LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Disciple Making Plan
Submitted to Dr. Donald Hicks
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500 – B03
Discipleship Ministries
by
Thomas Long
June 18, 2019
Updated 6/30/2019 10:22 a6/p6
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Passages...........................................................................................................................................2
Principles........................................................................................................................................4
Philosophy.......................................................................................................................................6
Practices..........................................................................................................................................7
Proof................................................................................................................................................9
Bibliography...................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
The lives of Christians can at times be tumultuous and difficult to navigate. Much of the
world is opposed to Christianity and some even seek to root it out and destroy it. Because of this
there are times when it seems difficult to navigate rejection, persecution, and spiritual warfare
alone. For this reason, Jesus and the scriptures place a special emphasis on discipleship since the
best way to combat the difficult moments in Christian life is to not do it alone. In Matthew 28
Jesus tells his disciples to go from the place they were in and to make disciples of all nations.
This simple command, referred to as the great commission, is perhaps the most crucial aspect of
Christian life and serves as a mission statement for every Christian around the world. Christians
are called to be disciples who make disciples and to share the good news of Jesus with every
person, culture, people group, and nationality that they interact with. However, while
understanding the reasoning behind and importance of discipleship is a good thing this
information does not inform Christians of how to actually do the work of discipleship. “The call
goes out, and without any further ado the obedient deed of the one called follows. The disciple's
answer is not a spoken confession of faith in Jesus. Instead, it is the obedient deed.”1. For this
reason, it is important for Christians to understand the five P’s of ministry; passages, principles,
philosophy, practices, and proof. This paper will examine the importance of Ephesians 4:11-14 in
understanding discipleship, my core values in ministry, my personal philosophy of ministry, the
methods by which I will plan to actually do the work of ministry, and the factors I will use to
track the success of my ministry.
Passages
1 Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Discipleship Vol.4 p.57
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In my personal experience in ministry I have seen that it is always helpful for a ministry
to have a life verse in the same way that a person might have a life verse. The idea here is that
basic biblical principles can guide individual people and ministries through difficult situations by
keeping them grounded in biblical truth. For example, when I was working as a youth pastor I
picked a couple verses that I thought would be good ministry verses for the youth ministry and
then let the kids in the youth group pick which one they wanted as their group verse. As time
passed I had the kids go back and memorize that verse in our spare time and used it wherever I
could to help them navigate the tumultuous times in their lives. Within the context of the future
discipleship ministry I hope to build, I will primarily be reaching out to young adults and college
students. I have seen firsthand that for those beginning college and starting careers it is easy to
drift away from the church and to neglect personal discipleship, in fact this very thing happened
to me for a period of time. Because of this, I have a real heart for those in similar situations,
regardless of ethnicity, background, etc. Ultimately, I hope to disciple those who have neglected
discipleship or who have fallen through the cracks, so to speak.
In thinking about what passage I would want to use as my overall guiding passage in my
own discipleship ministry, the one which spoke to me the most is Ephesians 4:11-14. In these
verses Paul tells the church in Ephesus that “he (God) gave the apostles, the prophets, the
evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry”. The first
thing I see in this verse is that different Christian men and women have different roles in
equipping the saints. “In Ephesians the emphasis is not on the individuals or groups who receive
“apostleship” as a gift. Rather, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are
themselves the gifts given by the ascended Christ through the Spirit. This shifts the focus from
discerning which individuals have which gift to understanding the proper function of these
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gifts.”2. Understanding this helps those who would seek to do the work of discipleship, equipping
the saints, that their success is not measured by how many apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors, or teachers they raise up. Instead the success of those who would seek to equip the saints
is measured by how well they can aid the saints in finding their individual callings, regardless of
what that calling may be.
Another thing I like from these verses is when Paul notes in verse 14 that we should seek
discipleship “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried
about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather,
speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ”.
