LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Discipleship and the Local Church
Submitted to Dr. Donald Hicks
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500 – C01
Discipleship Ministries
by
Luke Lethco
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Contents
Introduction
Making Disciples in the Local Church
The Body of Christ Defined
Roles within the Body
Pastor
Saint
Spiritual Gifts
Analysis of Old Fort Baptist Church
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Introduction
The Church is key in God’s designed process for disciple making. It is even clear through
scripture that, “God has a basic model [for discipleship] in mind for His Church.”1 However
most local churches are still finding it difficult to create maturing Christian’s who desire to make
disciples. This is primarily because, “the stereotypical American church has devolved into a
voluntary association, no different from a local club or service…The American church has been
relegated to a consumer good rather than the body of the risen king.”2 The sad reality however, is
that the church was never intended but a community of believer with a shared purpose. “Anyone
can form a club; it takes grace, shared vision, and hard work to form a community.”3 The failure
of the local church to form biblical community is a driving factor in the stunted growth and
health of its individual members. Therefore, an examination of the role of the local church in
discipleship will guide the church back to a place of spiritual health.
Making Disciples in The Local Church
It has been argued that people “stray from Christ is because they have not developed their
walk with Christ.”4 This is a failure not of the new believer who, but of the people in whom hold
the responsibility to disciple new Christian’s. It is therefore the role of the local church to help
shepherd new believers into maturity and productivity for the Gospel. It is for this reason that
“the church needs to be very intentional5 about helping baby Christians grow and mature into
1 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making is…: How to live the Great
Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville: B&H Academics, 2013), 230.
2 R. Albert Mohler Jr., The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age
of Counterfeits (Nashville, TN: Nelson Books, 2019), 150.
3 Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church: A radical Reshaping around Gospel and
Community (Weaton: Crossway, 2008), 113.
4 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making is…: How to live the Great
Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville: B&H Academics, 2013), 38.
5 Emphasis Added
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fully devoted followers of Jesus Chris.”6 Intentionality is the key to practical lasting discipleship.
Jesus understood the importance of this type of intentionality, “His life was ordered by his
objective. Everything he did and said was part of the whole pattern”7 The church must have a
plan to move new believers “from the milk of the Word to the meat of the Word.”8 Without a set
plan the local gathering of believers will become stunted and unable to grow.
The Body of Christ Defined
Gauging the health and growth of a church is similar to gauging the health of the human
body. Why? Because the church is the body of Christ. This is a spiritual reality that can be
difficult to understand. However, the scriptures backup the reality constantly. Paul writes to the
church in Collasea that Christ “is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18 ESV).9 The
reality that the church is the body of Christ has several very important implications. First it is
important that this body is by nature Good. It is Gods body and therefore it is loved by God. Or
to state it another way, “this body is made in God’s image, and it is wonderful to behold.”10 The
church must remember that as representative of the body of Christ they have inherent value to
God. This therefore leads to the second implication, that it is up to the individual members of the
church to monitor and take care of the health of the body as a whole. “Generally speaking, we
are passionate about the health of our bodies. We should be just as passionate about the health of
6 Ibid., 39
7 Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 1993),
18.
8 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making is…: How to live the Great
Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville: B&H Academics, 2013), 39.
9 Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the English Standard
Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2000
10 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making is…: How to live the Great
Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville: B&H Academics, 2013), 230.
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the body of Christ.”11 This means that “the starting point for a healthy church is the health of the
individual[s]”12 within said church.
The third and final implication is that each member of the body is unique and important.
The scriptures declare that,
“For Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members
of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ…For the body
does not consist of one member but many. If the foot should say to the
hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of
the body.” (1 Corinthians 12:12,14-15)
This passage clarifies the necessity of diversity within the local church. The Church needs all
types of people with all types of spiritual gifts in order to display the glory of God appropriately.
In other words, “all the parts work together to form one body.”13 It is for this reason that the
leader of the local congregation must be continually seeking the health of the body so that it may
be effective in making disciples.
