Discipline and Learning Ability in the Church - Essay Example

Contents

Introduction

Who is a Disciple?

The Five V’s of Ministry

• Vision
• Values
• Views
• Vehicles
• Verifiers

Conclusion

Introduction

In an attempt to describe the purpose statement that drives the church, most people base their views on the instruction by the Christ in what is considered the great commission of ‘making disciples of all nations.’ This was the instruction of Christ to the church as documented in Mathew 28:19. However, different people have different interpretations of what they interpret s the meaning of ‘making disciples.’ Many churches in today’s world interpret this as a command and instruction to evangelize the world. This means that they have a role of leading people to repentance and faith in every corner of the world by spreading the gospel as far as it is possible.

Who is a Disciple?

To make disciples for Jesus Christ, there is a need to understand who a disciple is. The confusion that arises on what it means for one to be a disciple of Jesus has been an issue of controversy in the recent world. Some people feel that a disciple is people who have devoted themselves to a full-time ministry such as a priest, missionary, or pastor and not just any believer. Others however, hold that for one to be considered a disciple, they must have attended and completed the ‘discipleship program’ where they study the basic concerns of a Christian life. However, the real understanding of the term disciple should be derived from the Bible. There is a need to have a look at how Jesus used the term.

After a comprehensive analysis of the word as used in the Bible, Michael Wilkins, a professor says that a disciple of Jesus Christ is a person who has accepted Jesus for eternal life by claiming him as God and the Savior, and has embarked on a mission to follow him. It is therefore arguable that a disciple of Jesus Christ is not just that person who has grown a profession of faith, or one that has learned God’s teaching as stipulated in the Bible, but rather, that person that has repented in faith and seeks to follow God’s teaching and examples. Arguably therefore, do be a true Christian, is similar to being a disciple. The heart of these two definitions is learning and obeying Jesus’ teachings. Some of these teachings include self-denial, forgiveness, unreserved love for God, love for neighbor, humility, sexual purity, obedience, and mission among others.

The Five V’s of Ministry

Vision

Being disciplined and teachable has been considered the biggest discrepancies within the body of Christ in most churches today. There is a need of the Vision of the Lord in making disciples. In Proverbs 29:18, King Solomon says that without a vision, people become unrestrained. He goes on to say that happy is the man who keeps and follows the law. It is therefore arguable that God’s Vision in the process of making disciples shall hold believers and keep them on the right track and course for the will of God. Unless there is a vision in making disciples, it shall be impossible to get new believers and make them grow into maturity in the Lord. Without such a vision, Christians can be hindered and destructed by the worldly and worthwhile activities leaving the Lord’s commission unfinished. Being unrestrained may prevent them from picking the best from the good. This will not only make it impossible to disciple others, but will give them excuses from doing other spiritual and Christian duties. Without a vision therefore, the Lord’s mandate is neglected. In neglecting the mission, new believers are left on their own with no mentorship, and will most probably fall from the faith.

The Vision of this ministry should therefore be ‘Reaching the world for Christ, and walking in Faith.’ This mission shows that everyone all over the world is being aimed at. This is in accordance with the commandment that Jesus left that we should make disciples of all people. Therefore, the discipleship ministry should not be aimed at specific areas, regions, groups, ages, demographics, or any other category of people. It should instead be focused on all people on all corners of the world. In addition to this, the vision is not just reaching out to the people and telling them of the word, but winning them into Christianity and walking them in faith every step of the way. If left on their own, new disciples may be destructed by temptations and fall back into sin. Therefore, they need time and guidance to grow their faith and in turn become disciple makers for others.

Values

Making disciples is not an easy task. However, the method provided by Jesus Christ offers Christians with an ideal road map that guides people along the road of making disciples. It is important to note that discipleship is not an event or activity, but a process. This therefore means that one does not just become a disciple. The degree to which Christians experience failure or success in the process of making disciples highly depends on whether they share the same values. Vision and strategy are significant in the vivacity of the church. However, acquiring and using similar core values is a notable way of achieving success in the ministry. Values answer the question of why Christians do what they do. Values are assessed on two levels: Biblical values should be present in all Christian ministries and other values held by the Christians serving together. Some of these values are:

• Order – throughout the Bible, God is presented as a God of order. In addition to this, Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14:40 instructs the Corinthians that they should do everything in an orderly and organized manner.
• Love – this has been considered the greatest of all commandments. Jesus instructed his disciples to love one another in John 13: 24-35. This is reaffirmed in Romans 12:10 by Paul.
• Voluntary and mutual submission – Jesus made himself voluntarily a servant to his disciples as shown in John 13: 5-10. His life generally shows submission. Paul once more makes this clear in Ephesians 5:21.
• Unity – there is only one God, and he is the God for all. Since Christ is not divided, neither should the church nor disciples be divided.

