DISCIPLESHIP AND A HEALTHY CHURCH
______________________
A Paper
Presented to
Dr. William J. Higley
Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary
______________________
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Course
DSMN 500 Discipleship Ministries
______________________
by
Denise D. Arnold
February, 2016
DISCIPLESHIP AND A HEALTHY CHURCH
Local churches today are not fulfilling their God-given duty of “making
disciples of all nations.”1 Sadly, we are failing to make healthy disciples and
as a result our churches are in an unhealthy state. Churches are increasing
their membership rolls and collecting large offerings, yet the church’s
health is ailing. How can this be? It’s simple—the health of the church is
poor because the members are ill as well. Many churches have failed to
realize that their job is to develop healthy disciples who are fulfilling their
God-given purpose. Due to this failure, the health of many churches is in
decline. Thus, it is critically important for churches to conduct assessments
and work toward improving the health of its individual members so they can
improve the overall health of the church and begin to develop healthy
disciples for the kingdom.
The Church—is the Body of Christ
1 Victor Ogundiran, "Making disciples of Jesus Christ: Implementing an Effective
Discipleship Strategy for Churches in American." Order No. 3564392, Liberty University,
(2013):5, accessed July 11, 2015,http://search.proquest.com/docview/1401483378?
accountid=12193. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I.
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In the natural, we hear if you take care of your body, your body will
take care
of you. The same is true for the Body of Christ. Therefore, we must be
mindful to maintain a healthy body so the body can fulfil their God-given
purpose and the overall mission of the church—namely to make disciples for
Christ. I submit that we fail to treat the church as we should because we
think of it as a place where people come to get what they need. However,
that is not what the church is. Sure we gather in a location to worship, but
the building is not the church. The word church simply means a gathering
of “called out ones”— a meeting place for members of the body of Christ.2
The church is the body of Christ. However, to ensure that the entire church
is healthy all of its members must be healthy as well. The Word of God
states that the whole body promotes the growth of the body by the proper
working of each individual part.3 Accordingly, we cannot grow as a local
church body if we have individual parts which are not in proper working
order.
Often, we don’t seriously worry about ensuring that all members of
the church are okay. As long as we are adding to the body we really don’t
2 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…How to Live the Great
Commission With Passion and Confidence. (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2013),
42.
3 Eph. 6:4-16 (New International Version)
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concern ourselves with the health of other members. However, this is
extremely problematic. If our arm was broken, we wouldn’t simply ignore it
because our hand was working properly. Why? Our arm is a part of our
body and if it isn’t working properly it adversely affects how our entire body
works. Thus, we would rush to the doctor to treat our arm so that our
entire body could function according to its purpose. In like manner, this
should be our approach towards members of the body of Christ.
The most important vital sign of the church is whether all the parts of
the body of Christ are in the right place, serving, growing, and working
together.4 If we have sick members we have an unhealthy church. Many
people measure the health of a church by the attendance, programs,
buildings, or money. However, Jesus is looking inward by seeing the
condition of the body to ensure that every member is well.5
It is critical that we begin to think of the church as the body of Christ
so that we can begin to shift our mindset to ensure that all members of the
body are healthy and able to properly develop disciples who fulfil the God-
given purpose.
The Church—The Place to Make Healthy Disciples
4 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…How to Live the Great
Commission With Passion and Confidence. (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2013),
190.
5 Ibid., 192
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The church has to be in the center of God’s plan for making disciples.6
Discipleship is the relationship where individuals stand into Jesus Christ in
order to take on his character. As disciples we are learning from Jesus how
to live our lives as he would, if he were us. 7 The church is where disciples
gather to learn the Word of God and be developed during the various stages
of the discipleship process. At the heart of Christian discipleship must be
service done in the name and Spirit of Jesus Christ.8 Disciples have to be
given an opportunity to practice, improve, and hone their skills and gifts.
This includes a member’s God-given gift. It is the church’s responsibility to
ensure that disciples discover and utilize their God-given gifts to ensure
they do what they were fashioned and called by God to do. The church is
here to help believers grow and reach maturity, by ensuring that the
believer reaches their God-given purpose. Spiritual growth involves the
6 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…How to Live the Great
Commission With Passion and Confidence. (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2013),
38.
7 Eunsun C.A. Suh, PhD. "The Complete Book of Discipleship: On being and Making
Followers of Christ." Christian Education Journal 5, no. 2 (Fall, 2008), 481, accessed on
February 6, 2016, http://ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/205430681?accountid=12085.
