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Writting assignment 3 Disciple Making in the Local
Church
Discipleship Ministries (Liberty University)
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LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL
SEMINARY
Disciple Making in the Local Church
Submitted to Dr. Rick Garner
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500-B12
Discipleship Ministries
by
Kenneth Bass
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
How Disciple are Made...................................................................................................................3
Disciple making within the Church.................................................................................................5
Roles within the Church..................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
If a church wants to make a person’s life frustrating and messed up after they have
accepted Christ, all it needs to do in most cases, is keep doing what it is doing already. Most
churches when it comes to leading a person to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, do a good job, but
when it comes to following up with the new disciple, most churches do a bad job. There are
some churches that are not teaching a new Christian anything about their new faith, then there
are some who are trying to but do not have a plan in place to accomplish it. Not doing anything
or not having a plan in place will keep a new Christian frustrated or messed up in their new faith.
They will be looking to grow in their walk with Christ and will not know which direction to go
if someone does not guide them until they know how to walk on their own and understand which
direction to continue.
How Disciple are Made
Most all churches will tell you in some way or another they have based their vision off of
Matthew 28:19, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” The problem is most of the time they are putting
their emphasis on the secondary part of this verse. The imperative verb of this verse is not to go,
but to make disciples. The term to go and the other terms used in this verse are explaining how
we are to make disciples.1 We are always going somewhere and God is telling us wherever we
go we are to make disciples. Before any type of disciple making can happen there must be a
clear understanding of what a disciple is. A disciple is a student, someone who has seriously
considered the cost of following Jesus. They are willing to be taught God’s commands and
1 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is--: How to Live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence (Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Avademic, 2013), 3.
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follow them out in their personal life. Once they have done that they are totally committed to
whatever Christ asked of them.2 The first place to starting developing disciples is by
understanding what a disciple is. How can a person commit to learning something when they do
not understand what the end results will look like?
When a person first accepts Christ into their life they need to understand there will be
different stages in their spiritual life as Putman outlined. Because they have just come to life
spiritually, as stated in Ephesians 2:1-5, they are now spiritual infants. 1 Peter 2:2-3 describes
the disciple as new born in this stage. They need to realize they will not understand a lot about
their new faith but as a baby grows in knowledge so will they. As they are taught to follow the
Word of God, they will enter into the next stage of being a spiritual baby as talked about in 1
John 2:12. They need to understand in this stage they will start to learn a lot of truth from
scripture and need to start obeying the knowledge they are learning. In this stage they need to be
taught early that knowledge without actions is dead. Explaining to them as a child learns to
rollover, crawl, and walk and finally run, they too will do the same in their new faith. During
this time expressing they will enter into spiritual adulthood at a certain point, is important.
Sharing with them indicators that shows a person has entered this stage is important. One of
these indicators can be when the person because more concerned about others than themselves.
Finally, sharing that God never intended for the growth to stop at spiritual adulthood is
important, explaining that they will become spiritual parents keeps the discipleship process
growing. They need to know at the earliest stage they will grow in their new faith to a point
where they too will one day help other people grow in their faith.3 Understanding the stages of
the disciple’s spiritual life, give a
2 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is, 22-25.
3 Jim Putman and Bobby Harrington, Discipleshift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make
Disciples Who Make Disciples, Exponential Series (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 61-71.
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road map for the disciple and the teacher to know where they are located in the process at all
times.
Disciple making within the Church
When a disciple has come to a place where they understanding what the road looks like
to becoming a truly devoted follower of Christ, explaining the importance of this growth
accruing within the church is critical. As Earley stated, “The church must be in the absolute
middle of God’s global plan of making disciples.”4 If a person stays connected with the world
they are leaving behind, they will ultimately continue to look just like they did before coming
into a relationship with Christ. Romans 12:2 says; “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this
world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think…” this will
only occur when a person is being taught the Word of God and is in the middle of other people
living it out. It has been said before when a white horse goes into a mud puddle it does not leave
white stains in the mud puddle when it comes out, the white horse comes out muddy. A new
Christian needs to become strong in their new faith before spending a lot of time with the people
they used to spend time with. The church gives them a place to feel safe and not be so tempted to
follow their old sinful ways of living. Barna states; “Discipleship cannot occur in a vacuum; it is
most effectively accomplished in cooperation with other followers of the Lord.”5 As described
earlier when a person accepts Christ into their life, they are an infant or a baby in Christ. A
parent would never leave a baby to live on their own, why would the same thing happen with a
spiritual baby? Teaching the new disciple the importance of fellowshipping with other believers
is a critical topic that needs to be taught early.
4 Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is, 39.
5 George Barna, Growing True Disciples: New Strategies for Producing Genuine Followers of
Christ, Barna Reports for Highly Effective Churches (Colorado Springs, Colo.: WaterBrook Press, 2001), 31.
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Teaching the disciple that “the body of Jesus Christ is the ground of our faith and the
source of its certainty; the body of Jesus Christ is the one and perfect gift through which we
receive our salvation; the body Jesus Christ is our new life”6 is a foundational point to start with.
