Disciple Making in a Healthy Church
LeRoy L. Watkins
DSMN 500 Discipleship Ministries
June 5, 2022
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How disciples are made in the context of a healthy church and a Christian community.
What is a disciple?
When we look at the term disciple, the actual word isn’t used until the Gospels but
throughout the Bible there have been many disciples according to the online research guide of
Greg Herrick who writes for Bible.org: “The Greek term μαθητής (mathētēs) refers generally to
any “student,” “pupil,” “apprentice,” or “adherent,” as opposed to a “teacher.” In the ancient
world, however, it is most often associated, with people who were devoted followers of a great
religious leader or teacher of philosophy.” Also, the term disciple is defined according to the
Merriam-Webster dictionary as:
1: one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another: such as
a Christianity: one of the twelve in the inner circle of Christ's followers according to the
Gospel accounts
b: a convinced adherent of a school or individual a disciple of Freud
2. capitalized, Christianity: a member of the Disciples of Christ founded in the U.S. in
1809 that holds the Bible alone to be the rule of faith and practice, usually baptizes by
immersion, and has a congregational (see congregational sense 3) polity
Kids Definition of disciple
1: a person who accepts and helps to spread the teachings of another
2: apostle
How disciples are made in the church and community.
The idea behind making a disciple comes from the Great Commandment that was
given to us by Jesus in Mathew 28:18 NKJV. According to Rod Dempsey the way that we go
about doing this is with “first, the foundation for disciple making is love.” He also goes on to say
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that “Love for God will produce a love for our neighbor” which is part of the New
Commandment that Jesus gave us according to Ephesians 4:16 NKJV. The discipleship process
is a hands-on process and is the job of everyone within the church. It isn’t just the burden of the
lead or executive pastor. In order for this to happen, the church must have “the ability to
accomplish the Great Commission, the Great Commandment, and the New Commandment at the
same time” according to Rod Dempsey. Disciples are trained up in the ways of Christ in the
church or in the home according to the Bible and then they are sent out to spread the good news
of Christ and to make new followers (or disciples) of Christ.
The Bible gives us great guidance on how we are do become disciples and train other
disciples. More specifically, Paul writes in great detail about this in the book of Acts. Every
disciple matters and plays an important role in the body of the church. Just as Rod Dempsey
discussed in chapter 19 about Realizing the Importance of the Body, the church can go from
being healthy to unhealthy because of brokenness: “Perhaps because of a poor decision by its
leadership team or gradually slide into unhealthiness due to many poor choices that occur over a
long period of time.” We must take care of each other and have a finger on the pulse of the
church and community because we are one body as Ephesians 1:22-23 NKJV states.
The body of Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 12:12 NKJV Paul wrote “For as the body is one and has many members,
but all members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ” which means that
all of us have a part to play in the church and it takes us all to make a healthy active and vibrant
community. We rely on each other’s talents and strengths to make up for our weaknesses so that
we can further the gospel and the kingdom of the Lord. When looking at the productivity of a
church and to know if they are healthy and producing fruit, Rod Dempsey asks the hard question
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“Do you want to know if your church is effective? Look for disciples! While the pastor’s main
job is to equip or train the members to grow spiritually, they must also teach members to use
their gifts in the proper way in the body.” It takes a healthy church for these things to take place
and for there to be a healthy church, each member must be healthy. In Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV
we are told that we all have a part in the body “for edifying of the body of Christ” and that “all
things into Him who is loved is the Head-Christ- from whom the whole body joined and knit
together” which in turn “causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
My Church and the TAHO model.
The TAHO model of my church was one that took me a lot of time to think through to
answer. Since I have been on the leadership and social media team for the men’s group, it was
more personal than I thought it would be. There is almost a dead even split between the
attractional and hybrid methods with the hybrid winning out by one.
Njkjmhb The lead pastor at our church has been on the fence for sometime on trying to be a
welcoming church without offending anyone. There really hasn’t been any real discipleship
training or mentor training for anyone that isn’t in his immediate family. We have one other
church in another city that our associate pastor went to run as a satellite campus but eventually
they let go of the reigns and he now preaches his own messages there.
This TAHO chart really has opened my eyes to see how exactly the church has been
sitting on the fence and why we have not been seeing an increase in numbers, which is
something that has been on the heart of our pastor for years. The church has been there for 24
years now and I have been there for 15 of them. I believe we average 300 or so on Sundays in a
community of almost 60,000. The praise and worship sessions are by far the best that I have
encountered and they operate on seasonal small groups which are dictated by the lead pastor. My
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wife and I ran one for a year or so before moving away and now we attend service online while
we search for a new home church. Leaders are trained as they come up through volunteering and
they do hold monthly new member classes which usually only have 3-5 in attendance each time.
