A Disciple-Maker’s Message
Gene A. Smith
DSMN-500 LUO
Dr. Gene L. Jeffries
November 10, 2013
A disciple-maker’s message must consist of two major in an academic sense consists of
two major elements: content and curriculum. The disciple-maker’s objective of course is much
different from secular human education. The disciple-maker is endeavoring to create fellow
disciples who are followers of Jesus that worship and love Him. However, when it comes to
making disciples it is important to establish what the content and curriculum is in their pedagogy.
The content is the Holy Word of God, the Bible. The content encompasses everything that
disciples will be taught.
The big picture here of spiritual pedagogy is like a container and the contents of the
container are everything that is fed to a disciple’s mind, but the disciple cannot receive it all at
once.1 Therefore, you take small portions out of the container at a time and feed it to the disciple,
which is the curriculum (a lesson/s). Once the container is empty, the basics should have been
fed to the disciple and he/she is strong enough to begin serving Christ. However, feeding on the
1 Dr. Michael R. Mitchell, Leading, Teaching and Making Disciples, (Bloomington: CrossBooks, 2010),
270.
Word of God is not over, the disciple now simply refills his container, but this time is not milk or
soft food, it is the meat (the deeper parts of the faith and scripture).
The principles to be observed in a curriculum plan, first, are the biblical messages chosen
that must exemplify the Bible.2 The content of the curriculum plan to be employed in the
ministry venue where this writer serves will be strictly Bible-based. It will control the curriculum
because in a church setting the whole objective of education is making well-grounded disciples
who follow-through, worship and love Jesus. The desire of the Lord in Christian education is not
that we create intelligent believers, but intimate believers who are in a deep relationship with
their Lord Jesus that causes them to desire more about grace and knowledge of Him. There is no
substitute for true worship. This is so they will worship Him, and not just the worship that we do
on Sunday mornings or in mid-week services. It is the kind of worship where a disciple honors
the Lord with every part of his/her life; from finances, to entertainment, to career, to his/her
family. It is a person who will build three churches, the church in his heart, the church in his
family and the greater church as a whole.3
As it states in Hebrews 12:14, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without
which no one will see the Lord,”4 sanctification is one of the key thoughts in this chapter.
According to the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, sanctification is, “the state of growing in divine
2 Mitchell, Leading, Teaching, 300.
3 Dr. David Sparks, direct quotation/thought about church life, Pastor, Flatrock Pentecostal Holiness
Church of God, Mt. Airy, North Carolina.
4 Hebrews 12:14, (NASB).
grace as a result of Christian commitment after baptism or conversion.”5 The pre-requisite to a
state of growing in divine grace is a sincere Christian commitment. Without committing to
salvation in Christ, there is no relationship and growth. Once the relationship is in place then we
commit to running the race that is set before us according to Hebrews 12:1.
The divine statement, “set before us,” means that the path is marked out for believers by
the word of God and manifested from the examples of the faithful servants of God that refers to
the cloud of witnesses by which believers are compassed about according to Hebrews 12:1 and
Hebrews 11. As Matthew Henry stated, “It is set out by proper limits and directions; the mark
they run to, and the prize they run for, are set before them.6” The mark is the finishing line that
Christ perfected by his life and ministry on earth, Hebrews 12:2, and he authored all of the
content, by inspiring the writers of the Bible to write what has been manifested about God and
holiness, the benchmark by which we live and try to perfect ourselves through the Holy Spirit.
The second principle by which a Christian education will be employed is through its
messages. In other words, the curriculum itself, the specific lessons to be taught to believers,
particularly new believers. Specific elements must be included to ensure a solid biblical base.
Such as, it must be Christ-centered. The Biblical support for Christ center teaching can be found
in 1 Peter 2:21; 2 Peter 1:3-10 and Philippians 3:8-10.7 The next element in the curriculum plan
of Christian education is that it must be Bible-based. The Biblical support can be found in 1
5 Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed., version 3.0, s.v. “Sanctification.” 2003.
6 Matthew Henry, The Matthew Henry Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1975),
1926.
7 Mitchell, Leading, Teaching, 289.
Corinthians 2:9-13 and Romans 1:16. In 1 Corinthians 2, the teaching that Paul was speaking of
here by the Holy Spirit is through the scriptures. We know this because of verse 13, it says,
“combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” The spiritual thoughts and spiritual words
all come from the Holy Spirit because it tells us in 2 Peter 1:20, that no prophecy of scripture can
be revealed through personal interpretation. We are led of the spirit to know God and his
purposes, which come from the Holy Bible.
The last element a Christian education (discipleship) and the curriculum plan is that it
must be evangelistic in nature. It will be concerned with accomplishing the Great Commission
found in Matthew 28: 19-20. First, we must be evangelistic by going into the highways and
byways and seeking those which are lost and winning them to Christ. Once that is accomplished,
however, then that is where the whole idea of this college course comes into action. We must
make disciples of them; the command is not to get people saved, it is not to see them baptized
and have their names written on a membership role, it is to see them saved, baptized and
developed into disciple’s who worship and love Jesus.
The message to be communicated in this writer’s discipleship plan will be through core
education classes called 101, 201, 301 and 401. The environment will be open to inquiry, learner-
centered, casual, non-judgmental, compassionate and helpful. The instructors will exemplify
what they are teaching be how they live their lives and will incorporate their Christian living
experiences into the curriculum.8 The instructors will model what they have learned as disciples
and makes themselves reproducible through other believers, especially new believers. The whole
goal of this discipleship curricular plan is to develop very solid believers who will not stagnate in
8 Mitchell, Leading, Teaching, 277.
the faith and be confused about the Christian life but follow-through in a lifetime commitment to
discipleship.
Bibliography
Henry, Matthew. The Matthew Henry Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1975.
Holy Bible (NASB). Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., 1996.
Mitchell, Dr. Michael R. Leading, Teaching, and Making Disciples. Bloomington:
CrossBooks, 2010.
Sparks, Dr. David, interview by Gene Smith. Pastor (2008).
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