These values show a strategy of disciples to consult, coordinate, and collaborate with each other. The Bible provides more examples of values that should be adopted, all of which apply to this ministry. These values should therefore be used as the benchmark in ensuring that whatever objectives are set are achieved. The process of making disciples for the ministry is significantly a crucial task that calls for well-laid values.

Views

Some ministry perspectives are considered important. One of these significant perspectives of the ministry is its current state. This is the truthful reality of the ministry’s present nature. This helps determine how good or bad things are at present. What aspects have been incorporated and how significant are they? These helps consider what is working well and what has failed. The relationship between the members of the church under the ministry is also considered. Whatever issue need to be acknowledged and celebrated are pointed out with whatever needs correction being determined. Another significant perspective of the ministry is how we got at the present state. This gives time to understand and appreciate the past. The fruits of the past watered seeds are elaborated and celebrated. The effects of past success and failure are also illuminated. The next perspective focuses on the future. This calls for a lot of prayers and faithful waiting of the Lord. The agenda and future plans should be clearly set and strategies of achieving them highlighted. There are various other perspectives of assessing the ministry from different dimensions. This is however, the most effective.

Within this ministry, evangelism refers to the process of preaching the gospel. An evangelist is therefore a person who fulfills the command of evangelizing. A pastor here refers to the leader who has been entrusted with the charge of the church activities. The church is the building or area, which has been agreed upon by the ministry as a public place of worship. A saint is an individual is recognized based on the teachings of the ministry to be holy. The gospel here refers to the teachings of Christ about the good word of God. A disciple is the person who has repented and accepted the word and God and has continued living in accordance with the teachings of Christ.

Vehicles

Driving discipleship, as mentioned earlier, is a process. It entails strategic planning and employing specific vehicles to achieve the plan. Jesus, in his teachings, taught that disciples should live in view of not tomorrow or today, but eternity. It is therefore the intention of the ministry to employ various vehicles in achieving this eternal life. It is important to plan on ways of practically implementing the plan of discipleship. Church structures and systems may be of crucial significant in this agenda.

Love is one of the key vehicles that should be used in this mission. Discipleship should be taken as result of true Christian love. Although there shall be a teacher-student relationship, mutual love and understanding should be the key method of winning disciples into the ministry. Together with love, it would be easy to fulfill the instructions of Hebrew 10: 24-25. The goal here should be to love young Christians and help them live with the light of the final day in sight. Love should be achieved through small group philosophies where young Christians can meet with others and encourage each other with love. Such small groups enhances unity and a peaceful coexisted of both the new and old Christians.

Teaching is the other vehicle through which discipleship can be achieved. This can be considered the most obvious one. This is because the new converts shall be taught the ways of Christians as highlighted in the Bible. Arguably, discipleship has its core as teaching. Teaching shall encompass all the words of Christ as he taught. The ministry should therefore aim at teaching consecutively and expositionally through the Biblical books. The pastor can ensure adequate teaching by coming up with events and church calendar with the help of other leaders to help divide the teachings in an orderly manner. Church events can also be divided into gender and age group to ensure specific teachings for the right group. Communication plans should be made to ensure that people are prepared for any events or specific teachings beforehand.

Correcting should be another vehicle used in the process of discipleship. Making disciples at times calls for warning and correcting people of their choices, actions, or words. Corrections with love help people grow. Part of being a disciple is recognizing that sin can deceive and that we need each other to help see and recognize things we may not be able to recognize on our own. As a leader or a pastor, one can take lead into the issue by inviting people to correct them. Mathew 18: 15-20 emphasizes on correcting each other in private. The curriculum and slogan should be in such a way that corrections for one another are allowed. However, such corrections should be made in privacy in accordance with the teaching, and in love.

Modeling is the fourth vehicle to help in discipleship. Jesus taught by example. He lived a life of sanctity that Christians are called upon to copy and emulate. In 1 Peter 2: 21, it is stated that we have been given an example that we should all follow. In a similar way, disciples should teach others by living an exemplary life. Teaching should not just be based on the words spoken but on our entire lives. A new Christian and a disciple should learn through listening and most significantly, through participating and watching over time with responsibilities being earned with time.

Verifiers

After teaching, demonstrating and modeling the lives of a disciple, the ministry should measure the success of the plan. Evaluation and measurement of success has been a challenge for many ministries. This is because no matter how the ultimate goals are stated, it is not easy measuring those things that matter. Specifically in this ministry, measuring the desired results for healthy congregations, hope, love, and transformed lives may be extremely difficult to measure. Therefore, this may force the ministry to measure inputs such as attendance, giving, and spending. This is because such inputs indicate church attendance and progress towards the main goal.