This will hopefully help those in my discipleship ministry understand that our second goal in
discipleship is to keep the saints grounded in their faith so that they will not be taken to and fro
by the distractions of the world and by false doctrine. “When people wander out of the way of
the truth, they do not hesitate to use deceitful wiles, cunning devices, to lead others to follow
them.”3. Understanding this will hopefully show those in my future discipleship ministries two
things. First, in order for people to grow spiritually (to become more than spiritual children) they
will need to be discipled in such a way that they become rooted in Christ. Second, doing so will
help to not only keep the individual in the church/ministry but to keep their friends and family as
well.
Principles
2 Stephen E. Fowl. Ephesians: A Commentary p.140
3 Francis Foulkes. Ephesians p.129
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When it comes to the ministry of discipleship, I have three core values. First, the gospel
is for everyone. Second, all Christians need discipleship. Third, all Christians are called to
spiritual maturity. These three core values have helped guide me in my own journey of faith and
serve as a framework for every ministry I have been a part of, every future ministry I plan, and
every decision I make in ministry.
My first core value is that the gospel is for everyone. Essentially what this means is that I
believe that there is no one who is too far gone, no one who cannot be saved, and no one who
God loves any less than anyone else. The very nature of Jesus’s sacrifice shows that his grace is
sufficient for all, and that his love reaches out beyond one nation or people group. In order to be
able to share the gospel with the people of the world and to disciple them into a place of spiritual
maturity (to do what Christ has called us to do) we must have a genuine love for others. “The
modern-day disciple must be committed to love: loving God, loving our neighbor, and loving our
brothers and sisters in Christ. When we love like this, there is no argument that can stand against
this force.”.4. This is the kind of love Jesus refers to in John 13:35 when he says “By this all
people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”. This kind of
universal love can only come from an understanding that all people are in need of the gospel, and
that the gospel is for all people.
My second core value is that I believe all Christians need discipleship. This is to say that
discipleship is an essential aspect in the life of every believer. In Matthew 28 when Jesus is
giving the great commission he doesn’t tell his followers to go and share the gospel with all
nations, he tells them to go and make disciples of all nations. What this means for us is that in the
life of every believer simply hearing and accepting the gospel is not enough, every Christian
needs to become a disciple of Jesus. Christians are truly in need of discipleship, they need
4 Rod Dempsey, and Dave Earley. Disciple Making Is p.24
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disciples of Jesus to share the gospel with them and lead them to Christ and they need disciples
of Jesus to help them grow beyond spiritual infancy. The success of any ministry should not be
measured simply by how many people attend or how many people have heard the gospel, but
rather by how many people are being discipled on a regular basis. “The model we advocate
measures success by how many people are being loved and led into the way of Jesus, are coming
to Christ and following him. It measures how many people are being transformed into Christ’s
likeness and are pursuing his kingdom mission. It values and measures how many are actually
becoming disciples who can make disciples.”5.
My third and final core value of ministry is that every Christian is called to spiritual
maturity. What this means is that I believe that no Christian should remain in a state of spiritual
infancy or childhood. This does not mean that it is a bad thing to be in a state of spiritual infancy,
in fact in 1 Peter 2:2 Peter tells new Christians to crave pure spiritual milk like newborn babies.
However, we cannot remain in this state. Every Christian is called to the process of spiritual
formation. “The goal of spiritual transformation is becoming more like Jesus. If you are not
changing and growing, you are not experiencing spiritual formation. This is a process of change
Paul refers to as a glorious transformation.”6. This kind of spiritual formation is not something
that happens overnight, instead it is a process which lasts until the Christian is completely
restored in heaven. This is the kind of slow growth that the author of Hebrews refers to in
Hebrews 6:1 where he says “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ
and be taken forward to maturity”.
Philosophy
5 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman. DiscipleShift : Five Steps That Help Your
Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples p.19
6 Rod Dempsey, and Dave Earley. Spiritual Formation Is p.5
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Next, I would like to discuss my own personal philosophy of ministry. In other words, I
would like to give what I feel are my most important ministry perspectives. My first main
perspective is that the church is not a place, it is a people. What this means is that I believe the
church exists beyond the four walls of the church building and that “church” can happen in
almost any context. “we don’t stop being the church when we walk out of the building on
Sunday morning. Instead, everything we do, we do as the blood-bought church of God, for the
fame of Jesus, everywhere.”7 What this means for us, as the church, is that we are called to be a
representation of Christ to the world and to help one another function properly as the body of
Christ.
