Here is an article on discipleship written by Dr. Dempsey, professor at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary on discipleship.
Great Commission/Great Commandment/New Commandment/Acts 1 and 2/ Eph.
4:11-16/ Col. 1:28
Characteristics of a disciple-making
church:
1.
Intentional-
The Great Commandment. The New Commandment. Acts 2:42-47. These passages make
it clear that the early church had a clear strategy. That strategy revolved
around love (love for God, love for people and love for believers). This type
of love has the ability to crush arguments, confuse enemies and convince
skeptics. In the book of Revelation the church of Ephesus left its first love. God
gave the church a very specific prescription: “Therefore remember from where
you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am
coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place--unless you
repent.” A church that has lost its love for God won’t move forward with love
for the lost. The gates of hades will not be pushed back. Instead the church
will be afflicted with the paralysis of analysis. Maintenance becomes the goal
while a movement is what is needed. When the church does not move forward it
must move backward in retreat. The solution for reaching the world has always
been simple. People transformed by the grace of God has always been God’s
method. The church must become intentional to develop people who genuinely love
God, love people and love believers. This is not a program. This is a pursuit.
After all, love motivated God to send Jesus in the first place. Love is God’s
plan for God’s people.
2.
Individual- Ephesians
4:11-16. Colossians 1:28. The focus in this series of verses is for pastors to
equip the saints to spiritual maturity and for the saints to do the works of
service. We are saved to serve. In the Ephesians passage, the emphasis is on
every person “being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies,
according to the proper working of each individual part, causing the growth of the body.” The body of Christ will grow as
each individual part does its unique specific function in the body. The
converse is true as well… if each part of the body is not functioning properly
then the body will not grow. Church growth is really a matter of growing and
developing disciples. The body will grow in quantity as it intentionally
develops each individual to reach their full potential in Christ- quality.
Because as the church grows in quantity it is going to need quality disciples
to lead the people in the church by example. Remember, “Christianity is more
caught than taught.”
3. Missional- Matthew 28:18-20. This is
perhaps the most difficult one to address because the church seems to be stuck
in a maintenance mindset. Pastors are viewed as shepherds who feed and care for
difficult sheep instead of generals preparing soldiers for battle. The Great Commission makes it clear that we
are to make disciples “of all the nations.” Yet every year we seem to get
further and further behind. Why would God give us a mandate that is impossible
to accomplish? The answer is that He didn’t. It is possible to reach the world
with the Gospel if we understand that the full development of every person is
critical to reaching the world. As the person grows in Christ likeness and
maturity we intentionally create opportunities for them to engage directly in
the mission of the master. We cannot reach the world if we do not equip the
saints to reach their full potential. Based upon these principles here is my
definition of discipleship:
Discipleship is the process of guiding individual disciples to grow in
spiritual maturity and to discover and use their gifts, talents and abilities
in fulfillment of Christ’s mission.