Healthy Church Assessment
The assessment that I did was on the church staff and administration from the best of my
abilities and as honestly as I could. The first area, Love for God or Up, is the strongest area of the
three for my church with a total of 80 points. The second area, Love for One Another or In was
the lowest score with 32 points and the last area, Love for our Neighbors or OUT was a 53 point
total. If I were able to have a say in how to improve anything at the church, and I say if because
we are now remote and, in another state, it would be a tough battle. The improvement strategy
would have to start with a self-reflection on how each person is accountable to Christ not only
for their own relationship with Him but also the relationships that others have with the Lord.
Every staff member is accountable on some level for discipleship with someone in their lives.
When it comes to discipleship, there is very little that goes on. We have small groups or
sometimes they are even called discipleship groups but the goal of these groups is to explore the
lead pastors’ word further from that day’s sermon.
The services on Sunday are set to be welcoming to new commers and still be able to
reach believers and some level. Each service, there is a concentrated effort to make visitors feel
welcome without embarrassing them. However, the preaching has only recently become
challenging to most people’s faith. The thought-provoking sermons and deeper lessons need to
be taught and discipleship groups need to be revamped. Discipleship needs to be a point of focus
and classes taught on the subject to help raise up a spiritual army. There needs to be Sunday
school lessons for adults taught on these subjects and some higher education style learning
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implemented in order to build everyone’s faith so that they can go from spiritual milk to spiritual
meat.
The role and importance of the local church, pastor, saints, and spiritual gifts in God’s plan
for being and making disciples.
The local church is the gathering place for the people to learn from the pastor in order to
go out and minister to the world. In order for this to happen, there has to be willing people that
submit to God’s will in their lives and allow the Holy Spirit to guide them along the path. These
people don’t always have to be seminary trained professionals, they can be whoever God calls to
the position. God qualifies the called. Rod Dempsey explained it well when wrote “the word
church simply means a ‘gathering of called out ones.’ Christians are called out of the world and
called to a Savior who calls them to a mission. The church is a fulfillment of the kingdom; the
kingdom is a fulfillment of the mission of God; and the mission of God springs from His nature
and Love.” The Bible has many passages of scripture that tells us how we need to walk out being
a disciple and what that mission looks like. As John 20:21 NKJV states: “As the Father has sent
Me, I also send you” which gives us marching orders.
In reading Jesus In Me by Anne Graham Lotz (2019) she talks specifically about the Holy
Spirit living inside of us and that we have “the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us” and
“He has supernaturally equipped every child of God who has been born again into His family, for
the purpose of serving Him, building up the family of God” which builds on our purpose and His
plan for our lives. This is an important step for us to be able to properly minister to others. We
must know what our spiritual gifts are and how we can work with other pastors, saints and
churches to further the Gospel in our communities. Pastors are entrusted to help us identify what
these gifts are and to “train or equip the saints, and the saints are to do the work of the ministry”
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according to Dempsey (2018) as well as “Making disciples for the kingdom and glory of God
requires that we passionately pursue His plan for developing His people.” Without these things,
we are part of an unhealthy church body or a cancer to the church. The goal is to be a healthy
body so that we can effectively minister to the lost and save them for His glory and teach them
how to become His disciples.
In conclusion, this week’s readings and assessments have really opened my eyes to a
broader brush stroke of what it means to be a church about discipleship. I have always know that
there were variations in churches but it was different for me to read about the churches that I
have attended in the past and to be able to identify almost to a letter, my church home back in
Oklahoma. Knowing what a healthy church looks like is something that I have always had a
picture of in my mind but now I have a better understanding of the backbone of how one should
function. That isn’t to say that they all will or should or that I will find one that is close to
perfect, because none will ever be perfect. As long as they are operated by man, there will be
failures and heartbreaks, it’s just human nature.
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Bibliography
Definition of DISCIPLE. (2022). The Merriam-Webster.Com Dictionary. https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/disciple
Earley, Dave, and Rod Dempsey. 2018. Spiritual Formation Is... : How to Grow in Jesus with
Passion and Confidence. Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Academic.
Graham, Billy. 2004 The Billy Graham Training Center Bible: Time-Tested Answers to Your
Toughest Questions. Nashville, Tenn.: Nelson Bibles
Herrick, G. (2004, May 11). 2. Understanding The Meaning of the Term “Disciple” | Bible.org.
Bible.Org. https://bible.org/seriespage/2-understanding-meaning-term-disciple
Lotz, A. G. (2019). Jesus in Me: Experiencing the Holy Spirit as a Constant Companion.
Multnomah Books.
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