LIBERTY UNIVERSTIY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Disciple Making Plan
Submitted to Professor Rodney Dempsey
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500 B01
Discipleship Ministries
by
Joshua Arlaus
Oct 10th, 2021
Contents
Introduction----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1
Passages--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2
Principles------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philosophy-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Practices--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Proof------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bibliography--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1
Introduction
It is extremely important to develop disciples for Jesus Christ because the world still
needs so much help in so many ways. It doesn’t matter which avenue we choose to look; we can
see sin still running so rampant in the world. There are still so many individuals that do not see
the benefit of knowing God or see the benefit in Christianity at all. Because of this, there is less
love, forgiveness, and goodness that there could be if we had more individuals that saw the value
in a relationship with God. There is so much to unpack in God’s being that it takes us our entire
lives to even get a sliver of understanding from him. For this reason, I pursue relationship with
God and want to grow in this so that I can help other individuals get closer to God and become
more confident in the gifts that God blessed them with. I just want to live this life out of gratitude
and respect for the sacrifice that God made for me on the cross. I know that with more
individuals around me and around others that have more of God’s knowledge and a willingness
to overcome temptation, we will have a way better world for the future. We will have better
friends around us, brothers, sisters, and we can even become better strangers. The goal is a more
balanced body of Christ that is more confident, free, and happy to give God praise and glory in
the many forms that are possible in this existence from work, leisure time, school, church, or
when we are on our own. I know none of this comes from me, myself, but only from the
guidance and assistance of the Holy Spirit and I want others to have this same knowledge so that
they can understand they can achieve whatever they want to with the Lord. We must practice our
consistency and practice our attitude while we can so that we can be prepared for everything that
God may have for us. Also, so that we can be consistently motivated to seek that opportunity in
the world and not stay in our own comfortable patterns. This paper will be utilized to discuss
how I plan to make disciples for God through his word and Holy Spirit.
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Passages
The bible is going to be my compass and map as I navigate through life and meet
different individuals. Everyone I have ever met and been able to learn from or influence for God
has been very different and contained a unique set of skills and talents that God can use in any
way he desires. I plan to utilize the experiences that I come across to strategically use scripture
according to the situation. The passages that I am influenced by that motivate me to this day
come from Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be
frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” God
wants all of us to know that when we believe in him, he will always be with us. God utilizes this
scripture in my life a lot to remind me to keep going and that he is still with me watching every
step of the way. I know I can also utilize this scripture with others.
Another great scripture that should be at the heart of every believer is Romans 10:9, “If
you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from
the dead, you will be saved.” Many times, we can get caught up in our own actions and allow
this to keep us away from the beautiful energy and forgiveness of the Lord, only because we
struggle with getting passed ourselves. I love this scripture because God reminds us that he did
the work that needed to be done for us to be clean. We can never do that ourselves. It is enough
for us to just practice being more like him the rest of our lives because we would not even have
that opportunity without him dying for us on the cross. We must remind each other that God did
the life saving work.
We are just practicing his ways because it provides confidence in approaching the Lord
when you want to talk to him, or need him, compared to sinning so often and not thinking about
God until you do need something. It makes it very challenging to have confidence that the Lord
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will want to hear you or bless you if you don’t let God teach you that he always hears and is
always forgiving. Spending time in God’s energy allows us to get passed the false thoughts that
we hold in ourselves and forces us to make choices based out of love since we are already free
through him. It is better to be free in the Lord and pursue all you can, then to be free in the Lord
and still be intimidated by all the things the Lord already freed you from. We must practice
confidence because that is the Devil’s greatest power against us. Insecurity, or the lack of
confidence. When we are confident, we can hear the enemy tempt us and acknowledge where
that voice came from and say no, because God has another will. I want to help others practice
this and these scriptures are great points for these situations that we deal with whether we are a
believer or not. The last passage that really influences me is from Matthew 28:19, which states,
“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.” This tells us how important it is to God those others know him
and practice his ways.
I am choosing to focus on anyone that God puts around me or in my ability to influence. I
am not concerned about the age or the background, I believe that God can provide the perfect
words and scripture through the Holy Spirit so that I can plant seeds for the Lord and reach
individuals. I can gain individuals to work with through church, through exercising at the gym,
through school, through work, and so many other avenues in life. So far, God has had me work
with individuals of all ages and all backgrounds and I am very grateful for that. Another great
passage that comes to mind is 1 Timothy 4:12, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you
are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in
purity.” Certain individuals have never minded my age or any other difference if the way I
treated them and spoke to them was respectful and rooted in love. Certain individuals can sense
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when someone just wants to prove them wrong, and people can sense when someone is really
trying to helm them explore knowledge and truth for the sake of knowledge and truth.
Principles
The core values that I have are rooted in what the scripture teaches us concerning our
position to God, who God is to us, and who we are to each other. I believe that there is one God,
and that one God can be manifested in three persons however he see’s fit. God is the Father, the
son, and the Holy Spirit. They are all equal in mind and in purpose, and they are the same spirit. I
believe that we are meant to live our lives pursuing God’s knowledge and learning more about
our ourselves and our own gifts so that we can one day grow and help others do the same thing.
We all have different gifts and abilities, and I don’t believe that anyone can understand who they
are until they have that conversation with God. I don’t believe that anyone can be the best
versions of themselves until they allow God to take the lead and teach them why he gave them
the gifts that he gave them. We all need to hear God tell us that he gave us these gifts so that we
can help others. I believe that we should all be baptized in the name of the Lord and practice his
ways through our lives. I believe that we should all meet at church to praise and worship, and
practice being the same outside of church no matter where we are, because God is worth it. I
believe that the most valuable habits that we can participate in daily would be studying scripture,
praying, and meditating. I believe that it is worth trying to be a better person no matter how
others are, and I believe in God as the head of the church, and the prime example of what to
strive towards in Jesus Christ. I utilized the same scriptures from my passages section to develop
my plan of ministry.
