Discipleship Research Paper

Making disciples is the overarching purpose of the church. However, many churches struggle with understanding and fulfilling the true meaning of Christian discipleship in individuals’ lives. This writing assignment will attempt to expound on several significant aspects of discipleship. The importance of the centrality of Jesus Christ to Christian discipleship will be detailed. Also, obedience to the directives of Christ and submission of particular areas of one’s life will be outlined. Finally, the three stages of discipleship according to Dave Earley and Rod Dempsy will be delineated and expanded upon.

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

Paul’s first recorded missionary journey resulted in the widespread conversion of Gentiles to Christianity. Paul’s first journey is recorded in the New Testament from Acts 13:4 to Acts 15, and tells the story of Paul, Barnabas, John and Mark’s activities of preaching the Gospel in the areas they visited, being Cyprus, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, and returning home to Antioch. This was a journey that saw the Apostles travel a staggering 2250 km around the area of Asia minor, Syria and Cyprus. Once they returned back to Antioch, they heard word of people preaching that you had to be Jewish to follow Jesus: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved”(Acts 15). Paul did not agree with this,

Christianity over the course of history has a vast influence on individuals, society and the way believers conduct themselves. It provides morals, practices and ethics that every Christian attempts to live by. Throughout the many denominations in the Christian church, Paul of Tarsus had a significant influence on the faith. His contribution to the development and expression of Christianity is immense and can be seen to stem from his writing and missionary journeys which have implemented his ideas and interpretations onto the development of Christianity. After Jesus, Paul was arguably the most significant figure in Christianity as his teachings form a significant part of the New Testament. Like may other Pharisees of that time in history, Paul sought to suppress the early Christian movement. He accused early Christians of blaspheming against God and breaking Mosaic Law. However, Paul had a life-changing experience when he had a vision of Jesus, and he spent the remainder of his life as a missionary for the early church. Centuries after his ministry, his teachings still influence Christian theology.

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.

However, Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians that his heart’s desire, his zeal now is to know Him (Christ) and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Php 3:10 KJV). Paul uses some very strong language in describing what he was like before Christ and how he has been transformed into the image of Christ. His zeal is no longer to live as a Pharisee but to live as an Apostle to the

Before leaving on his mission, he went to the high priest and asked for “their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.” Even in his early years, Paul followed the rules and we see this characteristic in him as a leader later in life. After his conversion on the road to Damascus, the light of Jesus transforms Paul’s life. From that moment forward, we see Paul begin to study the word, live with the rabbis, and partner with people that were spreading the gospel. Throughout Paul’s missionary journeys, we see the impact that this time of his life had on his work and relationships with other people. Overall, Paul’s years serving in the Roman Empire opened his eyes to the plight of the Christian people and softened him for the work the Lord had called him to do.

Paul, having figuratively died and rose again with Christ, demonstrates a profound change in his outlook. Armed with a transformed mindset, the once vitriolic man who had been possessed by the demonic “Us vs. Them” mentality, goes on to champion unity and equality -- “In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal” (Gal. 3:28; The Message). He then implores fellow Christians to defy conformity, exhorting them to be transformed by gauging their values against the credo that holds ultimate significance -- the will of God, which Micah defines as acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God (Rom 12:2; Micah 6:8).

Two of the most controversial facets of the historical Jesus’ ministry are the concepts of his roles as an apocalyptic prophet as well as an exorcist. These two aspects are controversial due to their complex and extreme nature. The assertion that the historical Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet has been highly contested amongst a variety of scholars such as E.P Sanders, Albert Schweitzer, Bart Ehrman and many others. Jesus’ apocalyptic proclamations consisted of the declaration of the arrival of the Kingdom of God, which will spark the cosmic battle between good and evil. In addition, Jesus’ role as an exorcist was a significant aspect of his work. During his ministry over 2000 years ago, Jesus performed exorcisms to heal an individual who has

Over 2.4 billion people around the world believe in the Christian religion. For some it is a river of faith, but there are many branches to Christianity. Jesus Christ in Judea (present day Israel) started Christianity about 2000 years ago. Jesus was initially Jewish and he lived in an area that was under Roman rule. This Roman rules posed a big problem for the Jews due to the polytheistic cultural beliefs the Romans had. This is when Jesus Christ played a major role in the development of Christianity. Jesus traveled from village to village, teaching in the various synagogues and healing those who were suffering. This teaching was revolutionary, he challenged the already established Roman religious authorities to repent from their self-righteousness and hypocrisy and realize

The discipleship process is not instantaneous, nor is it automatic. For example, Paul’s relationship with John Mark started very poorly, as Mark abandoned the missionary effort in Pamphylia (Acts 15:38 -39). Yet Paul regarded him as valuable to his service toward the end of his ministry (2 Tim. 4:11). Paul’s goal in discipling Timothy included empowering Timothy, and deploying him (Chua, & Lessing, 2013). True worship involves an encounter with God, and as such, transforms the worshiper (Noland, 2009). Paul was intentional in bringing Timothy into God’s presence by reminding him of the faith of his mother and grandmother, and the gifts God had given him for ministry (2 Tim. 1:3-6). Paul prepared Timothy by developing a very close relationship with him, employing a process of instruction, inspiration, and encouragement, and providing a mindset of God’s overall plan, rather than focussing on immediate circumstances (Chua, & Lessing,

sacrificed his life for the man. He had a lot of faith in Jesus that

The life of Paul is an interesting one, in that Paul was once persecuting Christians, but would later fight to keep the faith alive. The letters which he would write would set the foundation for the faith of the new Christian church and lead it through the tumultuous times of Roman persecution. Yet, what led Paul to take this path and why would a man who hated Christians become one of God’s greatest messengers? Through Paul’s transformation and rebirth through Christ, we can see one of the greatest redemption stories ever seen within scripture and how Paul truly was one of the greatest apostles in modern Christianity.

Timothy was one of Paul’s closest companions. Paul sent Timothy to the church at Ephesus to counter the false teachings that had arisen there. Timothy served as a leader in the Church at Ephesus. Paul wrote a letter to Timothy. Paul’s letter gave practical advice about the ministry. Paul also instructed Timothy on other topics. Paul gave Timothy instructions for the qualifications to be a church leader, public worship, confronting false teachings, and guarding against the love of money. Paul taught that the right belief and the

Jesus gave us the Great Commission, and it was not a command He left open for discussion.