When a disciple understand all Christ went through by leaving Heaven and taken on the human
sinful body and giving it up as a sacrifice for mankind’s sins, it helps them realize the importance
of the description that the church is called Christ’s body. Because of all Jesus did through his
body, the disciple needs to be taught that the way to celebrate what was accomplished through
Christ’s body is by coming together as a body of believers, the church and practicing the two
sacraments of his body, that is, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Teaching the disciple these
sacraments cannot happen outside the body of believers is important.7 The church is where the
people of God come together to celebrate what God has done for them and then taught that they
need to go out and tell others what God has done from the world.
Ways a disciple can grow within a church is endless. As a disciple understands early on,
that a student is no greater than his teacher, allows there to be a focus on the life of Jesus
because of the life He lived while on earth throughout the discipleship process. An important
truth about discipleship is that, “discipleship is something that is caught, not taught.8 Avenues to
allow the disciple to grow in their knowledge can be done on a one on one base. Spending time
with their teacher for weeks going over basic topics of the faith is a great way to allow there to
be time of truth and questions to come out. As the disciple is learning how to understand their
new faith, such as how to deal with doubt and fear, what is sin, what is temptation, why do they
need to read their Bible and pray? Why is it important to fellowship with other believers in small
and
6 Dietrich, Bonhoeffer, and Et Al. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 4, Discipleship. (Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 1996). 213.
7 Ibid, 213- 216.
8 Grant Edwards, Swimming + Lessons: How to Keep New Christians Afloat in a Sinking World (USA:
Specificity Publications, 2010), 36.
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large group settings? The teacher is modeling all aspect of this to their disciple. While this
teaching is going on the disciple should be helped get connected to a bible study group and join
the church. Then encouraging them to get plugged into ministry early on is a great way to bring
them out of the self-centered mindset to a more servant mindset. Throughout this whole time,
the teacher is modeling and share experiences with their disciple which will model and shape
them for future growth. Teaching the truth that as a believer one cannot live on their own is
important. God showed throughout scripture He intends for believers to do life together. The
church is Christ body where believers come together to grow, encourage, hold one another
accountable and then are sent out to share with others the hope they have in Christ.
Roles within the Church
There are many different roles within the church that are important parts of the
discipleship process. The most visible role is the pastor. The pastor is the vision caster; the one
who is a megaphone used by God to remind the believers they should be growing in their
personal faith with Christ and helping other do the same. The primary role of the pastor is to
train and equip the believers God has sent to him. Paul tells pastors in Ephesians 4:11-12 their
job is to prepare God’s people for the work God has called them to do. Now a principal must be
stated here; you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make them drink it. The same principal
applies to the believer, a pastor can only equip the person for growth, and the believer has to act
upon the offer. For a believer to grow in their walk with the Lord, they must be willing to
surrender their personal desires and spend time in personal bible study and prayer. This is part of
the discipleship process, teaching them to feed themselves.
The Church’s role is to provide the additional help the pastor need to equip the believers
to grow. This is done by allowing the whole body to come together to join in one accord to give
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praise and honor to God for all He has done for them. When a person comes to the church broken
and hurting, the church is there to be the hands and feet of Jesus by reaching out to that person is
love. The church is not a building but it is a gathering of believers who come together to grow,
support and encourage others to be more like Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:13.
The church is a gathering of believers who have been commanded to come together to
grow and encourage one another, Hebrews 10:25. When God’s people come together it is not
about what they can receive from the gathering, but what can they give out to help grow others.
In 1 Corinthians 14 we are told that everyone has been given different gifts to use to strengthen
the church. These gifts are from God and are to be used to strengthen His people, so they can
bring glory to His name. When everyone within a church is using their God given gifts to
strengthen and encourage others, they are part of a healthy church, but when a believer is
neglecting to use their gifts, it is a sign of an unhealthy church. As a believer starts using their
spiritual gifts, it is another part of the discipleship process. The more they use it, the more
impactful it becomes to the growth process of the believer. The healthier the church is, the more
people it will have to send out to make more disciples.
Conclusion
To stay a healthy church it must be intentional in developing the people God has sent to
it. It must help develop them into fully devoted followers of Christ. The job of the church is to
proclaim the gospel clearly and equip the people which make up the church to act on all they
have learned. When this happens it is a sign of a health church full of healthy Christian. If the
church continues doing what most churches are doing now when it comes to making disciples,
the church will be an unhealthy church full of frustrated and messed up people. The church
needs
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to have a plan in place to help the new believer and mature believers fulfill their God given
calling, which is to go out and make disciples.
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Bibliography
Barna, George. Growing True Disciples: New Strategies for Producing Genuine Followers of
Christ. Barna Reports for Highly Effective Churches. Colorado Springs, Colo.:
WaterBrook Press, 2001.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. And Et Al. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works Volume 4, Discipleship.
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996.
Early, Dave and Dempsey, Rod. Disciple Making Is…: How to live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence. Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Academic, 2013.
Edwards, Grant. Swimming + Lessons: How to Keep New Christians Afloat in a Sinking World.
USA: Specificity Publications, 2010.
Putman, Jim, and Bobby Harrington. Discipleshift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make
Disciples Who Make Disciples. Exponential Series. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.
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