Roles within the Body
Although many different parts of the body are needed to formulate a healthy growing
church, there are three roles which guide this discussion. These are the roles of the pastor, the
saints, and spiritual gifts. It is through the proper understanding of these three roles that one will
be able to judge the health of their church’s discipleship programs and subsequently the health of
their church.
11 Ibid., 189.
12 Ibid., 191.
13 Ibid., 190.
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The Pastor
The role of the pastor is one of the most mis defined roles within the American church
today. Many if not most American Christian’s would argue that the spiritual formation of the
people is the role of the pastor. They have formed what Dietrich Bonhoeffer has referred to as an
“idealized community”14 which they then “enter the community of Christians with their
demands, set up their own law, and judge one another and even God accordingly.”15 The pastor
has been placed at the center of this idealized community forcing him to do a job in which he has
neither prepared or equipped. The question therefore becomes; what is the role of the pastor
within the discipleship of the local church? The answer is simple, “Pastors are to ‘train’ or
‘equip’ the saints, and the saints are to do the ‘work of ministry.’16 When the pastoral role
become clear to the people two realities begin have effect. First the pastor is available to guide
and comfort the people towards the glory of God. He becomes free to train and equip. Secondly
the people begin to operate for the glory of God which forces them into a position of growth and
gives them a need for discipleship.
The Saints
14 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2015), 15.
15 Ibid.
16 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making is…: How to live the Great
Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville: B&H Academics, 2013), 41.
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The saints on the other hand are the people who make up the Church. They are the
members of the body. It is the saints in whom the pastor is discipling and teaching to be disciple
makers. It is therefor, the job of the saints to, “saturate ordinary life with the gospel.”17 It is
through the saints that evangelism is able to occur leading to discipleship. Through the
appropriate view of both the saint and the pastor a church is able to remain healthy and grow.
Spiritual Gifts
Understanding spiritual gifts is an important part the understanding the body and how it
functions. Just a body has different parts so to does the body of Christ have different roles. By
operating within ones giftings they are able to serve the body effectively, in a way that is both
filling to them and supportive to the body at large. Spiritual gifts therefore are those talents and
abilities given by God for the edification and growth of the body.
Analysis of Old Fort Baptist Church
Old Fort Baptist Church is a mid to large sized church in the Greater Charleston, SC area.
As a congregation this is a third-generation church that has between 6-800 attenders on any
given Sunday. Old Fort is the text book “Traditional Church.”18 At 55 years old this church
defined by its big events, Sunday morning/Sunday school driven mentality. From a health
perspective Old Fort is very strong in the area of ministry and missions, the people have a heart
to see the gospel spread to the ends of the earth and tend (for the most part) to understand their
role in that process. However, where this church is weak is in its ability to love one another. This
17 Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Everyday Church: Gospel Communities on Mission,
(Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 69.
18 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making is…: How to live the Great
Commission with Passion and Confidence (Nashville: B&H Academics, 2013), 230.
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is a multi-generational church and finds that there is difficulty in communication between the
younger and older generations that can cause divisions. I believe that this church needs two
things to help it grow in the area of love for one another. First the church needs more multi-
generational discipleship. This church tends to allow its pastor to do most of the work of
discipleship and could benefit from growth in old men and woman discipling younger men and
women. Secondly Old Fort could do a better job at seeking and teaching the church their spiritual
gifts. The lack of knowledge in understanding the spiritual gifts is a driving factor in the lack of
saint discipleship. People are just expected to know what they are gifted in and this causes them
to be stagnant when the cannot figure it out. The leadership needs to therefore, teach people to
find their gifts for discipleship.
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Bibliography
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2015.
Coleman, Robert E. The Master Plan of Evangelism. Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 1993.
Chester, Tim, and Steve Timmis. Every Day Church: Gospel Community on Mission. Wheaton,
IL: Crossway, 2012.
Chester, Tim, and Steve Timmis. Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and
Community. Wheaton, IL: Corssway, 2008.
Earley, David, and Rod Dempsey. Disciple-Making Is…: How to Live the Great Commission
with Passion and Confidence. Nashville, TN: B&H Academics, 2013.
Mohler, R. Albert Jr., The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of
Counterfeits. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Books, 2019.
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