Intentional body life: training disciples to be disciple-makers
By Jay Wegter
This section adapted from the book, The Trellis and the Vine, by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne.
I. Disciple-making is training in righteousness.
A. Scripture affirms that ‘training in righteousness’ is a function of spiritual disciplines and life habits anchored in the truth of God and the will of God in Scripture. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). The opposite of ‘trained in righteousness’ is ‘trained in greed’ (2 Pet 2:14).
In the secular workplace training is assisting others to reach a level of proficiency. But biblically this is not the essence of training. Scripturally speaking, training is much more about Christian living and thinking than about particular skills or competencies. “Trained in righteousness” places the emphasis where it ought to be, on personal godliness which develops through obedience (2 Tim 3:16; Heb 5:13-14).
The baton we pass on is sound doctrine lived out in obedience (2 Tim 2:2; 1 Tim 4:6). “If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing. . .” (1 Tim 6:3-4a). The heart of training is to impart sound doctrine. Not academically alone, but also developing the ability to reject false religion and false philosophy (Titus 1:9) and to conform the hearts and lives of those we disciple to sound doctrine. Sound biblical theology produces a godly life and good fruit— out of biblical conviction comes Christian character. Good biblical teaching results in a godly life based on sound, health-giving teaching. This is continuous, generational, and lifelong (Marshall and Payne, pp. 70-71).
B. Sound doctrine is not an end in itself, sound doctrine is the means of equipping us to live wisely unto God, it equips us to know God and to conduct our lives with godliness. Accurate biblical teaching is the basis for bearing good fruit. Paul says of the power of Scripture: “When you received from us the word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe” (1Thess 2:13). The word of truth causes the believer to constantly bear fruit (Col 1:6-10).
C. Close relationship is the vehicle of training. Pouring your life-blood into others is the privileged cost of effectual training. “But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives because you had become very dear to us” (1Thess 2:7-8). Likewise, Paul’s relationship with Timothy also exhibits this model of close relationship. “Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!” (2 Tim 3:10-11). His training may be likened to spiritual parenthood: love them enough to want to see them flourish—be prepared for the long term, faithful, Spirit-enabled nurture by God’s mercy (Ibid, 74-75).
The trainer is calling upon the trainee to adopt his way of life. Thus, model and imitation are the foundation of training (1 Cor 4:14-17; 11:1). Paul is a godly model. His ambition to save others was to be the ambition of those he is training. However, even the best spiritual leaders are not an example of perfectly achieved holiness; but are modeling the way of the cross. Consider Paul’s ‘boast’ “But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world was crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14 and Gal 2:20). “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” (Lu 6:40).
D. Our teaching of disciples is to be personal teaching in a relational space. In that arrangement, there is as much ‘caught’ as there is ‘taught’. Some of the training takes place by ‘osmosis’, and not just by formal instruction. In relational training the hearts of trainer and trainee are exposed (you get to know one another’s character: speech, moods, attitudes, heart, responses to situations.). Progress is not just measured by performance, but by integrity of heart. Does the individual love God and neighbor, are they submitting to Christ’s word? Is their speech in line with the Word? Trainees need to see the heart of trainer: their sins, struggles, confessions, fears, realities, successes, failures—and their responses to these.
In relational space training, there is significant time spent together, and honest open mutual sharing of their lives. This interface between trainer and trainee ought also to include the home and home life of both. We need to clearly see how commitment to the relational approach differs substantially from the programmatic formal approach. Yet, programs and formal training in a group setting can enhance all the more if the personal-relational is already there in place (Ibid, pp. 76-77).
II. What are the major areas of content in our training of disciples?
A. The gospel versus competency—it is always the gospel first. The nature and goal of training: through personal relationship, prayer, teaching, modeling, and practical instruction, we want to see those we are discipling grow in the following major areas:
Conviction: their knowledge of God and understanding of the Bible. First hand convictions make you deliberate in serving Christ. Conviction means that you make your belief yours. This involves knowing what you believe and why you believe it. Conviction is inseparable from the willingness to make the sacrifices a disciple of Christ is called upon to make.
Character: the godly character of life that accords with sound doctrine. Ordering one’s life by God’s truth so that doctrine becomes our wisdom to live rightly unto God and our passion to know God and make Him known.
Competency: the ability to prayerfully speak God’s Word to others in a variety of ways. This area of development involves growth in the ability to communicate God’s Word to others with sincerity, love, and penetrating application. Competency is demonstrated through personal teaching and counseling of others so that disciple-making becomes one’s lifestyle. In so doing, this level of training ‘closes the loop’, disciple becomes disciple-maker.
