Discussion Threads
Prompt:
Synthesize the readings from the Dempsey & Earley and Putman et al. textbooks, and give 3
characteristics of a follower of Jesus Christ. Create your own definition of a follower of Jesus;
use Scripture to support your definition.
Response:
For a church, ministry, or any organization to truly thrive, its leadership has to be running the
same direction together. In the church world specifically, most churches having something in
their mission statement or values about “making disciples.” However, if every leader in the
church has a different understanding of what being a disciple of Jesus even means, then their
methods for attempting to make disciples will diverge into totally different, and possibly even
contradictory paths. As Jim Putnam, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman state, “It’s
essential for the leadership of a church to have a unified understanding of their goal and purpose
as a church.”1 So what is a disciple or follower of Jesus really? I think it helps to start by
characterizing things that a disciple of Jesus is or demonstrates, as we see it in Scripture.
First, and this one might seem a little obvious, a disciple of Jesus knows Jesus! In John chapter
six Jesus asks His disciples if they are going to leave Him like many others had and Peter
responds in a powerful way saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (English
Standard Version, emphasis added). Jesus disciples knew Him, and they recognized His position
as Lord. A second key characteristic of a follower of Jesus is that they are someone “who
genuinely loves other believers.”2 In John 13:35 Jesus makes this very clear saying, “By this all
people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (ESV, emphasis
added). Lastly, a disciple of Jesus is someone who is living out the mission that Jesus has
given us. In the infamous passage known as the Great Commission, Jesus tells his disciples to,
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (ESV). As disciples, it is our job to make disciples!
Ultimately then, a disciple or follower of Jesus, is someone that knows Jesus (John 6:68-69),
loves others (John 13:35), and lives to make Jesus known (Matthew 28:19). I personally
cannot think of a better way to do life!
- Andy
1 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make
Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013).
2 Dave Early and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is… How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and
Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013).
Comments:
Hey Cynthia,
First, let me say thank you for your comment on my post! I specifically enjoyed your focus on
your own personal walk with the Lord and asking yourself how you are doing as a disciple of
Christ. We can take all the seminary classes that we want, but if we can’t actually apply what we
are learning to our own spiritual journey, then we are missing the whole point. So thank you for
your leadership in that area! In reading your post, I was particularly struck by your reference to
Acts 4:13. I love that Peter and John were recognized to have been with Jesus because their lives
modelled that. If we claim to be disciples or followers of Jesus, but our lives don’t reflect a
Christ-like or even Christ-centered life then we are missing the whole point. What a powerful
testimony for Peter and John to have! It reminded me of mark number seven of a disciple from
Early and Dempsey, someone “who abides in Christ, prays, bears fruit, and glorifies God.”3
There is no better way to bring God glory than to be recognized by the world as someone that is
uncompromisingly on fire for Jesus and willing to live out a life that honors Him and His plan
for our lives. Thanks again for sharing!
- Andy
Hey Darrell!
I found it interesting that your approach to this prompt was to first define what a disciple was, so
that you could then list the characteristics of one. I took the opposite approach in my own post,
listing characteristics that I found in Scripture to then define what a disciple would be. I love
how God designs each and every one of us to think slightly differently and approach problems or
questions in unique ways! As far as your characteristics and definition for a disciple go, I really
enjoyed how you leaned in on Matthew 4:18-20, but specifically verse 19 where Jesus uses the
phrase “fishers of men” to describe what He wants His disciples to become. I personally enjoyed
how Putnam, Harrington, and Coleman pointed to this verse as “the definition as Jesus saw it.”4
It’s a simple verse, but it’s packed with so much theological meat! The only part of your
definition for a disciple that I might take some minor issue with is the immediacy of response. I
see both Paul in 1 Timothy and Peter in 2 Peter talking about the patience of God. Jesus Himself
was patient with Thomas, allowing him to touch Him and feel Him as part of his journey of faith.
I grew up my whole life in the church around Biblical teaching, and outright rejected it for 15
years, but God was patient with me and here I am! Just some food for thought. Great post!
- Andy
3 Dave Early and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is… How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and
Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013).
4 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make
Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013).