Another one of my core ministry perspectives is that I believe the role of the pastor is to
shepherd his flock. The word pastor comes from the Greek and is a term used to
describe shepherds. Often times, may people in the church feel that their pastor needs to be able
to answer every question and fix every problem, but this is simply not the case. The way a pastor
leads his flock well is not always by having all the answers or fixing every problem, most of the
time this looks like equipping the saints (the people of God) to do the work of ministry. When a
pastor can foster spiritual growth within his church the people of the church can begin to lead the
flock, answer questions, and fix problems in their own lives and in the lives of others. “Jesus
basically says that we have a math problem. We need more workers, more disciples, to gather the
harvest, so go and make disciples…The need to build disciples is so fundamental that Jesus spent
three and a half years in full-time discipleship formation. In fact, if Jesus had not built His
disciples, there would not be a church today.”8 When it comes to the role of a pastor as a
shepherd his goal is not simply to maintain his sheep, but instead to turn sheep into shepherds.
7 Marshall Segal. “Who Is the Church?”
8 Joseph Kidder. “The Biblical Role of the Pastor.”
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My third and final core ministry perspective is that the church is not about us, but rather
about serving and glorifying Christ and making him known. So often, the people of the church
get upset over things like changing service times, the color of the wallpaper, how much money
goes into which budget, and other non-essentials. More often than not the reason behind these
frustrations is because that person enjoyed something else better or wants to see it done a
different way. However, a wise pastor once told me that the church is not about me or you. This
means that there are times where we may have to sacrifice personal preference in order to try
something that has the potential to reach new people and to share the gospel in new and exciting
ways. We need to be willing follow the example of Matthew 16:24; to we willing to deny
ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus.
Practices
In my previous experience as a youth pastor, I tried to make our youth ministry very
discipleship focused. The idea was that our weekly meetings were a place where spiritual
formation could take place and prepare us to go out into our various spheres of influence to share
the good news. This general idea is the same one that I would carry with me into a young adult
discipleship ministry. The way that we would make this happen would be primarily through
small groups. The number of small groups would depend on the number of young adults in our
ministry. For example if we only had 5-10 young adults in our ministry we would likely only
have on small group whereas if we had more then we would need to split off into groups in order
to keep them small enough to feel intimate and personal.
One complaint I have heard in the past is that small groups lead to “cliques” that feel
more like their own house church rather than a part of the larger church body. While I would
argue that this is the exception rather than the norm of small groups and can talk about how small
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group meetings have personally helped me grow spiritually, this concern should be addressed.
My general idea is that if my ministry requires more than one small group there should be some
steps taken to keep things from getting separated from the church or the ministry. In order to do
this the first step I would take would be to keep small groups on a rotational basis, this means
that every small group would change members every 2-3 years so that people have the chance to
do discipleship with more than just 4-9 of the same people every year. Another key element
would be that I would need to make sure every small group leader was committed to the overall
mission and purpose of the larger church or ministry we were a part of. “Effective small group
leaders equip those in their group. They come alongside members, providing tools that equip
them in their personal growth.”9. The overall goal for every small group would be that we would
equip the people within them to one day become small group leaders themselves.
In the weekly meetings of the group we would try to base the curriculum off of the
previous Sunday’s sermon. I would meet with the Pastor on a regular basis to discuss which
sermons will be preached on what Sundays, and as long as I had a sermon title and a verse to go
off of I could work in advance to put together a general framework for the curriculum. Once the
pastor had his sermon notes put together I would have him send me a copy so that I could use it
to update that week’s curriculum if necessary. Each week I would meet with small group leaders
to walk them through the curriculum for that week, but I would also allow them to add any
questions to the curriculum that they felt would be beneficial for their group. This way we are all
working from the same framework, but lessons can be individualized to each group. Throughout
the year I would schedule events in which all of the small groups could meet for a larger bible
study, go on a trip, or simply do something fun together so that there is unity between the groups.