Attendance can be taken to signify more souls been won to Christ. This means that if the attendance shows an upward movement, more people are becoming converts and joining the rest of the disciples in ministry. However, it is important to note that numbers cannot be taken to solely tell an entire story. Greg Holder, a member of the Missouri multi-site church once mentioned that an increased in the number of congregation does not directly interpret to a growth in faith. The ministry should therefore be cautious not to produce just numbers and participation instead of spiritual growth that is desired by God. In a similar way, giving and spending can be used as tools of measurement. More spending and giving from the congregation may show growth. However, this cannot be taken as obvious signs of growth. This is because growth should be measured with regard to spiritual maturity of the people.

While attendance and offering have been considered significant measurements of success and impact, they should not be taken as the only considerations. Tracking the changes in both can be helpful in evaluating success or failure but most important should be the engagement of the congregation in spiritual matter. So other than the numbers, it is important to take in stories and testimonies of changes in lives and celebrate them as key makers of true discipleship. The church seasons should therefore be considered in accessing success. A church generally has the planting, harvesting, and pruning season. With reference to the Gospel, Jesus emphasized on obedience. In Mathew 16: 18 and 18:17, he emphasized on his love for obedience. He sent his followers out to make disciples of all people through baptizing and teaching and obey all the commandments he had given. Therefore, a significant place to begin in measuring the success of this ministry is by paying attention to the number within the congregation that are actively engaged in disciple making with obedience to God’s word.

Conclusion

Although, there is an obvious aspect of evangelizing in the Christ’s command, it is arguable that the command and instructions here go beyond just the act of spreading the gospel. The words, ‘make disciples’ are beautifully complex. They carry more meaning than the act of increasing converts. This is because the words emphasize on a lifetime of sanctification and not the moment of salvation. This he mentions in John 8:31 when He says that that those who go on in his word are the true disciples of Christ. This shows a distinction between a single proclamation of faith and a lifetime of increasing in godliness and spiritual growth. Making disciples out of the lost should therefore, be the primary duty of every Christian. It may be an exciting and challenging role but helpful in our growth towards Christina maturity.

The Vision of this ministry should therefore be ‘Reaching the world for Christ, and walking in Faith.’ This mission shows that everyone all over the world is being aimed at. This is in accordance with the commandment that Jesus left that we should make disciples of all people. Therefore, the discipleship ministry should not be aimed at specific areas, regions, groups, ages, demographics, or any other category of people. It should instead be focused on all people on all corners of the world. In addition to this, the vision is not just reaching out to the people and telling them of the word, but winning them into Christianity and walking them in faith every step of the way. If left on their own, new disciples may be destructed by temptations and fall back into sin. Therefore, they need time and guidance to grow their faith and in turn become disciple makers for others.

Values

Making disciples is not an easy task. However, the method provided by Jesus Christ offers Christians with an ideal road map that guides people along the road of making disciples. It is important to note that discipleship is not an event or activity, but a process. This therefore means that one does not just become a disciple. The degree to which Christians experience failure or success in the process of making disciples highly depends on whether they share the same values. Vision and strategy are significant in the vivacity of the church. However, acquiring and using similar core values is a notable way of achieving success in the ministry. Values answer the question of why Christians do what they do. Values are assessed on two levels: Biblical values should be present in all Christian ministries and other values held by the Christians serving together. Some of these values are:

• Order – throughout the Bible, God is presented as a God of order. In addition to this, Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14:40 instructs the Corinthians that they should do everything in an orderly and organized manner.
• Love – this has been considered the greatest of all commandments. Jesus instructed his disciples to love one another in John 13: 24-35. This is reaffirmed in Romans 12:10 by Paul.
• Voluntary and mutual submission – Jesus made himself voluntarily a servant to his disciples as shown in John 13: 5-10. His life generally shows submission. Paul once more makes this clear in Ephesians 5:21.
• Unity – there is only one God, and he is the God for all. Since Christ is not divided, neither should the church nor disciples be divided.

These values show a strategy of disciples to consult, coordinate, and collaborate with each other. The Bible provides more examples of values that should be adopted, all of which apply to this ministry. These values should therefore be used as the benchmark in ensuring that whatever objectives are set are achieved. The process of making disciples for the ministry is significantly a crucial task that calls for well-laid values.

Views

Some ministry perspectives are considered important. One of these significant perspectives of the ministry is its current state. This is the truthful reality of the ministry’s present nature. This helps determine how good or bad things are at present. What aspects have been incorporated and how significant are they? Read More