The above training ‘grid’ is foundational for plugging in courses. Once the personal/relational, and the goal (the 3 ‘C’s’ listed above) are on track, a variety of curriculum can be drawn upon and ‘plugged in’. As the church at large has drifted from the Great Commission, programs have replaced discipleship. The efficient and the programmatic have replaced the personal. In order to recover our ability to fulfill the Great Commission, we cannot be content with church programs alone. We must become encouragers who engage in mentoring (the relational side of discipleship). Our efforts at training must go beyond bare academics to the development of conviction, character, and competency in our disciples (Ibid, pp. 78-79).
These stages of training in righteousness can also be designated: head, heart, hands (doctrine, godly living, service). Also, I do, you watch, we do together, you do I watch. (EX. note the example of the husband who had never led a family devotion.)
B. Gospel growth is growth in the knowledge of God’s will so that the disciple will ever walk more worthily of the gospel (Phil 1:27; Eph 4:1). Gospel growth is both the spread of the gospel geographically and the growth of the gospel in the individual (Col 1:3-6; 9-10). We must identify this as prime or we will be prone to measure growth solely by participation in church programs and functions. Numbers are not a reliable index of growth. How are we measuring growth—by the number attending a program? Genuine gospel growth will make us unmistakably missional—growing disciple-making disciples. C. WARNING: when gospel growth takes place, people will move off to do missions. There are radical implications of the three C’s of training described above. Gospel growth will radically change the way we think about people: not as cogs, not as job fillers—we won’t cram a person into job description, but equip and train them in order to release them to ministry (Ibid, 81-83).
According to Ephesians chapter four, church leaders are to see themselves as stewards of the giftedness of the body who are charged by God to develop the giftedness of the body. Equip people in order to: “Release people to giftedness in ministry” is the same thought positively expressed as do not quench the Spirit. There is effort required to do this and obey God at this juncture (Wegter, Toward a Pauline Ecclesiology). It is much easier for a church leader to merely steward or administrate a church program.
Therefore, we must come along side in order to confront, train, admonish, and encourage. Affirmation, interview, and release to ministry all call for vulnerability and risk. We’d rather control than confront because we are a bit uncomfortable with a ministering laity. We prefer to structure because we are security-driven and thus more comfortable with control. The issue is about releasing gifted people to ministry (Ibid.).
Pastors, elders, and disciplers are to examine the use of gifts and equip the gifted people in light of God’s Word (equip by example, by instruction, by nurture, and by opportunity to use giftedness). In a truly biblical ecclesiology we see churches building ministries around the giftedness of the person. That is the opposite of merely shoving the person into a job description. One discipler exhorted his disciple with the following wisdom: “God designed you to minister through your gift, your area of passion. The divinely energized power flows through your authenticity, when you are using your gift, you are operating by God’s power through your experience, giftedness, and vision.” D. The essence of training is equipping unto service. First of all, Christian maturity is not individualistic, or self-focused (it cannot be reduced to spiritual self-improvement or academic training). To grow in Christ-likeness is to grow in love and desire to serve and minister to others. Training, as understood scripturally, describes the growth of all Christians in conviction, character, and competency, so that in love they might minister to others by prayerfully bringing the word of God to them—whether non-Christians in outreach, new Christians in follow up, or all other Christians in daily growth.
Every Christian is a potential vine worker because that is the calling of every believer (Rom 15:14). Training is the stage of Christian growth in which people are equipped, mobilized, resourced, and encouraged to do that work of nurturing the vine. It is that stage of growth in conviction (beliefs), character (godliness) and competencies (skills and abilities) which leads them to minister effectively to others (Marshall and Payne, 84-85). This is reproducing reproducers—it is the biblical mandate to make disciples who become capable of making other disciples of Christ (2 Tim 2:2).
III. The advantages of ‘mapping’ progress in Christian growth
A. Training believers to be vine workers means that discipleship is about sound doctrine and a godly life—training them in godliness and right thinking so that they will
be able to minister to others. Measuring progress keeps us intentional. A gospel growth ‘grid’, or ‘map’, is extremely helpful to know where Christians and non-Christians are in your church or social sphere:
Outreach >> Follow up >> Growth >> Training Raising issues Gospel New believer Need help Solid General Specific Larry Cheryl Joyce Leslie James Conrad Bob
General equipping would include such essentials as: Basic Bible doctrines, How to Study the Bible, or Fundamentals of the Faith. Special equipping may include more focused areas such as: Effective Personal Evangelism, Christian Apologetics, Hermeneutics, Sermon Preparation, Old Testament Survey, or Elements of Biblical Counseling.
Paul commands the Thessalonian believers (as well as you and me) to be involved in each other’s lives to the degree that exhortation, encouragement, and admonishment flow very naturally: “Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing. But we request of you brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live at peace with one another. And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all men” (1 Thess 5:11-14).
Notice how focused the people-to-people commands really are. The pattern here is a lay ministry; not a professional one. Training must be utterly intentional, personal, and proactive, or it won’t take place. Centralized pastoral care where ministry is consolidated around clergymen (and/or pastor as CEO) is unfortunately the norm in our evangelical churches today (Ibid, pp. 86-91).
