LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVIINTY
Written Assignment: Disciple Making in a Healthy Church Assignment
Submitted to Dr. Bob Bayles,
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500-B04
Discipleship Ministries
By
Lauren Ashley Herring
June 10, 2021
Contents
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................1
The Making of a Disciple...............................................................................................................1
The Body of Christ .........................................................................................................................3
Healthy Church Assessment...........................................................................................................5
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................6
Bibliography.....................................................................................................................................8
Introduction
From the beginning of the establishment of the early church, discipleship has always been an
essential part in in creating and maintaining a strong and healthy church. The term “church” was
first mentioned by Jesus in a conversation with Peter in Matthew 16:18, “on this rock I will build
My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it”. This was only the beginning of God’s
intention before the church had ever been created. As we read further into the book of Acts, we
see the church only growing stronger and larger in numbers as many come to repent and believe
in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Coming together in prayer, fellowship, teaching and fulfilling
the Great Commision that was given to us by Jesus to go out into the world a create new
disciples “in fear of the Lord and in encouragement of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:31).” This is the
intention Jesus had for the church to lead as the body of Christ by becoming more like Him and
spreading the Gospel as we learn to connect in our spiritual gifts, with each other and with Jesus
Christ. This paper will discuss the making of a disciple in the context of a healthy church, the
body of Christ, an assessment of my own church and will detail the many roles within the church
that are key in God’s plan for discipleship making.
The Making of a Disciple
Many times, we find that many believers who commit themselves to Christ have lost their
way along their walk with Him. While there are several varied reasons for a disciple to stray
from their relationship with Christ all too many times it comes down to, they did not properly
develop their walk before choosing to do so. This is common among many churches of today and
it does not necessarily label the church as a bad church, but it more so means the church was
unequipped to properly train and teach the many believers within the church. As a result, the new
believer is “not strong enough to handle the “triple threat”—lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life—and they fall away from their Lord and Savior.”1 Which is why it is important
as a church to have a plan in place to succeed in making disciples, one that will not only train but
will encourage those who are willing to commit their lives to Jesus. Morton writes the church is
“the place where the truth about God, humanity, sin, and salvation are read, heard, preached,
taught, accepted, believed, and lived.”2 As the church is of one body, the body of Christ and it is
our mission to train, equip, serve, and spread the Gospel. Making sure that we follow the
description of the body of Christ given in the book of Acts as one who comes together in prayer,
fellowship, teaching and to accomplish the Great Commision that was given to us by God.
Beginning at the leader of the church, the pastor is called to train or equip the believers of
the church to do the work of ministry. The pastor is called to help them mature, not only in
understanding who Christ is but understanding what God has called them to do within their lives
to serve others. Helping the individual understand and learn what spiritual gift they have been
blessed with and how does that promote the body of Christ to work together in love. As the
believer grows to understand their spiritual gift and their calling from Christ, this also helps the
body of Christ grow stronger. God did not intend for the body of Christ to work individually but
work together in building each other up, teaching and learning from one another to make the
body of Christ stronger in its defense against the Devil’s plan to tear it down.
One of the most important aspect of the disciple making process is the desire and
willingness of the individual to continue to learn and grow. Dempsey notes, “If we are not
systematically renewing our minds, we will too easily fall prey to the world’s values and
1 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey (2013). (p. 39). Disciple Making Is . . .. B&H Publishing Group. Retrieved from
https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com
2 Clair, M. B. S. (2013). The great comission: making sense of making disciples. University Press of America.
priorities. We should set our minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth”.3 The
individual must strive to become more like Christ and understand this is a life altering decision
they are making to become a disciple for Christ. The individual must make it a priority to read
and study scripture, connecting with God in daily prayer and engaging in personal evangelism.
Although Jesus did not intend for this journey to take place alone, He wanted us to come together
in communion and grow with one another with the help of spiritual directors and small groups.
But it does fall onto the individual to take part in participating in the church’s mission by
participating in small groups and growing with others.
The Body of Christ
Many times, when passing a church and we see many people walking in for Sunday
service we think “wow, that must be a great church! They have so many people attending!”
However, what is sometimes mistaken is that the number of members or how big the church is
should not be considered as the strength nor health of the church. Instead, the health of the
church should be measured on the training and effectiveness of their discipleship as we have all
been called by Jesus to go out and make disciples of every nation. The disciple Paul gives several
examples of how a healthy church should look like and how it maintains itself when speaking to
the people at Corinth. Paul explains that scripture is what gives us our direction as a church to act
as one body as we have all been baptized in the name of Jesus and should act as so. “The biblical
model for church community is an authentic and healthy transparency that repeatedly points
people back to the gospel.”4 The body of Christ is to replicate and mirror the life of Jesus Christ
as we come together in fellowship, discipleship, ministry, evangelism and in worship.
