LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Disciple Making in the Local Church
Submitted to Professor David early
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500
By
Jason Gregory
9/12/2021
Introduction:
The process of making disciples is not an individual effect. It is not something that
happens in the blink of an eye either. You need to utilize all different components and aspects of
the church and people within the Church. There are many key aspects in a discipleship journey.
The church plays a major role, the pastor is also very important. We will also discuss the
contribution that the saints and spiritual disciplines play in the spiritual growth and discipleship
process.
The Church in Discipleship
The first aspect in the disciple making process happens in the church and the role the
church takes is bigger than a lot would expect. The church is obviously important as it is the
place of the growth and where a lot of good discipleship can happen, but the health of the
church is something that plays a key part in this. The church cannot foster a healthy discipleship
program if they themselves cannot have a healthy church body. What makes a church healthy
and what makes a church unhealthy? An unhealthy church is not as easy to find as one might
think. An unhealthy church does many things very similar to healthy churches and most of them
could be more full than a healthy church, but all unhealthy churches have one thing in
common. They are all focuses on their church and not “the church”. Let me explain the church is
the collection of believers all over the globe that worship and believe in Christ. While their
church is the building they have and who fills that building on a week to week basis. Churches
are often consumed with their numbers and salvations and offering numbers while there are
people around the corner who are lost and broken. The church needs to have one focus and
that focus is bringing in disciples for Christ and sending them out to make more disciples. There
are also some key signs that you can look for in a church to determine if they are healthy or not.
First is pretty simple and it is if the people attending the church are growing closer to Christ in
and out of the church walls. Second is if the members of the church are serving in and out of
the church as well. Lastly is that the church and the members have evaluated themselves well
enough to know and put the people in the right place they need to be based on their spiritual
maturity. After seeing the signs of a healthy and unhealthy church we can look into how that
plays into discipleship. It is fairly simple a healthy church will emphasize discipleship in growth
and serving and finding community. While an unhealthy church will look to use you as a number
and leave you out to dry.
The Pastor in Discipleship
The pastor is the head of the church and is usually the one who leads the way in its
growth or decline. That is why they are a key aspect of discipleship and we need to explore
more of why that is. Pastors come in all different roles and titles when you walk in to the church
building. No matter what you will run into at least one pastor every time you step foot in the
church building. The kids will be ministered to by the children’s pastor or someone on his team.
The teens will hear from the youth pastor and hopefully get plugged in to the youth group.
While almost everyone should hear from the lead pastor or senior pastor on a normal Sunday.
This pastor is usually the first step in the discipleship process as they are the ones who are
sharing the gospel and leading people to Christ which is the very beginning of a discipleship
process. This pastor is physically unable to lead and disciple everyone who they lead to Christ,
that is why it is key that the church has the right people in place to receive and then disciple
those that are accepting Christ. None of this is possible if the pastor does not lean on Christ and
set up the church body to be one focused on disciples.
The Saints in Discipleship
When looking at the saints role in discipleship, my mind went in two very different
directions. Half of me looked to the body of believers being the saints and how we are all saints
if we believe in Christ. The other half looked back into the scriptures at the testimonies and life
stories of those who walked with Jesus and right after Him. I am going to focus on those that
walked with Jesus and use their example for how we are to disciple and have discipleship. The
most clear definition of this is the twelve disciples that Jesus had. They are the perfect example
for how we are to disciple as individuals and as a church. Jesus had twelve men that he took
with him and shared everything with. Within these twelve there were three that He took even
deeper into a discipleship relationship. They were Peter, James and John.these three men were
closer to Jesus, knew more about Jesus and made bigger and bolder mistakes around Jesus. But
that is what we are to do, we are to have those who we bring close to truly disciple and be a
personal contributor to their growth. We are still involved and investing in the others, but some
things need more work than others. Another great example is when Paul took Timothy and
trained him to be a disciple maker. You see in multiple accounts where Paul reaches out to
Timothy to encourage him and build him up after training him on Pauls first missionary journey.
The saints in these accounts show how to disciple, be discipled and encourage discipleship so
clearly that it is the perfect blueprint for us to use.
Spiritual Gifts in Discipleship
Spiritual Gifts are something that comes a little later down the line in the discipleship
process, but is very important as it is a key indicator of where the discipleship relationship
needs to go. The spiritual gift plays a big role on how you disciple the person as well as where
they will fit into the church body when they are serving. The main focus is that we need to put
those going through discipleship in a place where they can find their spiritual gifts and us them
effectively. If we do that as a church and as church leadership, then we are putting those people
in the right direction for their future disciple making.
Application:
The church I grew up in is one that has gone through many changes throughout the
years that I was attending and learning there. According to the TAHO chart my church started
more traditional, then in a senior pastor transition after our last pastor retired the church is now
definitely a Hybrid Church when it comes to discipleship. There are a few parts of the church
where we are still traditional. The biggest being in missions. Our church is still very much
globally focused in missions where we have our own mission organization and almost a quarter
of the whole church budget goes to missions globally. Other than that the hybrid discipleship
approach is fairly accurate. The healthy church assessment is something that was very
interesting. I was pleased that the churches love for God was the strongest aspect of the church
as that is something that is emphasized and encouraged in our church. Our “In”portion was the
lowest score that the church had as we sometimes have a hard time focusing as well as the
other two. To me it is because of the emphasis we have on missions, sometimes the body
forgets to love each other intentionally. To me that would the biggest thing that the church
could work on; serving the community here and in the body. We have such a strong emphasis
on global missions somethings we miss the people in out backyard. That is a hard balance to
have and can be easily interrupted by other things going on the Church. No Church is perfect
and realizing that is a big part of what makes a church healthy and. I am very happy with the
church I attend and their priorities.
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