Prompt:
In your thread, from Spiritual Formation Is (chapters 18-22), you will discuss and examine the
importance of small groups and growth groups to the overall health of the church/ministry
context. Particular attention should be given to discussing the growth group model and how it
relates to developing healthy disciples.
Response:
I truly surrendered my life to Jesus for the first time when I was 15, with middle school and high
school being some of the most key years of spiritual formation in my life. During that time I was
part of what most people would call a “megachurch” of about 4,000 in metro Detroit. One of the
main concerns with a church that large is a lack of spiritual intimacy and growth with other
believers because the environment is too big. However, I personally had a very different
experience than that, largely thanks to incredibly healthy implementation of small groups, or
“life groups” as we called them. This process of breaking the larger family of faith into smaller
groups that can walk together in community is a critical ingredient of healthy spiritual formation.
As Rod Dempsey describes it in Spiritual Formation Is, “[Spiritual formation] happens best in a
small group of Christ followers who love God, love one another, and are actively loving their
neighbors.”5 We see this type of relationship clearly modeled in the life of Jesus as he walked
with a group of 12 men in a different way than the rest of his followers, giving them more time
and intentionality in conversation (Luke 6:12-16). However, even beyond that, there were three
men that Jesus had an even deeper relationship with (Matthew 17:1-8, 26:36-38).
Within my life group, which was all fairly close, I developed incredibly vulnerable relationships
with a few specific guys for the purpose of accountability and true spiritual intimacy. Without
having a specific name for it, we formed what Rod Dempsey refers to as a “growth group”
within our larger life group. According to Dempsey, a “growth group” is, “a group of three or
four persons of the same sex who gather weekly to encourage one another to make progress in
their walks with Christ.”6 One of the key things we saw come out of this time together was a
spiritual healthiness that can only be formed with real accountability. Under the “growth group”
model specifically there are 21 accountability questions divided evenly between the “Up, In, and
Out” categories of spiritual life.7 Over and over again recently we have seen how a lack of
accountability leads to often tragic results in almost any church context, especially within
leadership. For this reason alone, along with many others like mutual encouragement and
edification, small groups and growth groups of some kind are vital for the health of any church
or ministry that is seeking to make disciples as Jesus did.
5 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is… How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence
(Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018), 165.
6 Earley and Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is, 185.
7 Ibid.
Comments:
Hey Sooah!
I would like to start by saying how much I appreciate your emphasis on prayer as one of those
key components in a healthy small group. As Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey mention in
Spiritual Formation Is, “praying for and with one another is what separates a Christ-centered
small group from a civic club.”8 Specifically, I liked how you pointed out that prayer within the
growth group format has the ability to be more vulnerable and intimate, leading to greater
accountability. As I discussed in my post, accountability is vitally important for the spiritual
health of individual believers, and for healthy church leadership. I also enjoyed your reference to
Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” (English Standard Version).
While this sharpening can at times be uncomfortable, painful even, when we allow ourselves to
be sharpened, and to sharpen each other, we grow more than we ever could on our own. This
passage often reminds me of another wisdom writing out of the Old Testament, in the book of
Ecclesiastes, “And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him
—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12). We are so much stronger together
than we are apart!
Keep up the great work!
- Andy
Hey Josselyn,
First let me say “yes and amen” to starting where we should always start, with the person and
work of Jesus Christ. He is our source and our perfect example for all things discipleship and
spirituality. I enjoyed your comparison of Jesus with his disciples and how a small group allows
for individual focus on its unique members. This reminds me of times where Jesus individually
instructed or encouraged his disciples, maybe most notably Peter, like in the Gospel of Matthew
chapters 14 and 16. I also appreciated your repeated references to the Great Commission and the
Great Commandments. It reminded me of this quote from our reading of Spiritual Formation Is
by Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey,
In the great commandments Jesus instructs his followers to love our neighbors as much as
we love ourselves! Now that is a deep and impactful love. The three directions and the
disciplines associated with each of them help us show that God—who is love—is present
among his people and that the love of God is what the world needs now.9
I think this goes to support your point that when we live in these kinds of healthy relationships, it
helps the church be healthy as a whole. This in turn demonstrates to the world the power of God
to bring about transformation in the hearts and lives of his people. That truly is worthwhile!
8 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is… How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence
(Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018), 168.
9 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Spiritual Formation Is… How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence
(Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018), 165.
