LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Disciple Making in a Healthy Church Assignment
Submitted to Dr. Gary Waller,
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500 – B08
Discipleship Ministries
By
Edwin Malave Vazquez
September 19, 2021
Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................1
Overview of the Body of Christ ...................................................................................................2
Church Models ..............................................................................................................................3
Church Assessment .......................................................................................................................5
Roles in the Church.......................................................................................................................7
Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
The church, like the body of Christ, plays an important role in the discipleship process.
Discipleship is not the work of the Holy Spirit alone, or of the church pastor or Evangelism
ministry leader, or of the new believer, but it is a joint work of the body of Christ. Joanne J. Jung,
explains that the discipleship process “requires the individual’s cooperation and effort, but it is
also intended to be accomplished in community with God and others.”1 To be successful in this
process, the activity of numerous agents who are part of the body of Christ is required. The Holy
Spirit is the one who enables spiritual formation in each person,2 it is the supreme force in action,
it is the agent of change, but it is the responsibility of the Christian community to carry out its
role in order to achieve the mission assigned which is making disciples. This implies that each
member of the church must know their role and function within the body of Christ to properly
carry out the work.
In this work, the author will present an overview of the body of Christ and discuss the
different models of churches. In turn, his local church will be assessed based on the healthy
church assessment. He will determine if his local church is a healthy church or not, as he
identifies his strong and weak areas that need improvement. Finally, he will define and explain
the importance of the role of the local church, pastor, saints, and spiritual gifts in God’s plan for
being and making disciples.
Overview of the Body of Christ
1 Joanne J. Jung, The Lost Discipline of Conversation: Surprising Lessons in Spiritual Formation Drawn
from the English Puritans (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018), 26.
2 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Spiritual Formation is … How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and
Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2018), 6.
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When Christ came to earth, He took a physical body prepared for Him. In Hebrew 10 it
says, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me” (Heb
10:5).3 Through His physical body, Jesus demonstrated God's clear and tangible love, especially
through His sacrificial death on the cross. After his bodily ascension, Christ continues his work
in the world through whom He has redeemed, the church. Now the church demonstrates the clear
and tangible love of God. In this way, the church functions as the body of Christ. Perhaps the
most widespread image of the church is its representation as the body of Christ. This image
emphasizes that the church is the place of Christ's activity now, just as His physical body was
during His earthly ministry.4
A healthy, living human body has a head, and multiple parts that make up the body. All
parts of the body have a purpose and each performs different tasks, but they all submit to the
head. It is impossible for a body without a head to work. Paul, in Ephesians 5, uses this
comparison to explain what the church is. Jesus Christ is compared to the head, the part of the
body to which the rest of the body submits. We as Christians are members of the church,
specifically compared to the body. Paul points out that each Christian has been given gifts and
abilities in order for the church, as a human body, to function effectively and efficiently. Each
member of the church is vital to the functioning of a healthy church and to the training of
disciples within the body of Christ. An unhealthy church is not a good environment for disciple-
making to occur.5
3 Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced employ the English Standard Version (Wheaton,
IL: Crossway, 2008).
4 Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 959.
5 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is ...: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion
and Confidence (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2013), 159.
2
Working together is necessary for the body of Christ to function at its best. In the first
letter to Thessalonica, Paul explains that a body does not tell the hand, the feet or the legs that it
does not need them, because it only wants to hear, see and smell. He also doesn't say that he
doesn't need the eye or the ear because I just want to walk and do things with my hands. So, no
part of the body is irrelevant or useless (1 Co. 12:12-20). When a part of the human body is
suffering, or has some problem, damage or injury, the whole body is affected. You will be kinder
to your arm or leg if it is broken, and you want to protect it from further pain or injury. This is
exactly what happens with the church, if one member of the church is suffering, the whole
church will suffer too much and the body of Christ has to help, protect or take steps to achieve
healing in order for the church to do not freeze, and continue with the vital tasks of the body.
