Disciple Making in a Healthy Church
Dare Greg
DSMN 500 (B05): Discipleship Ministries
October, 2022
Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................1
Discipleship in a Healthy Church and Christian Community........................................................2
An Overview of the Body of Christ...............................................................................................4
The Role and Importance of the Local Church in God’s Plan for Discipleship and Disciple
Making...........................................................................................................................................5
The Healthy Church Assessment...................................................................................................6
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography...................................................................................................................................9
ii
1
Introduction
The term ‘Healthy Church’, coined by Dempsey and Early, compares to a healthy body, and
functions similarly too. There are both healthy and unhealthy churches, the latter being those
churches that make the plunge into unhealthiness because of mistakes made over a long period of
time1. This is not what our Lord Jesus wishes for the church, His body. Apostle Paul lets us know
that just as each one of us wants a healthy body with healthy organs and systems, so does Christ
want a healthy body, which we make up.
Being disciples of Christ, we are members of His body. “Now ye are the body of Christ, and
members in particular” (1 Corinthians 12:27, King James Version). As each of the body’s parts
has functions to perform for the wholeness of the body, so does each member of the body of
Christ. Apostle Paul said though there are many members, there is one body, and no member of
the body can say to another ‘I have no need of you’ because each member is necessary to the
welfare of the whole body (1 Corinthians 12:20-22). Working together thus, the Kingdom of God
is advanced on earth, with no “schism in the body, but that the members should have the same
care one for another” (1 Corinthians 12:25, KJV).
Making disciples is an intentional act that must be performed in our local churches. This we do
by bringing God’s word to new converts and teaching them on Christian living. Jesus said,
disciples are those who abide in His word, and the truth they know will set them free (John 8:31).
God’s word is the key to disciple making and discipleship, and indeed, Christian living in
general. John said in the third verse of the first Chapter of his book that nothing was made
without God’s word. Not knowing how to make disciples sets the Church up for degeneration
1 David Earley and Rod Dempsey. 2013. Disciple Making Is How to Live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group. 186.
2
into irrelevance. This paper thus discusses the making of disciples in a healthy local church or
Christian community.
Discipleship in a Healthy Church and Christian Community
The Great Commission from our Lord Jesus Christ says “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19-20 KJV). This is a blatant statement of purpose for
Christian establishments, churches, communities, schools, and even individuals. We must teach
people to abide in Jesus’ words. Since those who abide in His words are His disciples (John8:31),
then it means we must make disciples.
A church that fails to fulfil the Great Commission, or make it a priority, is considered unhealthy.
Dempsey and Early think a church that does not provide conditions conducive to discipleship is
unhealthy2. According to them, making disciples in an unhealthy church is an unwise venture
“because the individual disciple is fostered, cared for, and grown by the surrounding joints and
ligaments”3. This aligns with Apostle Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians that from Jesus “the whole
body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love,
as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16 New International Version). An unhealthy church is a
product of unhealthy members, and will continue to produce unhealthy members, since church
life is about fellowshipping together to help each other “grow and develop into maturity”4.
2 David Earley and Rod Dempsey. 2013. Disciple Making Is How to Live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group. 186.
3 Ibid., 186
4 Ibid., 40
3
The importance of disciple making to the growth of the Kingdom cannot be overstated, and Jesus
Christ has a set technique that we can follow in our task of making disciples. This technique
consists of four missions: share, connect, minister, and release disciple makers5. These should be
approached cautiously and with God’s wisdom in order not to be counterproductive in our
mission. For instance, the disciple maker may take their job of helping a person obey God’s word
too serious and inspire a defensive response in the person, hindering the proper transformation of
the person.
To avoid this, it is crucial to look to the methods Jesus used to make disciples: inquiry, empathy,
and encouragement. According to Lee Wanak, Jesus asked questions to launch the process to
prospective transformation6. Asking thoughtful questions create avenue for revealing discoveries,
and leave little to no room for defensiveness, thus leading to effective transformation. Also,
empathy, says J. T. Holland, is vital to gospel work7. Jesus’ empathy was one of His greatest tools
for reaching and transforming people’s hearts, for instance, the Samaritan woman at the well of
Jacob (John 4). Again, words of encouragement were another tool Jesus Christ deployed
efficiently in His earthly ministry, continually building up His disciples’ confidence. An example
was when He charged Peter with feeding His sheep even after Peter had denied Him three times
(John 21:17). This is a wonderful trait that disciple makers must learn to emulate. The three
methods, inquiry, empathy, and encouragement, can make a lot of impact in the transformation of
lives toward Christianity and Godly living.
