LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Disciple Making in the Local Church
Submitted to Dr. Dave Earley
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500
Discipleship Ministries
by
Contents
Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………….. 1
The Church in Discipleship ..……….…………………………………………………………...
2
The Pastor in Discipleship .………....…………………………………………………………...
3
The Saints in Discipleship ….……….…………………………………………………………...
4
Spiritual Gifts in Discipleship ..…………………………………………………………………
5
Application ....…………………………………………………………………………………… 6
Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………………..
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ii
1
Introduction
The local church influences how discipleship is interpreted and carried out today. All
elements of the church have a role in carrying out the Great Commission, “Go and make
disciples of all nations.” (Matt 28:19)1 Not every church is created equal, or rather the same as
the leadership of different churches follow different models to focus on different things, all
churches impact discipleship through the role of the church, the pastor, the saints, and the
spiritual gifts that have been developed in those saints.
Therefore, it is easy to picture the church as the analogy of many parts but all one body.
(1 Cor 12:12) Just as the body has different parts that carry out different roles so it is within the
church. There are the hands and feet of the body that are easy to see and easy to see how well
they function for the person, there are the saints too then whom possess spiritual gifts that make
them more visible in their function. There are parts of the body that not easily seen but constantly
at work at the duties they have been created for, as it is with the people as well. For a healthy
body and for a healthy church body Christ must be at the head and in control, we must submit the
rest of our body to Him.
While the submission to Christ above all should allow for churches to have similarities
there are differences within each church. These differences allow for a set of strengths and for
opportunities to for further development. This means, there must be an open and honest
assessment through, before any development can occur.
The Church in Discipleship
1 Unless otherwise noted all scripture is taken from the New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale
House Publishers, Inc., 1996)
2
Paul wrote in Ephesians, “And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe
the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same
body” (Eph 3:6). Paul is using the analogy that Christ too has given us that the church is His
body. All believers make up the church. The idea of the church is then more than the bricks and
mortar that one goes to on Sundays.
In adhering to the Great Commission, as Earley and Dempsey point out, the church is the
central element to God’s plan for all people.2 It is through the gathering of all believers of all
types that this body of the church will be able to withstand the powers of Hell (Matt 16:18). This
can be envisioned with the thought of a football offensive lineman in pass protection against a
great pass rusher. The offensive lineman must begin with feet balanced and the outside foot at a
roughly forty-five-degree angle and the outside knee closed or squeezed in so as to have the
opportunity to move with balance and power in all schemes and technique. The offensive
lineman must generate force off the leg opposite his intended direction, so the inside leg in the
more common pass protection picture against a rusher shaded outside and maintain balance on
the other. The hands must be in perfect position. Too high or too tight cause easy targets to
exploit with a speed rush, too low or too wide become easy targets to exploit with power. The
last major element to work correctly on this offensive lineman is his vision, for he relies on what
he sees to be able to intersect that rusher. So, it is with the church. When all parts work in unison
it’s beautiful protection for all the members against those forces of evil in the world.
Those skills just as the skills of the members of church or the church’s health must be
built up. The athlete has drill work to focus all the key elements of their technique. The church
then is a collection of people but there must be a focus within the church on building each
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), 39
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individual person for discipleship. Or as Dempsey and Early state, “The body of Christ (the
church) is to be built up and that it grows strong by the proper working of each individual part.”3
The Pastor in Discipleship
If the church is the collection of the believers working, worshiping and doing life
together the pastor then first serves as a leader of this collection. While not every leader does
serve a group, any group does look to someone to serve the group as a leader. As a leader of the
church the pastor must begin with the assessment of where the members of the church are.4 In
the football analogy then the pastor is a coach that must first determine what the strengths and
weaknesses are of his athlete before formulating a plan to develop the skills. Again, not all those
that consider themselves leaders serve their people, and some coaches focus on their scheme and
just only know how to teach that, not every pastor lives up to this standard of assessment first
either. However, development is a much more difficult process without assessment.
