Disciple Making in the Local Church

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Written Assignment 3: Disciple Making in the Local Church

Submitted to Dr. Rodney Dempsey, in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the completion of the course

DSMN 500 – D01

Discipleship Ministries

by

Robert Ortiz Jr.

Submitted: August 11, 2014

The Importance of Making Disciples

            I am a seminary student. As I begin to write this paper I confess my heart is heavy. I have been having a hard time of it this semester and save the grace of God through my thoughtful Professors I would have given up because I am unable to get my head in the game as it were. This class reminds me of what the church should be doing but is not. My heart is heavy because I was let down by my previous church. I was let down by my previous leaders, in fact, I do not speak to my own brother (Youth Coordinator, Worship leader and Church leader) any longer, this is a man I ministered with as worship team members and youth leaders ( I am praying about this deeply). The main cause of all this heartache is because I see things according to God’s Word, whereas the men I have dealt with see things according to their own understanding, their own view of how the church should operate. This previous church of mine was visionless. It was led by men that did not care to disciple its congregation. Men that did not care to evangelize the community. Men that did not care to grow the men of the church, and men that did not focus whatsoever on outreach of any kind. “Churches that do not focus on these ministries will die in just a few generations.”[1] I doubt it will see a second generation. The main concern of the leadership was submission to them and renovating the church building (something that has been the focus of church leadership for more than twenty years).

            At the time of my departure there were less than twenty members in the church; weekly attendance was around forty or so. This is in a building that housed 172 occupants in the main sanctuary in a three story multimillion dollar edifice. The church currently boasts a bevy of children’s activities on the weekends, a decent youth ministry (13-18), and a very active “groups” ministry where groups from the church affiliated organization come to stay in its dorms for ministry opportunities throughout New York City (hardly ever in the community the church resides in) . Sadly, the leadership believes because of these things they are blessed and are in the will of God (I call it the Saul complex). When I write leadership, I mean two men – the senior pastor and the associate pastor.

            People have left the church because they have felt voiceless. People have moved on to other churches because they were starving, not even milk was being served. “Pastors generally think their sheep are getting a good meal; however, their listeners disagree…”[2] My goal is not to bash my previous church, I pray for them and the leadership, my goal is to illustrate the importance of the local church in developing believers to be disciples and to make disciples. I currently am not a member of a church. I am visiting a fairly large church but I am taking it real slow, to slow maybe. Can I blame the church and its leaders for leaving me and so many others to the wayside? Yes, but I do not; it is nonetheless still very hard to navigate through such hurt. Imagine then a new believer; without the proper guidance, how will he navigate this incredibly complex terrain we call Christianity; discipleship is key. The local church and the Christian community then are major players in its success.

The Local Church

            Rod Dempsey writes, “The church must be in the absolute middle of God’s global plan of making disciples.”[3] This is so true. It seems however that the church has taken itself out of the middle of God’s plan and positioned itself in the forefront of its own plan. It is no wonder then that the Christian church has very little authority and influence in the U.S. and even less true disciples. The role of the local church, the called out ones, is to first establish how it is positioned and then determine how to facilitate disciples and disciple makers from that starting point. Greg Ogden writes, “If we are to devise a successful strategy of disciple making in our churches, we must first assess the gap between where we are and where we are called to go.”[4] If the church identifies itself as a relatively small church then collectively it can work on the basis of a small group. If it is a larger church then it needs to position itself as such to establish leaders that can lead small groups. Whether it is the pastor of a small, hopefully growing church, or the leader of a small group, “regular interaction with caring, biblically trained [discipled] leaders prompts spiritual growth.”[5]

Local Community

            Individuals make up the church – the body of Christ. In establishing his church Jesus set forth to disciple twelve men, one of which, Peter, would be the rock on which he would build it. They all would receive the best of the best when it came to being discipled, no greater mentor can a person have then Jesus the Christ himself. Nonetheless, Bonhoeffer writes,

For the first disciples bodily community with Jesus did not mean anything different or anything more than what we have today. Indeed, for us this community is even more definite, more complete, and more certain than it was for them, since we live in full community with the bodily presence of the glorified Lord.[6]

This is an amazing concept that Bonhoeffer brings to the table. He is saying that we as Christians today are in an even better position than the disciples who walked with, ate with, cried with, laughed with, did ministry with, and saw the miracles of Jesus the Christ. If this is case, then should not the church be in the very best position to win, grow, and send disciples? We are able to do exceedingly more because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the helper Jesus promised us – with him all things are possible, this gives credence to the better position we have than the disciples. The people of God are in the top three most important aspects of true and effective discipleship, the Word of God and the Spirit of God being the other two. Jesus said that everything in the Law and the Prophets can be simplified, he means we as his creation are to love God and love people. “This means that we cannot separate relationships from the disciple-making process. Our interactions with other people are one of the means God uses to teach us truth.”[7] In other words an extremely high priority needs to be placed on the importance of raising saints to be what God has created them to be.

