Disciple Making Plan
Matthew Stromberg
DSMN-500
05/05/2019
Table of Contents
Thesis…………………………………………….…1
My Vision…………………………………………..3
Values: Communication……………………………3
Values: Dictate……………………………………..3&4
Values: Influence ………………………………….4
Principles and Plan…………………………………5
Perspective: Evangelism……………………………6
Perspective: Gospel…………………………………6
Perspective: Discipleship……………………………6
Perspective…………………………………………..6
Methods……………………………………………..7
Verifiers…………………………………………….8
Conclusion………………………………………….9
Disciple making is the process in which one develops another believer so that they can
complete the cycle of ministry. “As a child of God you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple is
a learner or follower of a teacher.”1
My vision for ministry is to see a collaborative diverse community of believers unified to
bring Jesus into a broken world. Scripture says “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”2 God did not say to
make disciples of one nation, but of all nations. I believe if Christians were to focus more on the
salvation of the lost, and pursuing those people then most everything else will follow. One big
issue that charismatic Christians will point out is that there is not a lot of unity amongst
denominations. Caring on if we were to get our mind off of the minor issues and put that
knowledge and effort towards the development of others and striving to pursue the salvation of
others then most of our issues would be taken care of. As a Christian one should not be focused
on one people group, but focused on everyone that is not saved. As far as the teaching aspect of
discipling goes within a ministry context I would predominately like to focus on the growth of
high schoolers. High school for me was a detrimental time in my life when I did not have a father
figure. Knowing that I could be someone that the high schoolers look up into inspires me to do
what Christ has called me to do. I want to be able to set up classes to go through books and study
guides for the teenagers.
My core values in ministry are to communicate, dictate and influence. First within a
ministry context I would like to be able to communicate clearly. Not just with the administration
above me, but also with the saints within the church, the students and the elders. Obviously the
leadership role has to be established when you are in a pastoral role. Hebrews says to “remember
1 Chad Craig, Divine Design for Discipleship (LaVergne, TN: Xulon Press, 2008), 66
2 Matthew 28:19 NIV
your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and
imitate their faith.”3 So to be in that leadership role one has to understand that you are being
watched by others and you may become that role model to someone later down the road. It is a
very important piece to the puzzle, the level of communication has to stay assertive, affirmative
and encouraging.
The next core value is to dictate. As ministers we have to be able to dictate a persons
beliefs, values, and where they should be plugged into ministry. This is all a part of discipleship,
we have to teach these things as well. Some forms of worship are learned forms of worship. Just
like worship discipleship is the same we have to be able to learn. One author puts it like this
“The Gospels reveal that discipleship is a matter of taking the next step.”4 Naturally to a
Christian we follow the Bible as a manuscript that serves as our manual to life. Christ is very
clear about developing others, and sending them out to do the very things that you had to do in
order to being that person to Christ. The way that we do that is to be able to dictate where a
minister can plug that person into the ministry. That being said, this involves a little more than
guessing and being able to read a person. As ministers we have to pray and seek Christ about
certain people. The usually involved a notion from the Holy Spirit to guide us and lead us to
where we are suppose to go and send others.
Lastly the final core value is to be able to influence. As a minister one has to be under the
realization that we are being watched by a lot of people. Not just our church but our community
as well, they are waiting for us to mess up. It is easy to make a minister a scapegoat, as bad as
that sounds. So we have to be willing to positively influence the people around us.
Understandably so it can be difficult because a lot of times ministers feel like they have no one to
3 Hebrews 13:7 NIV
4 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey Disciple Making Is… (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013), 60
talk to about what is going on in their life. Although this may be going on we have to continue to
ask for strength because our students, fellow Christians and the community is watching.
My plan is based off of Matthew 26. When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, you
see Jesus himself said that his “soul was deeply grieved”5 he begged the father to let all of this
pass but God said no. Although Jesus’ disciples fell asleep what the disciples did not see is what
was going to happen in the near future. See Christ had already communicated these things to the
disciples and what was going to happen. Christ also through his time in ministry had sent
disciples to deliver his message, he dictated how they were going to be used in Jesus’ ministry.
Now finally at the time of Christ begging for mercy, and his final breathe that he took on the
cross all the disciples seen these things and took everything they were taught and went to go
spread the good news of Jesus. This is what being like Jesus looks like, he influenced his
disciples up until his death and carried on even past that. The problem that most Christians run
into is the hustle of life. William Fay describes it like this “We mean well. We mean to stop and
to reach out to others, but we get caught up in life.”6 So if we are able to understand the realism
of what Christ did and begged for his mercy in the garden, even though he still had to die for our
sins. Then maybe as minsters we have to continue praying until something inside of us dies. That
being said when that thing dies that is within us then we can successfully communicate, dictate,
and influence others so that we may be able to bring the Gospel efficiently, mightily and
graciously.
My most important ministry perspectives starts with evangelism. I believe every ministry
has to start with evangelism. It is easy to justify, because as a Christian we go out and try to bring
people to Christ, that is called evangelism. So I do believe it starts with that. Then the question of
5 Matthew 26:38 NIV
6 William Fay, Share Jesus Without Fear (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 1999), 65
what evangelism is raised. It can be defined simply as “introducing our friends to Jesus.”7 I
believe just like a job interview the first impression is the most important, it is the same with
evangelism. When someone who is not saved sees a minister not “doing the things a Christian
does” it can leave a bad impression on Christianity itself. As evangelist we have to “provide
appropriate outlets for them to respond to Christ.”8
In order to be an evangelist we first must know the Gospel. That is my second point in
the views of my ministry. We have to be knowledgeable on what we are talking about before we
go into the world and deliver something we may not know the fullness of. This is why we have
classes in order to develop people and discover their strengths and weaknesses. The Gospel for
Christians is easy to understand, and can be explained in a lot of different ways. The gospel to
me is explained simply as
“because Jesus was strong for me, I was free to be weak;
because Jesus won for me, I was free to lose;
because Jesus was someone, I was free to be no one;
because Jesus was extraordinary, I was free to be ordinary;
because Jesus succeeded for me, I was free to fail.”9
This is easily a beautiful description of the Gospel and its wholeness. As ministers if we are able
to capture the grace that God offers in these type of moments then we can spread the gospel of
Jesus Christ easily and freely.