3 Rod Dempsey (2018). (p. 51). Spiritual Formation Is...: How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence.
Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com
4 Jim Putman (2019). (p. 104). DiscipleShift (Wordsearch Version): Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make
Disciples Who Make Disciples. Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com
Before the church was ever established, Jesus had a concrete model of what He
envisioned for His church to become. This was to become the body of Christ and everyone who
joins that body is in a new birth of faith by Jesus Christ. By joining the body of Christ, everyone
has a role within the church to contribute to honoring and glorifying God so they may become a
healthy church. Dempsey and Earley discuss four main models of church structure that are in
relation to disciple making, notating both the advantages and disadvantages of each model. The
first is the traditional model is the most common model as it is led by a senior pastor that holds
much of the leadership of the church. However, this church is not led solely by evangelism by
instead is more concerned with “soul-winning”. The second is the attractional model that holds
true to its name as it is considered as the “come and see” church. This model focuses solely on
evangelism to the point where it invites non-believers and members of other church to come to
see what God is doing within their church. The third is the organic model, most recognized as a
church led by a team of leaders who practice more in a rational and simpler way of church.
Organizing itself in small groups that are incarnational relation living out the mission within the
community. Last, is the hybrid church, which combines certain elements from both the organic
and the attractional churches. Within this model, everyone is involved in creating disciples by
participating in both small groups to encourage those within the church while setting up an
“attraction” to get others outside of the church to come and see how God is moving in their
church.
Looking closer at each individual model, my church falls solely in the traditional model
as it is a small church filled with mostly family members. Our church is led by a group of
deacons who produce ideas or things that need to be addressed to bring to the senior pastor for a
final decision of leadership. We typically stay close to our church when conducting missionary or
outreach events, due to events that took place many years ago that involved the death of our
fellow members. Also, there is extremely limited on discipleship training as most of the training
comes from regular class such as Sunday school or Wednesday night meetings. As many times
we do not participate in small groups but instead hold these meetings together as a church as
many members have left over the years.
Healthy Church Assessment
After looking over the results from the healthy church assessment, I would say my church
needs to make desperate measures to change our way of making disciples. We follow the basic
laws of honoring God above all else, baptisms, studying and reading the word of God. However,
in the sense of going out to create, teach and mentor in discipleship we have failed tremendously.
We do not participate in outreach programs as we have allowed a lot of our fears to keep us
within tight reigns of how far we are willing to go in our ministry. We do love one another and
love those who we are ministering to however many of our members are selective of who they
are ministering to. As this is a very old-fashioned church that is set in their ways so breaking
from those standards is hard for my church to break away from. I have realized that the strongest
part of the church lies within the youth section of the church. As the youth has taken on much of
the leadership role of leading themselves to transform themselves into disciples of Jesus Christ.
Watching them grow into young adults over the years I have become extremely proud of them as
they have started small groups within the youth group to meet to study scripture and in prayer. As
they are working to break out of that comfort zone, they have grown up in to reach others that
have yet to discover the love of God. By showing the same love God has given us to them to
show understanding and compassion to others. I do see within the next few years a drastic
change happening as the youth grows and begins changes the hearts of those who came before
them. Because the elders within the church need to look at the bigger picture and understand
what God has called us to do. By following the leadership, the youth has presented by becoming
more involved in small groups, ministry, and evangelism I fell that the church can grow more
than what we have before.
Conclusion
Jesus has built a standard from before the early church was ever established of how He
wanted His disciples to learn, grow and worship in the means of creating a healthy church. By
everyone coming together being baptized in the name of the Lord to serve, worship, prayer, and
evangelism. To love God, one another, and our neighbor as He has loved us in the way we teach,
serve, and gather in service to become more like Him. Chan and Beuving summarizes “being a
disciple and making disciples involves committing your life to a local church where you are
joined together with other believers under biblical leadership to grow in likeness of Christ and to
express the love of Christ to the world around you.”5 These stands hold each individual
accountable to help others grow in their spiritual gifts and who God has called each of them to be
in the body of Christ. Without everyone taking part and fulfilling their role within the church, the
church cannot be deemed as healthy nor as healthy in their making of discipleships. Making it
essential for anyone who makes the decision give their life to Christ, to make sure that everyone
including the pastor, the saints, and the disciples to stand firm in fulfilling the Great Commision.
5 Chan, F., Beuving, M., & Platt, D. (2013). Multiply: disciples making disciples. Christian Large Print.
Bibliography
Chan, F., Beuving, M., & Platt, D. (2013). Multiply: disciples making disciples. Christian Large
Print.
Clair, M. B. S. (2013). The great comission: making sense of making disciples. University Press
of America.
Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey (2013). (p. 39). Disciple Making Is . . .. B&H Publishing Group.
Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com
Jim Putman (2019). (p. 104). DiscipleShift (Wordsearch Version): Five Steps That Help Your
Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Retrieved from
https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com
Rod Dempsey (2018). (p. 51). Spiritual Formation Is...: How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and
Confidence. Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