Upon the assessment the next level of work for the pastor in leading begins. Without a
vision of what the final product will look like or back to the football analogy, without knowing
how the techniques work development is also hindered. George Barna suggests that any leader
must first understand the vision thoroughly before implementation can begin, and even goes so
far as to suggest without being able to articulate that vision there is no chance of
implementation.5
3 Rod Dempsey and Dave Earley, Spiritual Formation Is …: How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and
Confidence, (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2018), 57
4 Ibid.
5 George Barna, The Power of Vision: How You Can Capture and Apply God’s Vision for Your Ministry,
(Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1992), 132
4
Leadership has several definitions but there are two that Earley and Dempsey use that
best explain this role, “The primary job of a leader is to help individuals discover and accomplish
God’s will for their lives,”6 and “Pastors are to train or equip the saints, and the saints are to do
the work of ministry.”7 The pastors must prepare the people of the church to go do the discipling
though all aspects of their lives then. This is that training or equipping while keeping the focus
on what God is doing within their individual lives to go for Him.
The Saints in Discipleship
If the role of the pastor is to prepare and develop the saints, the saints are the ones in the
trenches doing, or in the quote above doing the work. The role of the saint is to fulfill the Great
Commission continually. This is not the old traditionally accepted idea that one is to progress
from one stage as a believer to the next in pursuit of biblical knowledge for themselves and lacks
the ability to share Jesus and help others grow in their faith. It is rather the idea that as the saint
grows through their spiritual formation, they are developing disciples.8
The pastor and the church provide the tools for the saints to go and fulfill the Great
Commission but the saints must go do. The various models of churches can either help or hinder
this process though. When the saints feel the lack of need to go and serve and develop, they will
sit by and expect that the pastor or someone else will do all the discipleship. Now, that should
take them out of the category of saints perhaps and put them only within the category of the
church. There must be a progression to get people from strictly the member of the church to
6 Dave Earley, Disciple Making Is, 201
7 Ibid., 41
8 David Wheeler and Vernon M. Whaley, The Great Commission to Worship, (Nashville, TN: B&H
Publishing Group, 2012), Chapter 9, “Great Commission Worship is Reproducible,” Retrieved from
https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com
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become the saints making disciples. Understanding the five stages of discipleship helps to
identify where people are in this progression, but there is a difference between knowing and
going and doing.
The Spiritual Gifts in Discipleship
In order for the saints to go and do this work of discipleship they need specific tools that
are being developed. These are like those specific techniques of the football example. All the
parts of his body and techniques he has learned allow for the success on a play. These things are
developed by a coach and by focused work but without a God-given ability to start upon all the
coaching in the world may not produce the success. However, if a person does not have the
natural ability to perform this specific job on the field, there are several other things a team needs
that require very different skills.
All people in the church are to be healthy and producing fruit, which is done through the
development of the abilities that God has given each us in the form of these spiritual gifts. God
created us to use for His purpose. As McRaney suggests, some have been given many such gifts
some have been given few, but as we develop those spiritual gifts we are ready to serve Him in
the purpose He created each one for.9
Application
I love the church I belong to and will miss it dearly in a matter of days now, as we move
from the town of Valley City, ND. The Church is New Life Assembly of God Church, in
comparing what being part of this church look like with the TAHO chart, becomes very clear it is
in line with the Hybrid Model. Not only do several of the boxes of that model match up with the
9 Will McRaney Jr., The Art of Personal Evangelism, (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2015), 62
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happenings, but the fact of some of the elements from other categories point to an attempt to take
the best from each category.