Church Models
Once the early church was born, no religious leader in those days had a manual on how it
should work. It was clear that it was a Christian community where everyone was important for
its expansion, that all believers had been blessed with gifts and talents for the service of the
Christian community, and that it is made in the image of God. Over the centuries, the church has
continued to grow, and different models of churches have developed. Each model of church has
its own structure, style, liturgy, etc. Earley states that there are four predominant church models
and that it is important to study them because the closer we get to the image that God has in mind
for his church, the more we will experience his favor and blessing.6
The first and most common model is The Traditional Church. This model of church,
usually located in city centers, does not have a very complex organizational structure. It is
usually run by a single leader, the pastor. He monopolizes most of the leadership in the church.
6 Earley and Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…, 196.
3
Since there is no need for a broad leadership group, this church model does not focus on
leadership training. There is not much space for spiritual gifts, they are not necessary.
Additionally, all church programming focuses on central facilities.7 There are no small groups as
all spiritual formation and discipleship occurs from the pulpit. Therefore, every message is
addressed to the church and not to the unsaved.
The second model of church is The Attractional Church. The Church that practices this
model is known as seeker church or mega church. Their focus is evangelism. One of the ways to
evangelize is by using the small group method. Church members are encouraged to spend time
with those close to them, friends, and family, and then invite them to church. To achieve this
goal, these types of churches invest time and effort in providing resources to train their leaders
and parishioners. The way Christ is presented is very relevant to this type of church. The entire
process and Sunday service is very intentional and planned in order to capture the attention of
each visitor. The gifts and talents of believers are needed to carry out this work, that is why, in
this type of church, a large number of believers participate in the presentation of the service. In
general, the pastor of an attractive church is very articulate and charismatic.8
The third model of church is The Organic Church. This model rejects the tradition of
weekly meetings and believes that being a disciple of Christ is more of a lifestyle. They usually
meet in members' homes on purpose or when they feel it by the Spirit. They promote love that is
expressed in a family environment. They believe in the priesthood of each believer, so they reject
all positional leadership, they only accept leaders relationally. Discipleship and spiritual
7 Ibid., 197.
8 Ibid., 198.
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formation are done within small groups and focus on discipleship, training your parishioners, and
multiplication.9
Finally, there is the model The Hybrid Church. This is said to be the most complex
model, as it takes elements from the attractive and organic model. Usually, this model is led by a
senior pastor and a staff of professionals. They believe in disciple-making, but they do not have
just one single strategy for doing it. They use the small group model as one of the discipleship
and growth strategies, but it is not the only one. The leadership team is extensive as there are
many strategies running at the same time. There are constant trainings for leaders and
parishioners, but many times they fail to prioritize.10
Church Assessment
In the context of his local church, the author was able to do a self-assessment of how
healthy or unhealthy the local church is based on the Healthy Church Assessment. The author is
really surprised with the results of this assessment. There are times that it is until one is exposed
with an assessment like this that we realize how much there is to improve as a believer, disciple,
local church and the Lord's church as a whole. Next, we will be analyzing the results of how
healthy the author's local church is.
In the section Love for God, the author's local church had a score of 6.1 out of 10.
Obedience to God and worship are fundamental in the life of the church. Leaders and
parishioners are encouraged to learn to follow God's voice at all times, understanding that the
believer is totally dependent on Him. The church has learned to be generous, just as the
scriptures say, “Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods
do not demand them back” (Lc. 6:30). However, no tools have been implemented in the local
9 Earley and Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…, 199.
10 Ibid.
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church to measure whether the saints are memorizing verses or whether they are praying and
listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit in their daily lives. This is largely due to the lack of good
implementation of the small group system in the local church.
In the section Love for another, the author's local church had a score of 8.1 out of 10, this
being the section with the highest score. The vision of the local church is to help the Saints
discover their gifts, help them develop them and put them in function of the body of Christ. The
senior pastor is aware that everything is done with love, even when correction is needed.
Furthermore, since the birth of the local church, work in unity and love has been encouraged.
The author understands that this has been one of the greatest achievements in the health of the
local church leadership body. However, the local church lacks a program that intentionally
develops disciple-making leaders and individually trains the Saints in discipleship. Usually, the
pastor uses the pulpit and preaching to teach the saints about topics that help him grow
spiritually.