5 Putman, Jim, Harrington, Bobby, Coleman, Robert, and Harrington, Bobby. 2013. DiscipleShift: Five
Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 152-160.
6 Lee C. Wanak, “Jesus’ Questions,” Evangelical Review of Theology 33, no. 2 (April 2009): 170.
7 J. T. Holland, “Jesus, a Model for Ministry,” The Journal of Pastoral Care 36, no. 4 (December 1982):
264
4
On this note, it is apt to mention the importance of love to disciple making. The two
commandments Jesus gave us are based on love. Love for God and love for others. This love can
be defined in three ways: upward love, inward love, and outward love. Upward love is love for
God, which is evidenced in the pleasure one takes in being in His presence. Inward love is love
for one another as Christians, whereby we gain strength from each other and fellowship together
in love, using our individual gifts to build the church. Outward love is the love we have for
others who are not members of the house of Christ. This is evidenced in one’s compassion and
service to them, prayer list for unsaved souls, familiar or not, forgiveness, and such. Makers of
disciples must be rounded in these aspects of Godly love to help strengthen and transform the
disciple into a healthy member of the healthy church, thus concretizing the good health of the
church. Indeed, “a healthy church is a representation of the people of God coming together to
accomplish the mission of God by the glory of God”8
An Overview of the Body of Christ
The body of Christ is, in effect, the Church, according to Apostle Paul. Our baptism by the same
Spirit makes us all part of one body (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27). This shows the importance of
variety within the Church, each part doing its bit to make the whole body function properly, with
Christ as the Head. We have diverse talents, gifts, and purposes, each of which is necessary to the
fulfillment of the Church’s mission. As members of the body of Christ, we belong to Christ, and
we must listen to Him, follow His steps, and work together to execute the mission we have in
Christ9.
As seen from the TAHO chart, my local church follows the conventional approach mostly. The
church has a senior pastor at the head of its structure, and a deaconate board, but we encourage
8 Earley and Dempsey. 2013. Disciple Making Is... 213.
9 Ibid., 188
5
the use of individual spiritual gifts to the growth of the Kingdom. The pastor of my local church
does not decide to chest the mission alone, but accepts the help of other leaders both in the
church and from outside. The church also organizes trainings and seminars to foster both
personal and spiritual growth. Aside Sunday worship which is by default the focus of every
church, my home church also organizes meetings for study, prayer, and community through the
various ministries set up, such as the Spiritual Support and the Personal Support Ministries. With
these, the church fosters wholeness in people and encourages them to reach out and help others
reach wholeness in Christ. This is our disciple making and discipleship process.
The Role and Importance of the Local Church in God’s Plan for Discipleship and Disciple
Making
The church, according to Dempsey10, has the role of fulfilling the Great Commission of bringing
people into the knowledge of Christ and transforming their lives through it. The church is an
organic body, as Dempsey points out, and thus the health of individual members is a vital starting
point, not the institution’s health11. This makes the overall goal of the local church to be to help
believers grow in maturity; to transform their minds.
The purpose of saints, as new creations in Christ, is to show love to others through deliberate
relationships forged in God’s righteousness and holiness12 as Apostle Paul put it in Ephesians
10 Ibid., 39-40
11 Ibid., 42
12 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
2013), 140–42
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4:24-32. Here, it is important to note that the term ‘saint’ is not to be taken to mean an ethical
person, but a ‘holy one’13 or the ‘called’, ‘elect’, and ‘loyal’14.
Each individual in the local church plays a vital role in discipleship as a transforming agent.
Each member of the church participates in the creation of new disciples through the use of our
individual spiritual gifts15. Spiritual gifts are God-given and should be used for God’s glory in the
body of Christ16. This underscores the relevance of pastors in discipleship, as they are equipped
to help develop a body of believers who will eagerly use their spiritual gifts to support the church
in its duty of transforming lives.