Beginning with the structure and leadership, New Life has a board of elders whom serve
as the highest authority in the church. Pastor Terry Detweiler is the only staff member of the
church, he has no other full-time job in the community, whereas for example the youth pastor is
also a mechanic and the worship leader has a day care facility. As further representation of the
church being the community, all members of New Life share in the activities that occur. The
worship team never looks the same from Sunday to Sunday as all those with musical gifts are
strongly encouraged to take part, even those whom themselves do not feel their singing ability is
worthy of being on stage. Different members are encouraged to serve as the greeters each
Sunday. Those with a strong ability to teach and a strong background on the Bible, or at least a
book or two of the Bible, are recruited to facilitate a Bible study or discussion group. So, Terry is
the leader or at least the face of the church, but he is focused on developing spiritual gifts. I don’t
know that I would consider him like the CEO model though, and much of that has to do with
maybe the image he puts out there. Valley City, ND is a small very rural community. So other
than the sport coat he throws on for Sunday service, while still wearing his jeans and boots, he
presents an image being of the people. Otherwise he certainly fits the multi-talented picture.
Pastor Terry started there right about the time I moved to town and while there are some
who were and still are resistant to change and like just the Sunday worship, he has never been
afraid to try something new or change his approach. He is open to new ideas, so long as they fit
into the vision and values of the church and help reach people.
The Sunday worship is central to New Life but is not the only part of the church. The
small groups had gone away for the past six months with Covid concerns some still have, and the
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Sunday attendance is still significantly lower, though there are many still watching online.
However, we are working to get the small groups going again for mentorship and growth in
discipleship.
There are no direct satellite campuses of the church but there are two other churches in
the community that join together in several activities. These include the evangelism activities,
some festival type gatherings in one of the parks, different small groups, and classes. The three
pastors all each have their individual strengths, and there are certainly more than three churches
overall, but all three focus on the Bible and take joy in community.
Overall, I would say the focus whether intentional or not of New Life is that of
evangelism over discipleship. I feel that the collective group seems to prefer it that way. I love
the Sundays of getting out there and sharing with people, rather than being in the building on
those days. For example, go to the grocery store and talk with whomever is there. Go tell your
neighbor about Jesus. I know that there are a few though who wish we would not do those and
some that choose not to take part. These types of things serve well still to share the gospel, and
fit that evangelism model, but these things struggle because rather than focusing on developing
more people in their walk with Christ they are told to just go tell. I think we need to get more
understanding that mission-minded is not about those that are overseas.
The other major weakness that I feel exists, after completing the Healthy Church
Assessment, lies in knowing God’s Word. I say that for two reasons, first the low turnout in the
Bible Study classes. Now part of that is the fear some have of Covid, and those are occasionally
streamed online too, so perhaps more are taking part in online. However, in my experience one
does not feel as connected with a video, and it was still never as big of a turn out as it should
have or could have been. Secondly, there are some questions raised that suggest that some spend
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little time in the Word. I think much of this has to do with the idea of not as strong as focus on
discipleship though as well.
As Casting Crowns suggest in their song Start Right Here, any change or suggestion that
I would make must first start with what I am doing. That poses a challenge though too with
having everything out of our house and completely moving away soon. However, I can start with
recruiting more people on Sunday worship to join in the classes. I can explain the value of
knowing God’s word and of progressing to the higher stages of discipleship.
Technology keeps the world connected. And perhaps offering some classes online only
can be beneficial too. However, the technology can keep me connected to our friends in this
church. That means I must get the thought out of my mind it is too late to serve in mentor role to
help others continue to develop. So, I will pay close attention to who God is calling me to within
the church in these final days and stay in contact with and focus on their progress as we do so.
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Bibliography
Barna, George. The Power of Vision: How You Can Capture and Apply God’s Vision for Your
Ministry. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1992.
Dempsey, Rod and Dave Earley. Spiritual Formation Is …: How to Grow in Jesus with Passion
and Confidence. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2018.
Earley, Dave and Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is …: How to Live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing, 2013.
McRaney, Will. The Art of Personal Evangelism. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2015.
Wheeler, David and Vernon M. Whaley. The Great Commission to Worship. Nashville, TN: B&H
Publishing Group, 2012.
