LIBERTY UNIVERSTIY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Discipleship and Leadership
Submitted to Professor Rodney Dempsey
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500 B01
Discipleship Ministries
by
Joshua Arlaus
Sep 30, 2021
Contents
Introduction-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1
The Great Commission of Discipleship and Leadership -------------------------------------------1
The Difference Between Leadership and Discipleship--------------------------------------------3
The Qualities and Goal--------------------------------------------------------------------------------4
Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5
Bibliography--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6
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Introduction
When Jesus was choosing to spend his time on earth to live by example and guide us in
God’s truth, he told us that he was going to build up his church through his apostles and through
us, starting with Peter, and Jesus promised that evil would not prevail against the church. We see
this in Matthew 16:18. The great skill that the author illuminates through this reading are the
qualities of a proper church and that link between discipleship and leadership. Both are needed,
but both are different. Jesus spent his time on earth to teach us the importance of both and to
encourage us to never give up on pursuing the body of the church utilizing these qualities. This
paper will be utilized to speak about the similarities and differences that are found in discipleship
and leadership within the church and why they are important for the building of the church.
The Great Commission of Discipleship and Leadership
Jesus taught us to be meek, loving, forgiving, and he taught us to teach others and baptize
in his name for the forgiveness of sins. Just being a believer in Christ makes you more influential
than you once were, yet there is a beautiful thing that happens to individuals when they spend
time in that faith and grow the connection with the Holy Spirit that comes from that faith.
Pursuing more of God’s character and practicing guided adjustment in life according to the study
of scripture. Seeking opportunities to help others in need because we know that is how Jesus
chooses to live. We also need to seek new creative ways to go about discipleship and leadership.
This will help us be more like pioneers for God and the Holy Spirit. Dempsey and Earley tell us
in the text, “Christian pioneers supervise the improvement of pupils. From a developing number
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of pupils.1 When Jesus was walking on earth, he told us that he wanted us to pray for more
workers in the field. This can be seen in Matthew 9:37-38. “Then he said to his disciples, “The
harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out
workers into his harvest field.” Jesus did not observe our ways and tell us to pray for workers of
the harvest because there was no need. He told us because he knew we needed more disciples
and leaders in the world. Only then will we allow God’s spirit to move in the ways he knows
best. We are under free will and we need to practice utilizing our free will properly so that we
have more opportunity to be under God’s blessing and love. Because of Jesus’ request for us to
pray for more workers in the harvest we will have more pioneers on the rise, as we have already
seen many great pioneers already. Dempsey and Earley also state, “Christian teaching and
Christian authority are inflexibly connected.2
The scope of helping individuals in the harvest field is very vast as well. There is not just
one thing God desires us to help with, but he calls us to walk with our brothers and sisters and
1 Rod Demsey & Dave Earley,
Disciple Making Is…. How to
Live the Great Commission
with Passion and
Confidence, (Nashville,
Tennessee, B&H Publishing
Group, 2013),
Rod Dempsey & Dave Earley, Disciple Making Is…. How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and
Confidence, (Nashville, Tennessee, B&H Publishing Group, 2013), 203
2 Rod Dempsey & Dave Earley, Disciple Making Is…. How to Live the Great Commission with Passion
and Confidence, (Nashville, Tennessee, B&H Publishing Group, 2013), 203
3
help with anything that we can as long as it is not evil. We must try to do our parts to make sure
that everyone has the opportunity to believe in the savior and we have to provide the opportunity
for them to learn the content that all Christians should know if they want to be more influential
with God. It’s all about a system of discipleship that you can replicate with as many individuals
as you possibly can, while making the proper adjustments based on their individual personalities,
gifts, and their goals. We need to study Jesus Christ, as the founder of Christianity and the
greatest Christian leader, then we need to practice becoming that leader ourselves to the best of
our ability. As we continue to grow in this process, Jesus begins to teach us many things that we
can also spend time teaching others for their benefit. This is how discipleship begins. By
recognizing your love and appreciation for Jesus and wanting to follow him. This process opens
our minds and hearts for Jesus to teach us and guide us more. As we let God guide us and we
learn, we then can help guide others along when they are going through the same situations or
struggling with the same experiences that we may have at one point. That is where we get to
extend the same knowledge and grace that God gave to us. This is leadership. Helping others
grow closer to God by example and by experience.
