION
The scriptural command of the disciple-making plan is, “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,
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, NIV). Many churches today have a weak focus on
disciple-making or do not have a program for disciple-making at all. The focus of discipleship
has been all but lost and is in desperate need of revival. “One problem today is that churches are
full of ‘Christians’ but not disciples.”1 Most churches fall into one of four categories: educational
(a pastoral-educational focus with a classroom methodology), attractional (attractional focus with
an entertainment methodology), missional (missional focus with a service-opportunity
methodology), or organic (fellowship focus with an organic methodology).2 When churches
focus on these four categories there is “something missing”. The missing element is discipleship.
Discipleship is not to be confused with evangelism. Evangelism is a general term for spreading
the “good news” or the gospel. Discipleship begins with becoming a disciple first, baptizing
others, obeying commandments and multiplying disciples.
The plan will cover five major themes: Vision, Values, Views, Vehicles and Verifiers. The
purpose of the disciple-making plan is creating structure and foundation on how to develop
disciples for Jesus Christ within my ministry. The disciple-making plan will be used as a starting
outline to get the ministry of disciple-making off the ground. The disciple plan will implement
1 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, 31.
2 Ibid, 25-27.
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June 1, 2019, as close as possible to the original format and plan and will be re-evaluated and
revised over time. The first re-evaluation and revision are scheduled for December 20, 2020.
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VISION
A vision is, in its purest form, is an imaginary plan for the future. A vision is compelling
and engaging, able to be visualized, achievable, and feasible. “When an organization has a clear
sense of purpose and knows where it wants to go, that gives meaning to what happens day in and
day out”.3 The true meaning of my spiritual walk gets lost between reading the Bible, prayer,
attending church, and other church leadership responsibilities. The vision gives meaning to my
daily spiritual walk and paints a short-term picture of what the beginning of my discipleship
ministry will become. Visions are typically long-term but because of my lack of experience in
this field, I will create a short-term vision to start followed by another vision for long-term
vision.
Current Personal Status
I am not a pastor, missionary or minister. I am a layman passionate about being part of
God’s will. I grew up in as a Christian in a Christian home, went to church, read the Bible,
prayed, and took up responsibility at the church. Something was missing, and a disconnect
between what I was doing and what I thought was God’s will. I had lost sight of what God’s will
was, and I was doing the church’s will instead. I was taught from a young age that the steps for
spiritual growth were the following: start by attending church, become a regular member, go
through Bible study, get baptized, take up responsibilities at church, become a leader at the
church, become a deacon, be an elder. I felt something missing, and I searched for answers
outside the church. I met with pastors, and they told me I was doing a good job. I met with more
3 Deetz, Stanley, Tracy, Sarah, and Simpson, Jennifer. Leading Organizations through Transition: Communication
and Cultural Change. Thousand Oaks; Sage, 2000.
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pastors, and they told me that I’m a good Christian. Still, those words did not fill the desire to do
more and the continuing feeling of something missing. I read the Bible many times, and
somehow I completely missed the idea of discipleship. I decided that I want to study the Bible at
a school, so I decided I wanted to pursue a Master of Divinity. The pursuit of a degree led me to
become a student at Liberty University which ultimately led me to learn that discipleship is
God’s will. The idea of discipleship was never brought up and is entirely new to me. I feel so
fortunate and blessed that God has brought me along this long journey to have a life-changing
experience.
I work full time in the health field, husband, business owner, father of two daughters,
and an ultra athlete. I hold a Bachelor’s degree, Certificate in Biomedical Sciences, Doctorate,
and a Residency Certificate. I’ve had in-depth Bible studies with multiple pastors and I Bible-
studied four people to baptism. I hold and have held numerous leadership roles at church:
Sabbath school leader, head deacon, treasurer, pulpit translator, music leader, primary pianist,
outreach leader, youth leader. I do not know where this discipleship will lead, but I know for sure
that God will use me in His plan. I pray multiple times a day for God to include me in His will. I
wish to be a player on the field and not a spectator.
Discipleship Beginnings
The beginning of discipleship will start part-time. Part-time means taking one or two
believers that I know from my circle of friends or from the church under my wing to make them
disciples for God. My current prospects include a few youth members at church, one of my
close friends that I lead Sabbath school with, and my mom. The youth members at church are
very active in church responsibilities. They had Bible studies with me in the past, and I led them
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to their baptism. My friend whom I conduct Sabbath school with has been a friend since
childhood. He studied theology in college and has in-depth Bible knowledge. He also has a
desire to become a missionary. The last prospect is my mom. She is a former pastor’s wife, and
she is now retired. She wants to do more at church but feels frustrated about her lack of options. I
believe that I can find disciples from the group of prospects because I have a deep relationship
with all of them. If they refuse, then I will request at another time in the future.
