LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
CHURCH DISCIPLESHIP ASSESSMENT
Submitted to Dr. Dan Burrell
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 610 – B02
Family Discipleship
by
Duc Tran
Introduction
Vietnamese Alliance Church in Charlotte, North Carolina was founded around twenty
years ago as an affiliated member of CMA – Christian and Missionary Alliance. The church has
around fifty active members attending church every Sunday and involving in many church
ministries. Started as a very small church for Vietnamese refuges in local area, the church grew
slowly to have more families and new generation.
Thus, the need to begin discipling parents in the church to be disciple-makers in their
family and train up their children to be followers of the Lord requires the church to reevaluate
their children and youth ministries in relation to family discipleship as a whole.
Vision
The church clearly recognizes that family ministry plays an important role in discipling
families in their relationship with God by providing support, trainings, and encouragement. They
believe that the Holy Spirit and His Word have the power to transform the parents and their
children to accomplish their God-given purposes.
In addition, with the vision to carry out the Great Commission: “To go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirt
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the
end of the age” and set it as our foundation, they aim to equip and support families to have
intimacy relationship with God, with each other, and to help them bear lasting fruits for the Lord.
They recognize that the role of parents as the most crucial influence in the spiritual formation of
their children’s life. Bruce Wray even stressed that “The years our children spend under our roof
are extremely critical. Our influence, both positive and negative, will shape our children and
largely determine what kind of adults they will grow to be.”1 Therefore, the church commits to
come along side the families as supporting partner to assist parents by discipling them and
helping them to disciple their children.
Strategy
With that vision, the church builds up a strategy revolving around four factors: leadership
training, marriage classes, parenting classes, and youth ministries.
Firstly, leadership training is the first and foundation for family discipleship. The parents
need to understand their role as leaders/ influencers to their children because God calls them to
be an authority in the children’s life. They have the authority to act on behalf of God. As a father
or mother, believers do not exercise rule over their jurisdiction, but over God’s. They need to
shape the life of their children not to please themselves, but to please God2. Therefore, the church
will train and develop their leadership and parental skills in order for them to fulfill their role.
Secondly, marriage classes are essential for they will prepare the young couple before and
after they get married so that the wife and husband can help each other to be ready mother and
father. The church can also connect experienced couples with young ones to mentor and help
them along the way.
Thirdly, parenting classes help to train parents in the biblical objectives and methods,
exchange experience and pray for each other. The curriculum of the classes instructs parents to
discover the origin of family problems, their results, disciples them to use God’s Word as an
1 Bruce Wray, Charting A Course For Your Family’s Future (MBS Direct, 2014), 9.
2 Tedd Tripp, Shepherding A Child’s Heart (Wapwallopen, PA: Shepherd Press, 2005), 30.
ultimate solution to deal with the problems, and also train them up to the correct direction and
mindset.
Finally, youth ministries (elementary/ middle/ high school ministries) can be the parents’
partner in the process of connecting the children to God and to the body of Christ. Tripp added
that “The church provides a context for our children to have relationships with other adults who
love them and care about them and their future, and who also share our values and goals.”3 The
youth pastors and ministers can also have the insight to counsel parents to recognize the potential
and development of their children and how to reach out to them effectively.
Program
Promotion and Communication
In order to carry out above strategy, the church starts with weekly promotion during
Sunday services and adult small groups. The parents need to aware of the need to be discipled in
the role of discipling their children. In addition, the pastor also points out the Great Commission,
which is the foundation of the church, also apply in each home, not just in some church’s
activities and evangelism campaigns.
Trainings
The parents are trained and provided with materials to conduct Bible Study at home with
their children. This is a vital factor to build up each family member in God’s Word and the
relationship with God, the relationship with each other.
Moreover, other trainings about children discipling are also provided. Parents are taught
to remove unbiblical objectives and methods and replace them with biblical ones to have better
3 Tedd Tripp and Margy Tripp, Instructing A Child’s Heart ((Wapwallopen, PA: Shepherd Press, 2008),
87.
understanding of the way they should raise their children, how to communicate them and be role
models at home.
Outcome and Evaluation
Because the programs have just been planned and carried out under a year, there are few
clear results. The church recognize that the parents show low interest in taking their role as
disciple-makers at home because of their lack of confidence and low time-commitment. They
tend to work from early morning till late evening to make their living and the old view of
dependent on the schools and the church to take care of their children has rooted in their mindset.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, the Vietnamese Alliance Church in Charlotte still has a long way to change
the mindset of parents and help them to step up to take God’s role for them to disciple their
children. With the reality that the children can walk away from their or their parents’ faith
because of not being discipled by their parents, the mothers and fathers would seek the Lord to
get out of their comfort zone, to embrace God’s purpose for them and partner with the church to
be equipped and train up their children to glorify God.
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