7 Rebecca Pippert, Out of the Salt Shaker, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove: IVP, 1999), 133
8 Will McRaney Jr. The Art of Personal Evangelism (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2003), 153
9 Tullian Tchividjian Jesus + Nothing = Everything (Wheaton, Illnois: Crossway, 2011), 25
Next would be discipleship. Arguably the most important step of a successful ministry is
the discipleship phase. There are three parts to the discipleship phase “my part, their part and
God’s part.”10 So as a minister we have to develop a lesson plan, and plan of action to tackle to
formation and foundation of other Christians. This is our part as the minster to bring forth an
action plan for others to follow so we can pursue Christ together. In scripture it says “He must
hold firmly to the faithful message as it has been taught, so that he will able to give exhortation
in such a healthy teaching and correct those who speak against it.”11 Even in our teachings of the
gospel we have to understand the difference between the teaching aspect of the gospel, and the
application. Discipleship is more of the application of the gospel in our own lives.
Lastly I combine everything else. The three main factors are evangelism, gospel and
discipleship. Those are the things that are needed to run a successful ministry. That being said
one has to ask themselves, who runs the ministry? That is everyone else. A pastor leads the
church, but we are all considered the church. We are the church, we have to understand that. The
pastor, the elders, the saints and everyone else included is the church. All of that working
together is what it takes to run and develop a successful ministry.
Methods in the discipleship process can be tedious to break down. Thankfully if one
realizes that discipleship “must be the catalyst that ignites a holistic lifestyle of worship.”12 In
that then we can pursue the process of discipling others and know that it is pleasing to Christ and
should not be something that should overwhelm us. The church organization is already set in
place, you simply open a new Sunday school class for people to come be a part of letting them
know and bring an understanding of what the class will be about.
10 Jim Putman and Bobby Harrington Discipleshift (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 59
11 Titus 1:9 NET
12 David Wheeler The Great Commission to Worship (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2011), 11
There will be an option for small groups, small groups I believe are detrimental to the
growth of a Christian and this is where discipleship is key and brings up the fundamentals of
how we should be as we pursue a Christ like lifestyle. The philosophy behind the small groups
was be solely to develop leaders and lead them accordingly so that they may be able to do what I
am doing for them.
The budget and events for the implement of the program would be close to none. At first
we would start by developing and separating groups by age and gender. We would go from there
and immediately start fundraising for future events. This would all go into a trust fund, for future
retreats and mission trips. Our events would be things like going on a weekend retreat to deepen
our knowledge of the gospel and to solely focus on scripture and Jesus. Other expenses for
mission trips starting off within the United States would include food, stay and traveling. We
would go by a curriculum that was set up by an old minister of mine. His name is Craig
Mosgrove, him and another minister have paired up and put a discipleship training program
together and the book for that is Divine Design for Discipleship. The communication plan is
simple, to be able to openly come to the pastor and discuss ways, and plans to be able to help
make the discipleship “school” successful. To be able to set up days on the calendar that we can
meet twice a week and on the third week be like a hang out night. I believe all of these would be
effective ways to speak and reach others.
The measuring of the success plan of my disciple making plan would be simple just
because that would be something I would not want to “measure”. There is no “math” equation I
would use to determine the success of Gods work within the church. Although most churches
have to do these things for tithes and maybe the growth in a larger picture, I do not believe that it
is necessary for “discipleship school” if you will. When people come to Christ, or begin to
become to know Christ they do not remember statistics or how many people were there they just
want to know the fullness of Jesus and his presence. As Brian Welch talks about in his
autobiography he states “I fell deeply and passionately in love with God, and I made up my
mind that he was in control of every part of me from that moment on.”13 This is what
“Win/Grow/Send” should look like, not mere numbers. Although we look at ministers like Billy
Graham and think of the great multitudes of people he ministered to, there was not a number
behind it. We look at Jesus and his ministry, he did not keep tallies of how many people he drawn
to God. The structure of the systems in order to accomplish what I would want to accomplish
within the church setting is to win, grow, send and repeat. This is what discipleship is, this is a
picture of the Great Commission. See where numbers may be big to some forms of ministry, I
will agree with Bonhoeffer when he says “To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering
which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.”14 A ministry is not solely based on
success of a multitude of individuals that are coming to the ministry. They can come and not
contribute to the ministry. This happens everywhere, one has to develop and teach the five fold
ministry. This is simple, and discipleship will help you to fulfill and equip others with knowing
their gifts. The five fold ministry is simple, it is the prophet, evangelist, teacher, pastor and
apostle. Each person has a special gifting in one of these. As we teach discipleship it is out job as
ministers to help reveal these thing through the unction of the Holy Spirit.
In conclusion, as ministers we have to understood the fullness and wholeness of the
quality of material that we are teaching. It is not just a book, but a manual. Scripture are
guidelines in how we should live our life, and pursue Gods will in our life so that we may fulfill
his calling.
13 Brian “Head” Welch SAVE ME FROM MYSELF (New York: Harper Books, 2007), 147
14 Dietrich Bonhoeffer The Cost of Discipleship (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959), 88
Bibliography
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