My first goal will be to make twelve disciples. “When daylight came, He called His
disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated as apostles” (Luke 6:13,
NIV). I choose to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ of the number of disciples to take under
my wing. Just as Jesus Christ’s disciples, all of my disciples will not be fruitful. Some will be
less some more. The goal will be for one or two of the twelve disciples to become a great
disciple by duplicating what I have done for my disciples. “A farmer went out to plant some
seeds... They died… Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty,
sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted” (Matthew 13: 3-8, NIV).
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VALUES
Core values are the fundamental beliefs of an individual. It draws the line and helps serve
as a guiding light when there is a difficult decision or a fine line between right and wrong. Values
also guide the vision. Values ensure that the vision is being accomplished in the right way versus
any which way.4 For example, there are multiple ways to acquire $100. Without values then
achieving the goal by stealing the money would be acceptable. However, if the value is honesty,
then one can only earn money through a fair exchange. In the same way, there are proper and
improper ways to make disciples, and the values are what ensure disciples are being made the
way that Jesus Christ made disciples.
Willingness in Discipleship
My primary value in ministry is to start discipleship with the willing hearts. The kingdom
of God does not force or beg people to believe or to take salvation. Ironically it is the opposite.
Many people have salvation at their doorstep, an invitation to the kingdom of God and they
refuse it. Jesus Christ never refused to work with a willing heart but he also did not go to beg
people to believe in Him. My value to work with willing hearts also means that I do not force
myself upon the unwilling. Rather, I will excuse the unwilling and find others.
“A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests… ‘Come, for
everything is now ready’. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have
just bought a field’… ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen’… ‘I just got married’… ‘Go out
to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I
4 Rokeach, Milton. The Nature of Human Values. New York: The Free Press, 1973.
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tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.” (Luke 14:15-24,
NIV)”
Just as Jesus Christ did His part, I will do my part. Just as Jesus’ disciples chose for themselves,
my prospect or disciple must also do their part. “My part: the thing I can do to help a person in
his or her spiritual journey. Their part: If a person isn’t interested in growing, there’s nothing I
can do. The will must be engaged and responsive. There must be a desire and hunger for
change”.5
Willingness is a qualitative (versus quantitative) trait which makes it difficult to specify
and identify. However, a leader in the church can easily identify those who are and have been
willing in the church. Some qualities of a willing heart include: staying for church activities,
“hanging out” at church after services are over, conversations with church leaders and pastors,
talking subjects more about Christian topics than the worldly topics, questions of “how can I
serve or help?”.
5 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, 59.
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VIEWS
Christian terminology are widely used and accepted. However, the same terms are used
with different meaning depending on the belief, denomination, location, culture, and gender. For
example, many people have different experiences and definitions of “church”. Church is
commonly defined as a building used for public worship.6 For some people church is a place to
receive while for others it is a place to serve. For some people church is a place where positive
events took place while for others it is a place where negative events took place. Key terms need
to be verbally defined within my own ministry and with my disciples to decrease the chance of
miscommunication. I will define key terminology for the purpose of my ministry of discipleship.
The key terms will be the terms essential for beginning discipleship ministry.
Church is the body of Christ. “There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many
parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And
so we are formed into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, NIV). The church is a meeting place
for believers. More importantly, it is where the spiritually dead and spiritually sick go to receive
spiritual wellness. The church is also a place where prospects for disciples are found, identified
and trained. As a part of the discipleship process, it is also a place where baptism can occur.
Pastor is the modern day rabbi or teacher. There is no biblical mention of a “pastor”.
Today’s pastor is the primary teacher and spiritual leader of the church. He makes the major
decisions of the church (often times with a church board).
Believer is a person who receives Christ as their savior from sin. A believer is a general
term. A believer may or may not be baptized. A believer is a person who received Christ one day
6 Livingstone, E.A. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press, 2006.
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ago or even thirty years ago. In the hierarchy of spiritual wellness, it is above being spiritually
dead and below being spiritually mature. It is your “average” Christian.
A church leader is a person who takes on a responsibility role at church. A church leader
is not to be confused with a pastor or disciple. A church leader is a servant at heart and takes on
leadership roles to help with church function and church mission. A church leader is integral to
the survival, sustainability and growth of the church.
A prospect is a non-believer or believer who has a good chance of becoming a disciple. It
is someone who is targeted by a disciple who wishes to make more disciples. A prospect is to be
prayed for before approaching, during the discipleship training, and through disciple maturity.