Philosophy
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My most important ministry perspective is that we need to practice being more like Christ
as we live our lives. Because God knows it is best. I believe that we should practice pursuing
God’s will ourselves until God provides the opportunity for us to help others do the exact same
things. We should only be willing to teach when we know we have the experience and
knowledge to provide that help. Or else we should state that and offer to research and pray with
people. The definition of church within my ministry is the body of Christ and the place that we
can meet up to worship and pray together. We are the body of Christ. Everyone in the world
makes up the body of Christ and is the church. A pastor is the individual that is given the
responsibility to preach and teach others about God and his word. A saint is an individual that is
pursuing God’s heart and already cleansed by the sacrifice of the Lord and accepted by the Lord.
The Gospel is the great news that the Lord is providing the earth with through his coming and his
sacrifice on the cross in exchange for the sins of the world. Evangelism is the practice of
spreading God’s word to any that you can. Discipleship is the practice of learning from God and
allowing the Lord to teach you how to become a leader for him. Leadership is when you have
experience with the Lord and have better consistency in keeping with God’s word and
overcoming temptation so much so that you can teach others how to do the same thing.
I plan to go through the steps necessary to meet as many people as I can and help them
also understand these key terms and qualities that come from a relationship with the Lord. The
goal is to not have them always come back to me, but to know the resources in which God gave
them for them to confidently go to him. God gave us his word to study whenever we want to, he
gave us the opportunity to pray whenever we want too as well. We can even pray inside our
hearts or minds without moving our lips at all and we can completely hear it as if we are moving
our mouths. That is an amazing gift from God. We can to God without moving our lips. And God
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can always hear us. That is so beautiful. Praying, meditating, and reading are the best things a
Christian can practice consistently.
Practices
The methods that I will use to drive the discipleship process will come down to how I
meet individuals and where they are in their lives. I would love to be able to drive everyone to
my church and allow them to take part in the great energy that is there and build a relationship
that way, but many individuals start off scared or intimidated by church and I must use creative
means to plant seeds or make influence for and with God. I will have to spend time talking to
that person myself one on one about beliefs and perspectives. And in doing this, I must be
strategic about what I say and how I say it. The goal overall is to make the proper nudges for
God that they do feel more comfortable to come to church and allow more of a group
intervention experience, because there is power in number. But I plan to utilize personal bible
studies, group talks, group prayers, and by creating fun events where we can relax and just enjoy
our time.
When I can utilize church, I know that I can use the help of my pastor and my friends to
get more of the energy that I know an individual is enjoying from me, from others as well so that
they are more compelled to go back and keep hearing God’s word and seeing people practice his
character. Church bible studies and prayer sessions are perfect. There are also many events that
I’d be able to invite individuals to as well. I would use personal talks to communicate about
small group philosophy or we can schedule talks like this with the church as well, so that we can
always have someone to help us make sure we stay Jesus focused, and not stray too far into
controversy or things that don’t matter to the central goal of the great commission.
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Calendar events are a smart way to go about planning as well so that we can give people
the perfect amount of time to prepare for an event. Whether they may need to schedule a
babysitter, take time off work, plan any finances involved, transportation, and so on. When it
comes to budget, I will always let God take the wheel on that. If people are in need, we can
always try fund raisers and other events to try to raise money for any needed situation. The
curriculum of any given route of teaching can always be group thought or thought out by a
pastor. It is always best to pray according to the need of who the audience is and develop a route
of attack based on that. It needs to meet the individuals where they are but also challenge them to
keep pushing for more of God’s will in their lives. Studying scripture and praise will always be
involved, but the specific passages that will be utilized will depend on the time, audience, and
the need. I will always pray and meditate on what I feel the Lord wants me to communicate or
implement when working with other individuals. If any slogans are used, they should only be
slogans that are respectful, and scripture based. There is a great slogan that has been going
around that says, “God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.” That is a great slogan
to have. Anything rooted in holiness and positivity can be used. There should never be any
negative or harsh slogans being used in church or in any personal conversation with someone
you are trying to influence for the Lord.
Proof
The main factors that I will use to measure the success of my plan come down to time,
experience, and the assistance of others if available. Overtime, we can tell if someone is
beginning to be influenced positively for the Lord or if they are staying stagnant contrary to the
knowledge that they are receiving. If I have the assistance of my church and the pastor, I could
always speak to the other individuals to determine their views as well when it comes to the
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success or growth of an individual compared to when we first met them. The best thing to pay
attention to is consistency because that is what God cares about. Consistency and attitude are
key. Another great gauge of success is perspective. We can always observe and analyze the way
someone spoke or acted when we first met them compared to the way they are speaking and
acting after the multiple talks or events used to try and get more of God’s character across with
or without the help of the church depending on the situation. Another form of proof comes down
to any individuals that begin to start creating disciples themselves. You know God is working
and guiding them if they begin doing the same work as you with others, given the information
they learned. Proof is in actions and changed character or a changed heart. That is the only way
to gauge success.
Conclusion
We can never have too many workers in the harvest field. The more individuals out
trying to wake people up for God, the better! If we have more people that are actively training
with God and allowing more and more of his spirit to permeate their being, then the world will
be a better place for our future generations. Whether I am meeting a stranger through school,
work, or any other place, the goal is to create a deeper connection between them and God so that
they can be blessed and successful in what God has for them. Church can be utilized, the
scripture, meditation, and just talking. The goal is to baptize and gain more followers for Christ
that are willing to go out and create even more followers for Christ using the gifts that God gave
them through his power.
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