9 Tracie Heskett. “6 Tips to Become A More Effective Small Group Leader.”
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Events could include trips to things like the museum of the bible, block parties, outreach events,
movie nights, etc.
Proof
Embedded in every human being is the desire to be successful. We want to be successful
in our jobs, in our relationships, and in our lives. For this reason, many of us in positions of
leadership within the church want to be successful in our ministries. The problem here is that
many of us have different opinions about what it means to be successful. Does it mean having lot
of people in attendance, does it mean having a large budget, does it mean making a certain
amount of money? In my opinion, the success of ministry is qualified in different terms than this.
There are men I know who I consider spiritual giants, very successful in their ministries, who
have very small churches and make just enough money to get by. There are pastors with large
congregations who I would consider unsuccessful in the work of ministry.
In my opinion success in ministry is determined by whether or not people are coming to
know Christ and grow spiritually. This does not mean it has to be a lot of people. The times I felt
most successful while I was in youth ministry were when I had kids either surrendering their
lives to Christ or giving visible evidence of spiritual growth. “The role of the Christian minister
is to plant or water, which has been described as planting the church and continuing a teaching
ministry to them, but God is the only one that can enable these labors to bear fruit. Therefore, all
the praise and honor rightly belong to God when people are saved or grow in their faith”10. What
this means is that if our end goal in doing ministry is to be successful at it, our chief concern
should be the spiritual growth of those in our ministry. This means being involved in the lives of
those within the group so that we can be precisely aware of what kinds of changes need to
happen and steps need to be taken in order for them to grow spiritually. Our goal should be to
10 Lisa Brown. “What Is Success in Youth Ministry?” p.74
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become spiritual mothers and fathers, seeing those looking to us for guidance grow from spiritual
infancy to spiritual adulthood.
A more practical way to measure this kind of success is to look at where individuals in
our groups are currently compared to where they were when they started. For example, I can
remember how one kid in my youth ministry (we’ll call him Joe) changed over the course of the
two years that I was his youth pastor. On his first day with our youth group, Joe was very quiet
and spoke to no one. By the time I left that ministry Joe was not only speaking up during
discussions but he had started a devotional with one of his friends at school, he had prayed in
front of the whole congregation on more than one Sunday morning, he had helped me organize
several youth events, and he had started a youth worship band. Even now, seeing Joe grow from
a timid kid who barely knew Jesus into a strong biblical leader and friend is one of the most
amazing things I have had the privilege to be a part of. Success in ministry isn’t about the money,
the numbers, or the recognition. Success in ministry hinges solely on the people and seeing them
come to know Christ and make him known.
Bibliography
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Discipleship. Vol. 4. Minneapolis, MN: Fortresser Press, n.d.
Brown, Lisa. “What Is Success in Youth Ministry?” St. Mark’s review., no. 224 (May 1, 2013):
70–76.
Dempsey, Rod, and Dave Earley. Spiritual Formation Is. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018
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Dempsey, Rod, and Dave Earley. Disciple Making Is. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018
Foulkes, Francis. Ephesians. Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2008. Accessed June 18, 2019.
ProQuest Ebook Central.
Fowl, Stephen E. Ephesians: A Commentary. First ed. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John
Knox Press, 2012.
Heskett, Tracie. “6 Tips to Become A More Effective Small Group Leader.” David C. Cook
Ministries, Last modified January 18, 2018. https://davidccook.org/2018/01/6-tips-to-
become-effective-small-group-leader/.
Kidder, Joseph. “The Biblical Role of the Pastor.” Ministry Magazine, Last modified April 2009.
https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2009/04/the-biblical-role-of-the-pastor.
Putman, Jim, Harrington, Bobby, and Coleman, Robert E. DiscipleShift : Five Steps That Help
Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.
Segal, Marshall. “Who Is the Church?” Desiring God, Last modified January 30, 2014.
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/who-is-the-church.
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