Role of the Pastor

            Pastors are called to train and prepare congregants to go forth and make disciples. Whilst they are doing this they are commissioned to feed and protect the saints. They are the ones tasked by God to make sure the congregation is healthy and strong ready to give an account for that which they believe; therefore, “the health of the body of Christ should be a very important consideration for the leaders of a church.”[8] The best form of discipling, the one Jesus modeled so very well, is by example. It is simply not enough for a pastor to preach on Sunday and assume that is adequate discipleship; “preaching alone will not make disciples.”[9]

Jesus was a hands-on disciple maker. He did what he taught. Sadly, this is just not happening in the church today. “So many people have not been taught the importance of following what Jesus teaches, and even if they have, there is little modeling to show them how, and there is little accountability through relationships to support life change.”[10] The lure of big time televangelist or mega-church pastorship has taken the place of honest caring for the sheep of Christ. Seems Jesus was just talking to Peter. More so, and I think this is the prevalent truth, Pastors just do not know how to make disciples, they base their calling on a specific gifting without consideration to the vast responsibility of leading a flock. I believe, if every church leader, especially its core pastoral team to include the senior pastor, followed the “four main roles of a disciple making pastor” as outlined by Putman et al, we would see a vast and profound change in the influence of the church on the world. These four roles are a pastor (leader) needs to first be an authentic disciple, he should be a discipleship system builder, he should develop leaders, and finally he should be a vision caster (many miss this one if not all of them).[11]

Saints and Spiritual Gifts

            At the end of the day however it is all about the people. People are who Christ came to save and disciple to be world changers. The people of God play a vital role in continuing the work Christ established through the first disciples and so forth. And the driving force behind it all is of course love. Without love everything just fails. It was love that moved the heart of Christ to leave his glory. It is love then that should move the hearts of saints to reach out to the lost to win them, grow them, and send them. And God is so wonderful; he has given to each of his children a special gift to use in the furtherance of his kingdom. Every believer has been endowed with a unique gift in order to use it to help another reach their full potential in Christ; to keep the body of Christ healthy and strong. If saints are not being developed to understand and out to practice their gifting, then the whole body suffers. And it is important to keep in mind that every single person, just as every single part of the body is, vital to the overall well being and effectiveness of the church.

Conclusion

            The church started in the homes of the early believers. There they cultivated a community spirit and accomplished a great deal because they worked together, ate together, shared their lives openly and honestly, and most of all they saw the vision Christ intended and pursued it with passion and tenacity. The church has changed a great deal since those early days but the mission remains the same. We need to pray for pastors and leaders to follow a systematic plan to reach people, and teach people. And as leaders, our goal is to help the church fulfill her role in the plan and will of God.

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[1] Gary L. McIntosh and Charles Arn, What Every Pastor Should Know: 101 Indispensible Rules of Thumb for Leading Your Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2013), 13.

[2] Julia Duin, Quitting Church: Why the faithful are Leaving, (Grand Rapids: Bondfire Books, 2013), 68.

[3] Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making Is…: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence, (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013), 39.

[4] Greg Ogden, Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time, (Westmont, IL:

InterVarsity Press, 2010), 21.

[5] Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, Discipleshift: Five Steps that Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 134. 

[6] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, Geffrey B. Kelly and John D. Godsey, eds. And Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, trans., (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 213. 

[7] Putman, et al., 140.

[8] Dempsey, 41.

[9] Putman, et al., 146.

[10] Ibid., 159.

[11] Putman et al., 119-126.

Bibliography

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Discipleship. Geffrey B. Kelly and John D. Godsey, eds. and Barbara

Green and Reinhard Krauss, trans. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001.

Duin, Julia. Quitting Church: Why the faithful are Leaving. Grand Rapids: Bondfire Books,

Earley, Dave, Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is…: How to Live the Great Commission with

Passion and Confidence. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013.

            2013.

McIntosh, Gary L. and Charles Arn. What Every Pastor Should Know: 101 Indispensible

 Rules of Thumb for Leading Your Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2013.

Ogden, Greg. Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time. Westmont, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2010, http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/lib/liberty/docDetail.action?docID=10828094. Accessed July 20, 2014.

Putman, Jim, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman. Discipleshift: Five Steps that Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.