The Healthy Church Assessment
My assessment of my local church fills me with a modicum of pride. The knowledge that I am
part of a largely healthy church fills me with joy. I found that God’s love is resplendent in my
home church and we share this love richly among us. My home church has an atmosphere
conducive to spiritual guidance and transformation, as everyone is interested in helping the next
person grow in God’s service and ministry. It is a family-styled church that welcomes and reels
in new members through our robust Spiritual Support Ministry which teaches them all they need
to know about salvation in Christ and life in the church’s ministry, through the discipleship
classes and leadership workshops. The pastors and deacons, and other members of the clergy
preach messages of truth, hope, life and assurance, encouraging a positive relationship with God,
13 William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer. 2000. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago. 10-11
14 Silva. (2014). New International dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (Second edition.).
Zondervan, 130
15 4 Dietrich Bonhoeffer. 2003. Discipleship, ed. Geffrey B. Kelly and John D. Godsey, trans. Barbara
Green and Reinhard Krauss. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. 214-217.
16 James F. Stitzinger, “Spiritual Gifts: Definitions and Kinds,” The Master’s Seminary Journal 14, no. 2
(September 2003): 161.
7
one’s self, and the body of Christ. There is also a Personal Support Ministry that caters to the
financial, emotional, and psychological needs of each member of the church. Here we have those
equipped with special empathic dispositions to attend to trauma and such cases that a member of
the church may need to recover from, as well as a bursary to help members with financial needs:
schooling support for undergraduate members, zero-interest loans to members who urgently need
them, support for events hosted by members, and so on.
But no healthy body exists without its own shortcomings. Where I find my church lacking is in
the area of outward love, that is, love for our neighbor. While we have a robust internal support
system and a loving atmosphere, I don’t see us extending the same energy to the public around
us. Individual members may have been expressing the love we have within in their respective
public circles, but the church as one body is found wanting in that respect. The church should
make public service a priority too, impacting the lives of those around it, regardless of whether
they are members or not. For instance, our bursary, which gives loans to members and supports
the financially challenged, could extend this financial support to the community around us. We
could have a budget for charity and donate stuff to hospitals and care homes. We could have little
posts in our general area where we offer materials people can read to help them come to the
realization of God’s love without coming into the church first. This will serve to bring in more
individuals who have been touched by one or more of the texts read. Another thing we could
begin to do in my local church is to host events that every member of the community is invited
to: fun treats, movie sessions, music and drama performances, such things that drive interaction
with our local community and give the avenue to preach the love of God to them without them
having to be members of our church first.
8
When the public sees how interested the church is in their welfare, they are very likely to
reciprocate, trust the church, and willingly belong to the church.
Conclusion
From the foregoing, it can be surmised that the one greatest tool for disciple making is love.
Discipleship is all about love: upward (God), inward (the brethren), and outward (our neighbors).
Each member of the local church, the pastors, the members, are all important to the making of
disciples, using their spiritual gifts to help execute the church’s job of transforming lives. A
healthy church is a church that makes this its priority and takes the health of the individual
member serious. Healthy members constitute a healthy body. As such, the growth of the body of
Christ requires leaders who can both learn and teach the good news of Christ selflessly and build
other disciples who will continue the execution of the Great Commission.
9
Bibliography
Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Discipleship, ed. Geffrey B. Kelly and John D. Godsey, trans. Barbara
Green and Reinhard Krauss. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. (2003)
Earley, Dave, and Dempsey, Rod. Disciple Making Is ...: How to Live the Great Commission
with Passion and Confidence. B&H Publishing Group. (2013).
J. T. Holland, “Jesus, a Model for Ministry,” The Journal of Pastoral Care 36, no. 4 (December
1982): 264.
James F. Stitzinger, “Spiritual Gifts: Definitions and Kinds,” The Master’s Seminary Journal 14,
no. 2 (September 2003).
Lee C. Wanak, “Jesus’ Questions,” Evangelical Review of Theology 33, no. 2 (April 2009): 170.
Putman, Jim, Harrington, Bobby, Coleman, Robert, and Harrington, Bobby. DiscipleShift: Five
Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Grand Rapids:
Zondervan. (2013).
Silva. New International dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis (Second edition.).
Zondervan. (2014)
William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, and Walter Bauer. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago. (2000)