A disciple is a person who makes more disciples, baptizes others, and obeys the
commandments of God. “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, and teaching them to obey everything I
have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20, NIV). A disciple can be fruitful or non-fruitful. A
non-fruitful disciple is one who does not make more disciples while a fruitful disciple makes
more disciples and baptizes others.7 “So every good tree bears good fruit but the bad tree bears
bad fruit” (Matthew 7:20, NIV). “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire” (Luke 3:9, NIV).
7 Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 4. Minneapolis: First Fortress Press, 2003.
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VEHICLES
The vehicles are organizational structures and methods to drive the discipleship process.
Vehicles include using existing systems and structures already in place as well as creating new
systems and structures. Modern church organizations have strayed from the biblical church. In
addition, modern leadership has also strayed from biblical church leadership. The practices and
principles that made early church growth possible is no longer in place today.8 There is no
discipleship vehicle organization system at the church that I attend. Thus, I am starting from
scratch. The following vehicles will be defined: church, small group, budget, curriculum,
communication, and calendar.
For the purpose of discipleship, church and small group are organizational groups are
locations for disciple prospects. The church and small group are where non-believers, believers,
leaders, and disciples are all mixed in together. Those who are active in the church and small
group and have willing hearts are good candidates to be approached for the possibility of
discipleship.
The discipleship budget will start from my personal budget. In the past, I’ve done many
church activities from my personal budget. I use my personal finances to budget small(er)
projects and I enjoy giving freely back to God’s work when I can.
The curriculum of discipleship will include “personal hot topics”, creation, family,
prayer, Sabbath, revelation, sin, salvation, Jesus Christ, Lucifer, discipleship. “Personal hot
8 Strauch, Alexander. Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership.
Lewis and Roth Publishers, 2003.
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topics” means that the disciple-in-training will be asked about topics that are personal and
important to them that can be studied and solved through the Bible study. “Hot personal topics”
would include topics such as gay/lesbians, divorce, fornication, pornography, alcohol/drugs.
Primary communication will be done over the phone. Although meeting face to face may
be the best at times, I’ve found that there are many constrictions throughout the week for myself
and others to physically get together at a coffee shop or someone’s home. The communication
will be through standard phone call, facetime, or computer assisted conference calling.
The discipleship training will be once a week and mid-week. My commitment that I can stay
consistent with is a single one-hour discipleship training per person, per week. The reason it will
be mid-week is to connect the spiritual bread throughout the week (opposed to having
discipleship training on Sabbath afternoon). After Sabbath has passed, it’s important to reconnect
spiritually mid-week.
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VERIFIERS
The goals of discipleship need to be specific and measurable. The goals need to be
specific enough to avoid broad generalizations (to help God’s world mission) and measurable to
keep track of progress towards the accomplishment of each goal.9 There are also qualitative
aspects of discipleship that cannot be easily quantified such as leadership capability, spirituality,
and one’s relationship with God. For the purpose of this discipleship I will strictly use
quantitative data without converting qualitative characteristics into numbers. The quantitative
factors to track the success of my plan are: number of disciple prospects, number of disciple
prospects approached, number of prospects accepted discipleship, number of discipleship
training sessions, number of disciples completed curriculum. The quantitative factors will be
tracked for me and a completely new and separate set for each disciple that completes the
curriculum and has become a disciple.
The first goal is to train twelve disciples just as Jesus Christ had twelve disciples. “When
daylight came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them” (Luke 6:13, NIV). My
goal is to train two disciples at a time for a one year curriculum. Once those disciples complete
the curriculum they will be asked to commit to making disciples themselves. When a disciple has
made another disciple they will be considered to “bear fruit”.
9 Tracy, Brian. Goals! How to get Everything You Want – Faster than You Ever Thought Possible. Oakland: Berret-
Koehler Publishers, 2004.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 4. Minneapolis: First Fortress Press, 2003.
Deetz, Stanley, Tracy, Sarah, and Simpson, Jennifer. Leading Organizations through Transition:
Communication and Cultural Change. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2000.
Earley, Dave, and Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is….: How to Live the Great Commission
with Passion and Confidence. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013.
Livingstone, E.A. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2006.
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.
Rokeach, Milton. The Nature of Human Values. New York: The Free Press, 1973.
Strauch, Alexander. Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership.
Lewis and Roth Publishers, 2003.
Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Abingdon Press, 1890.
The Holy Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984.
Tracy, Brian. Goals! How to get Everything You Want – Faster than You Ever Thought Possible.
Oakland: Berret-Koehler Publishers, 2004.
Wilson, J. Matthew. From Pews to Polling Places: Faith and Politics in the American Religious
Mosaic. Georgetown: Georgetown University Press, 2007.
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