Discipleship Models : A Christian Worldview Essay

AO2: Explain how this teaching about discipleship might affect the life of a Christian today.

This class has been such a blessing to my life, and it is an honor to create this discipleship strategy for my future ministry. It is the job of the leader of the church to evaluate the spiritual growth of the church, and one of the ways to do this is by measuring expansion growth. This is a tricky subject because there are a lot of ways to define growth. There is transfer growth, which is the swapping of church members from a different congregation. This type of growth is good, but not the best type of growth. While many churches want to see their numbers increase, creating a church that takes away people from surrounding churches is not an ideal term for growth, because no new life change is happening. Tender growth is where people begin

Discipleship is about engaging in the Word, following and obeying Jesus and going out to make disciples. An essential element in being a disciple is to be open to learning, to be teachable. It is a mindset to be continuously adopted and cultivated. For us to disciple others, we must be a better disciple ourselves. When making disciples, we are instructing others to be willing to be a discoverer. It applies to both spiritual growth as well as personal development, openness to new techniques, ideas and methods in all aspects of life. Our spiritual learning comes from delving into His

While the goal of Christian education and discipleship is spiritual formation of the new believer into a true disciple who makes other true disciples, this concept has been watered down in the American church today by emphasis on programs instead of progressive spiritual growth in every member’s life. There are many

Hull, Bill. The Disciple-Making Church: Leading a Body of Believers On the Journey of Faith. Updated ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2010.

2 – Disciple-Making – Discipleship is the “critical, perhaps even the central, element of mDNA in Apostolic Genius…” (page 113) He ties true discipleship to developing Christ-like character.

Discipleship students, or those who already have a faith commitment, tend to immediately join one of two categories. The first, or Stagnant, students are those who “made a decision to follow Christ at some time in life but never really grew in faith.” These students, from the outside, look very similar to the world as “the distinction between churched and unchurched students is rapidly shrinking.” These students require time to draw them into a

Christ is the central person in Christian discipleship. Without Christ, Christianity would not exist and there would be no followers of Christ. To be true followers of Christ, believers must be willing to learn of the ways and teachings of Christ. Christ is central to Christian discipleship because He is the teacher of His disciples. Through the Holy Spirit and Word of God, Jesus Christ calls His disciples to Him and then

Today, as I attend school with the major heading as “Missions,” I hear a lot of talk about different methods in creating disciples. However, “Paul’s modus operandi for training was time on task” (pp. 59). In other words, disciples were made through time spent rather than strictly content. It sounds like relationship was a key aspect. Paul also focused on transferring these converts into true believers. It seems a lot in churches today, individuals are more focused on content rather than time. Therefore, they spend more time in the church “learning” than spending time with those that need “discipled.” With that, people in the church tend to “convert” others or brag about increased attendance, but have no plan to turn these individuals into true believers.

Over the years, many models have been developed and implemented to endeavor to make disciples. Some of the models have been effective and others have not. Among some of the most biblical and efficient models are the ones that involve small groups. Within the small groups models, they can be broken down into further detail, such as pastoral involvement, the church’s goal, missions mindedness, etc. In this paper, I will explain my philosophy of small groups in a church and the importance of the relational group in authentic disciple making. I will also explain how missional groups can help the body of Christ move out into the community. Finally, I will summarize my status in regards to living in community with other believers and being missional with that community.

The principles of discipleship can be found throughout the Bible. One of the ultimate goals of discipleship is to become more Christ like which makes Jesus's life and grace an excellent basis for discipleship. Jesus invested in twelve men, the first Disciples, and entrusted them to continue the process. Peter, James, and John were a part of Christ's inner circle and he fostered and encouraged an exalted spiritual life and growth in these three. Paul was a Pharisee who was murdering Christians and then his life was transformed and he became an apostle. He gave his life over to God's purpose not only in a broad perspective, bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles, but also personal. Timothy was a disciple of Paul; Paul was personally involved in Timothy's life. The Great Commission commands the Disciples, in Matthew 28:19, to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". The Disciples followed the Great Commission and Christianity spread. Believers are meant to follow the

The LifeShapes model was given a very positive view by Chafee (2010) where he affirms that Jesus showed His followers how to multiply disciples by calling them to follow Him. Central to this model are the shapes, which serve as a contemporary reminder for the believer of living for the King (Chafee, 2010). As a system, the simplicity and practicality of this biblically based model makes it quite effective.

Matthew 9:35-38 (NIV) reads, Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Through the lens of this text God reveals to us the heart He has for His people in a lost and suffering world. Jesus points out to his disciples what we should find significant today, and that is

This five-step process begins by creating a definition for what it is we are addressing as disciples. It’s important to ask the question “what is…” because it helps us distinguish from other topics that are closely related. For example, if we are talking about what discipline is, we would want to distinguish if we are speaking about the punishment of a child, the act of training in a habitual manner, or a branch of knowledge. Our world is a very complicated, intricate, and interwoven place. Though people often want things to be straightforward, they’re not always that simple. It’s important to define exactly what we’re talking about in order to understand the topic as clearly as possible.

was owed a great sum of money by one of his servants. The king let the