In the section Love for our neighbor, the author's local church had a score of 6 out of 10,
this being the section with the most room for improvement. It would be unfair not to mention
that in the past few months the local church has shifted its focus to being a church that impacts
the community more. In the past few weeks, the pastor brought a series of messages that spoke
about compassion. On the last Sunday of that series, the Compassion ministry visited the church,
a ministry that is in charge of evangelizing communities with extreme poverty around the world.
It was very surprising to see how most of the saints moved with mercy and committed
themselves to be part of this mission. Also, last week, the church came out of the four walls to
help the community by offering community service. The fruits of these missions have been seen
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immediately, the saints feel more motivated and committed to the mission, in addition to that
more people from the community have come to the church.
Roles in the Church
As mentioned throughout this work, "God created humans as community and for
community."11 It has been God's plan for man to develop in a community. The Christian
community has all the necessary elements for there to be spiritual growth in believers and to
fulfill the mandate to make disciples. It is important to identify how each actor works and as an
aid during the discipleship process in believers.
The New Testament does not see the Christian life happening outside the church, that is,
the local church. However, today there are many who call themselves Christians who seek to be
committed to Christ without having any commitment to the church. You cannot have a high
concept of Christ and at the same time have a low concept of the church. True faith is lived in
spiritual community with others. Living in faith in Christ is living in communion with the
church. In salvation we are born again and adopted into the family of God and the church
becomes the home of faith, the house of God. It is in a church where the believer finds the
assurance of salvation.
Likewise, pastors play a fundamental role in discipleship, as do the saints in the Christian
community. Pastors, unlike what some may think, do not have to be octopus men, who do
everything in the discipleship process, on the contrary, they are the ones who must train and
equip the saints to do the work of the ministry.12 Leadership should be one of the many skills as
11 Paul Petit, Foundation of Spiritual Formation: A Community Approach to Becoming Like Christ (USA:
Kregel Academic and Professional), 74.
12 Earley and Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…, 33.
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it should help identify and develop the gift of the saints. However, the saints have the
responsibility to mature spiritually in community.
It is important to understand that God equipped his church for his integral development,
for this he provided different spiritual gifts to believers. A spiritual gift is a God-given capacity
for service. Every believer has some but not all of the gifts. However, if we notice in the list that
the apostle Paul mentions in Ephesians 4:11, he refers to people, not just capacities as in the
other lists, rather, people trained to fulfill the function of equipping the saints for the ministry
work.
Conclusion
Spiritual growth is not based simply on a believer's individual relationship with God, it
develops in community. In recent years, much of the teaching on spiritual growth has focused on
the individual, excluding him from corporate spiritual formation. However, the Christian
community is fundamental to the spiritual identity of a Christian. The church community is
created to be a spiritual family in which spiritual growth is encouraged. When the church meets,
members inspire each other to reach deeper with God through worshiping as a church, reading
and listening to the Bible, and praying. Generally speaking, meeting in a church should be
characterized by these aspects. In other words, spiritual growth takes place in an atmosphere of a
healthy Christian community. The Holy Spirit is the one that enables growth, but there must be
an intention of the church to foster this process in the saints.
Both the church, pastors, leaders and saints have an important role in the discipleship
process. As Putnam states, “most leaders are too busy trying to do the work in the church
themselves, and they don’t have time to see and develop the leaders God has sent them.”13 In the
13 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, Discipleshift: Five Steps That Help Your
Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids, IL: Zondervan, 2013), 123.
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body of Christ, God has distributed gifts for the service of the church. Each one must take his
responsibility to create the right atmosphere for the discipleship process to take place in each
believer. Perhaps the most widespread image of the church is its representation as the body of
Christ. This image emphasizes that the church is the place of Christ's activity now, just as his
physical body was during his earthly ministry.
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Bibliography
Earley, Dave and Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making is … How to Live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013.
Earley, Dave and Rod Dempsey. Spiritual Formation is … How to Grow in Jesus with Passion
and Confidence. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2018.
Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013.
Jung, Joanne J. The Lost Discipline of Conversation: Surprising Lessons in Spiritual Formation
Drawn from the English Puritans. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018.
Petit, Paul. Foundation of Spiritual Formation: A Community Approach to Becoming Like
Christ. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2008.
Putman, Jim, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman. Discipleshift: Five Steps That Help
Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Grand Rapids, IL: Zondervan,
2013.
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