The Difference Between Leadership and Discipleship
Discipleship is the beginning of our walk with Christ. With discipleship, we extend our
faith to Christ, and we choose to open up to his word. This allows us to take many baby steps
towards God’s character and in processing his will. In discipleship phase, we are still needing to
be guided more times than not. We are going to have a lot of questions and need a lot of
assistance processing everything that we are going through for the first time. We are beginning to
practice the consistency of meeting up at church, talking about our faith openly, reading the
Bible, praying, meditating, and so on. When it comes to leadership, an individual has spent a
4
significant amount of time practicing their faith. Christian leaders have mastered the art of
prayer, they have mastered continuously meditating to keep a clear mind and to remember all of
God’s commands as the world tries to pull them in so many directions so quickly, they actively
seek opportunity to help others and have a better line of defense in place when it comes to
overcoming temptation or the schemes of the devil. Even though these qualities are on two sides
of the spectrum they go hand in hand because we cannot lead without first being a disciple and
learning how to lead. We all have to go through the transition from how we once lived to being a
more mature individual for Christ and practicing that consistency out of gratitude and respect for
what Jesus has done for us on the cross. It is only by practicing obeying Christ through the Holy
Spirit and being consistent ourselves that we can really be leaders and help individuals get closer
to God’s will as well.
The Qualities and Goal
A great thing to note is that since God is the head of the church and has taught us everything we
know through his word and through his sacrifice in Jesus Christ, we can always remember that
we are not the true leaders. We can take the pressure off ourselves by remembering that we all
need Jesus’ love and sacrifice to make it into Heaven, because God teaches us that it is not about
actions, but about faith in him. The greatest qualities of a disciple come down to a genuine heart
that wants to know God and to learn from God. The goal is to grow in God’s knowledge and start
to be more involved in the harvest field before God’s coming. The qualities of a leader are going
to be like Christ’s because a genuine Christian leader is mimicking what God teaches through his
character and word in the Bible. A Christian leader must be loving, patient, forgiving, helpful,
not quick to anger, and so much more. And the only way to really embody these qualities is to
spend that proper time with the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit is motivational enough to keep
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us going when the world is so cold. Only the Holy Spirit is powerful enough to push us to go for
things that would normally scare us or make us uncomfortable.
Conclusion
Discipleship and leadership are two very important aspects of Christianity that help all of
us grow closer to God’s will and the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus looks down with joy over both
aspects and he uses his spirit to help us all grow more consistent in maturity. Discipleship begins
when we put our faith in Jesus as lord and savior and we ask him to guide us in our lives. This
allows us to open our hearts to God’s ways and this helps us practice utilizing his knowledge in
the field of life as much as we can. This helps us learn ourselves better, learn more about God,
and others. Practicing our faith in the field helps us see the differences between our choices and
Jesus’ choices so that we can go home, reflect, read scripture, and pray about it. Meditation
allows us the opportunity to hear God speak to us through the Holy Spirit and try to make better
choices as we go out into the field the next time. In discipleship, we need to be guided and we
need consistent help so that we can practice the proper way to perceive information and make
choices. In leadership, an individual is more experienced and needs less guidance. We all of
course always need God and his guidance, but this individual is more likely to choose God’s will
even when nobody is watching. Leaders actively look for opportunities to help others grow and
get closer to God only because they know that it makes God happy and is better for everyone
involved.
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Bibliography
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 4. Minneapolis: First Fortress Press,
2003.
Earley, Dave, and Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is…: How to Live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013.
Earley, Dave, and Rod Dempsey. Spiritual Formation Is… Nashville: B&H Publishing Group,
2018.
Getz, Gene A., Elders and Leaders, A Biblical, Historical, and Cultural Perspective, Moody
Publishers, Chicago, Illinois, 2003.
Putman, Jim, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman. DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help
Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.
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