Introduction
Discipleship has become the new hot
trend in the world of the evangelical church. The question becomes, “What does
true biblical discipleship look like?” A great verse to help guide us in the
right direction is from Paul to Timothy when he says, “and what you have
heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful
men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2, ESV) Paul
was profoundly wise, it did not seem to matter who his intended audience was,
when he wrote there always seemed to be great power in his words. Hear what he
tells the Philippians, “What you have learned and received and heard and
seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with
you.” (Philippians 4:9, ESV)
The
Process of Making Disciples
Taking a closer look at the
Philippians verse in particular there are several things that Paul is telling
them, that give us a direction to take and run with when developing our own
model of discipleship. You have to be able to communicate the material, no
matter what you use should ultimately bring us back to Christ. Then we must
display what we are trying to teach to others, it allows them to reproduce the
action. If you are a parent think about your children when they are young they
watch what you are doing and attempt to mimic those actions until they become
their own. The same is true for young believers in Christ. Then we have to
offer opportunities for those who are learning from us the chance to practice
what has been learned. The final thing we get from this verse is the peace of
God will be with us as we go through this process of making disciples; that
does not mean it is going to be an easy process, it means we will be able to
stand up to it because of His peace. However, is this what the church is doing
in our day and age or have we gone about trying to “re-create the wheel?”
Investigating
the Resources
My investigation into this process
involved looking at several different books, speaking with different leaders
within several churches from varying denominations. What I found was that the
understanding of discipleship varies widely amongst lay people. However, those
of us in leadership positions (deacons or elders) in churches where the Gospel
is central tended to have a more succinct idea of what discipleship is. For some evangelism is confused with
discipleship, while for others discipleship takes place in the Sunday school
classroom. There are others that think it is merely a mentoring relationship.
In Michael Mitchell’s book he references what he refers to as the Proverbs 2
method.[1]
Greg Ogden has several different methods that he discusses in his work Transforming Discipleship one is based
upon Jesus and the other Paul, he also has a workbook called Discipleship Essentials that is rather
good. I personally have not used it but I have used his Leadership Essentials which is utilized along similar lines.
When discipleship is a program in
the church it often does not meet requirement of true discipleship, however,
when discipleship is a lifestyle of the church and is treated as second nature
then the congregation thrives. Gieger exclaims
In our research
we found that many church leaders in these “transformational churches”
struggled with questions about discipleship programs or discipleship tools.
They did not view discipleship as one “thing” they offer, whether a program or
a strategy. Rather, making disciples is seen as the overarching reason they
exist. They viewed disciple-making as their paramount calling with every
activity being used as a pathway for transformation.[2]
While teaching and encouraging
growth through learning is the primary aspect of discipleship, the other side
of the coin is discipline or correction. In May of 2013 I had the privilege of
attending conference held by Mark Dever senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church
and 9 Marks. In this conference they spoke about discipleship that takes place
one-on-one with individual members of the congregation caring for one another
and not waiting for the church to step in. That means they were building
relationships that allowed vulnerability to take place and discipline to be
handled in a godly way. Discipleship requires intentionality, not passivity on
the part of all parties involved. There are some who feel discipling should
take place in the context of one leader several followers and others that think
the individual approach is best. I would say that no matter what approach you
take it requires time and effort to get to know those you are in this type of
relationship with. In the end though the rewards should outweigh the risks.
Several observations that have been made
are that there has to be someone more mature in the Christian faith teaching a
younger believer. The most common resource every good discipleship program
shared is the Bible itself. While some chose to study books that focus on
different aspects of the Christian life such as prayer, tithing, Bible study,
parenthood, or some other area of struggle. While it may not be obvious but the
next best resource a young disciple has is the wisdom of the one discipling/mentoring
them. It can often be taken for granted the situations a person has lived
through and the way he/she has responded, either with grace and biblical wisdom
or worldly frustration. The only way that any resource can ever be truly
effective is if they focus on biblical principles and lead us to the cross.
Most of these models attempt to implement
the biblical model by teaching Scripture, being reproducible, and once the disciple
has reached a certain level of maturity being allowed the chance implement what
has been learned. If the model has been properly displayed in the discipler’s life
then it should be easily reproducible in the mentee’s life.
Conclusion
As a leader in the church I do not mind the
use of Christian materials as long as the focus is ultimately on Christ and how
we grow in maturity and grace. I personally appreciate an organic approach of meeting
on some type of regular basis and sharing life experiences, eating a meal, and digging
into the Word of God. The best model any of us can use is centered on the Bible
and having people grow closer to Christ and wanting to see others experience the
same joy they have started experiencing in their lives.
Bibliography
Barna, George. Growing True Disciples. Colorado
Springs: WaterBroook Press, 2001.
Gieger, Eric, and Michael Kelley and Philip Nation. Transformational
Discipleship. Nahsville: B&H Publishing Group, 2012.
Lea, Thomas D., and David Alan Black. The New Testament:
Its Background and Message. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2003.
Marshall, Colin, and and Tony Payne. The Trellis and the
Vine. Kingsford NSW: Matthias Media, 2009.
Mitchell, Michael R. Leading,
Teaching, and Making Disciples. Bloomngton: Crossbooks, 2010.
Ogden, Greg. Transforming Discipleship. Downers Grove: IVP
Publishing, 2003.
Rosenberg, Joel C., and
and Dr. T.E. Koshy. The Invested Life. Carol Stream: Tyndale, 2012.
Yount, William R. (ed.). The Teaching Ministry of the
Church 2nd edition. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2008.