8 William P. Roberts, “Christian Discipleship: Living Christ Jesus." Catechist, 10, 2004,
53,accessed February 6, 2016, http://ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/213778190?accountid=12085.
4
disciple learning and developing their gifts to their full potential for Christ
and His Kingdom.9 However, the church has become too focused on
assuring that the overall health of the church is maintained through
membership and financial stability and has failed to properly consider the
overall health of its members. However, as the church is called to be
intentional in developing all of God’s children to reach their full God-given
potential it must begin to consider the individual health of its members to
ensure that the church is in overall good health.10
Assessing the Health of Your Church
A healthy church looks and acts like a healthy body. However, to
ensure that the church we are attending or pastoring is healthy we should
conduct an annual check-up to assess its overall health. We can assess the
health of our church by evaluating how our church scores in a spiritual
health assessment. According to Earley and Dempsey, your church will
score well if the members are doing the following: 1) Proclaiming the
gospel in word and action; 2) Baptizing new believers ; 3) New believers are
growing in totally surrender for the kingdom; 4) New believers are
intentionally nurtured and developed; 5) Believers are willingly investing
9 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…How to Live the Great
Commission With Passion and Confidence. (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2013),
41.
10 Ibid.
5
their money in the kingdom; 6) The whole “counsel of God,” including
church discipline is being taught and applied; 7) Leaders understand that
their role is to equip and empower believers; 8) Believers are maturing; 9)
Believers are growing in unity and love for each other; 10) Believers are
encouraged to discover their spiritual gifts; 11) A majority of the believers
are properly using their gifts; 12) Relational groups are intentionally
developed and growing in their love for each other; 13) Relational groups
are sharing their lives and the gospel with unbelievers; 14) Prayer is being
offered for the lost and for laborers; 15) Leaders for the Great Commission
are being intentionally developed; 16) Relational groups are multiplying
new leaders and new groups; 17) Worship occurs at the individual level and
is powerfully manifested when the body assembles together; 18) When the
poor and “least of these” are targeted for the gospel; 19) The mission of
Christ is being manifested on every level (e.g. locally through globally) by
members of the local body; and 20) New churches are planted due to
effective discipleship and discipleship development.11
My husband and I sat down and took this assessment on our new
church plant. We were happy to see that we were doing well in several
areas and are scoring low in areas, not because we aren’t aware of the
need, but because we don’t have the resources or have a young ministry.
11 Ibid., 213-218
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For example, the areas we have targeted as our improvement areas include
baptizing new believers, a majority of believers using their gifts properly;
multiplying relational groups, and planting new churches. We certainly
believe in baptism. However, we currently do not have a facility to
accommodate a baptism. We also have not reached the portion of our
foundational studies course that discusses discovering your God-given gift.
Therefore, all of our members are not yet utilizing their God-given gift.
However, this is a lesson in our foundational studies class so this matter will
be discussed in the near future and prayerfully members will begin to
properly utilize their gifts. Finally, since we are less than six months old we
haven’t yet developed any new groups from other groups or planted any
new churches. At this point, we are focusing on getting the members
through the foundational studies course, which will help them learn about
their God-given gifts and begin to utilize them to their fullest potential. We
are also praying that we will be able to find a new church home and be able
to purchase a portable baptism pool.
Conclusion
In conclusion, local churches today are failing to consider the health
of its
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members which is causing unhealthy churches. However, by simply
conducting a health assessment and working toward improving the health
of its individual members churches can begin to improve their overall health
and develop healthy disciples who advance the kingdom for Christ.
Bibliography
Earley, Dave and Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is…How to Live the Great
Commission With Passion and Confidence. (2013) Nashville: B&H
Publishing.
Ogundiran, Victor. 2013. Making Disciples of Jesus Christ: Implementing An
Effective
Discipleship Strategy For Churches in American. Order No. 3564392,
Liberty University. Accessed July 11, 2015.
8
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1401483378?accountid=12193.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I
Putman, Jim, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman. DiscipleShift
(2013)
Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Roberts, William P. Christian Discipleship: Living Christ Jesus. Catechist, 10,
2004.
Accessed February 6, 2016. http://ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/213778190?
accountid=12085.
Suh, Eunsun, C.A., PhD. The Complete Book of Discipleship: On being and
Making
Followers of Christ. Christian Education Journal 5, no. 2 (Fall, 2008).
Accessed on February 6, 2016. http://ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/205430681?
accountid=12085.
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