Application: The question is not have we managed to get everyone in a home fellowship; but the real question is (if we are to have a N.T. ecclesiology shape and control our actual philosophy of ministry): not just are people being cared for and are they involved, but are they growing as disciples and disciple-makers? Do our fellowships exist as missional communities intent on fulfilling the Great Commission? B. Genuine spiritual growth only takes place as the Holy Spirit applies the Word of God to people’s hearts. All Christians have the privilege and responsibility to prayerfully speak the Word of God to each other and to non-Christians as the means by which God gives this growth. Out of this comes the training litmus test or ‘canon’: “Are our congregations training centers in which believers are being taught to minister God’s Word to others?” And, “Are our believers being taught and trained to be disciples of Christ who, in turn, seek to make other disciples?”
When we are able to answer these two questions in the affirmative, then the congregation will be a gathering of disciple-making disciples in the presence of their Lord. People ministering to people then becomes dominant, and structures, or (trellis’) become recessive (by trellis is meant the church’s programs and infrastructures). We must be utterly intentional in training in order to go beyond small groups to actual habitual lifestyle vine work (Ibid, pp. 92-100).
C. God expects all Christians to be disciple-makers by prayerfully speaking God’s Word into the lives of one another. Small groups may give us care, a chance for friendship—but this is not the same thing as intentional gospel growth. Speaking into people’s lives involves personal teaching, penetrating application, encouragement, exhortation, imploring, warning, and rebuking (Acts 20:20) (Ibid, pp. 101-104).
IV. The blessed result of disciple-making
A. Staying intentional: churches don’t make disciples, disciples make disciples (Mt 28:19-20). According to Scripture, every disciple of Christ is not only part of the vine; but also a vine worker, a disciple-maker, and a partner (Jn 15:1-5; 1 Cor 3:5-9) (Ibid, p. 122). Our goal over time is to convert all disciples into disciple-makers, to train all the Christians as vine workers: people with the conviction, character, and competency to minster to others. As the number of these workers grow; the more people begin prayerfully speaking the Word of God into other’s lives—a chain reaction occurs in so many ministry contexts (only 10% of a congregation involved in disciple-making is enough to produce a culture of discipleship—a chain reaction).
B. “Growth chaos” takes place (which can’t be controlled by programs—the vine outgrows the trellis—sending out tendrils in all directions)—people begin starting things; taking ministry initiative; meeting with people; dreaming up new ideas (Ibid, pp. 124-126). Christ’s pattern for His church is a ministering laity: All Christians should teach each other; though all are not teachers (Eph 4; Col 3:16; 1 Cor 12:29; Jas 3:1). All Christians should minister to one another, yet some are set apart as ministers (1 Pet 4:10-11; 1 Tim 3:8-11). All Christians should abound in the work of the Lord (1 Cor 15:58); yet Paul regarded himself and Apollos as fellow workers laboring among the Corinthians for their growth (1 Cor 3:5-9). All Christians should make disciples and speak to others about Christ (Mt 28:19; 1 Pet 3:15), yet some are identified as evangelists (Eph 4:11) (Ibid, pp. 129-131).
C. Calling is mediated through disciple-makers—this is pivotal because the current model is to wait for someone to say “I feel called to ministry," and then to begin the process of equipping. Pastors, elders, and disciplers should be ‘talent scouts’. Scripture suggests that people are called and set apart by others; by disciplers (2 Tim 1:6-7). Spiritual leaders should be actively recruiting suitable people within their churches and challenging them to expend their lives for the work of the gospel. This author can testify from his life experience that it was my mentor/discipler who was the source of encouragement and calling to pursue a Christian education for the purpose of ministry. D. Realism in discipleship: it is hard; it requires perseverance. We would rather avoid the messy, often unpredictable aspect of pouring our lives into others—we tend to opt for a sanitary church program where the personal is minimal: it’s just a teacher standing before listeners.
The goal of all Christian ministry is to make disciples who make other disciples to the glory of God. We want to see people converted from their spiritual deadness and sin, and once converted, be followed-up and established as mature disciples in Christ, and once established, to be trained in knowledge, godliness, and skills so that they in turn will make disciples of others. This is the Great Commission—it is making genuine disciple-making disciples of Jesus Christ. Discipleship is a long term endeavor—usually unimpressive in comparison to a packed room poised to hear a dynamic speaker, but patiently persevere in disciple-making (1 Cor 15:58) (Ibid, pp. 151-152).
V. A mind shift is essential if we are to accurately assess our ministry direction and then realign it with the Great Commission.
A. Jesus gave His disciples a vision for world-wide disciple-making. There will be no significant change without this Great Commission mind shift. A missional community made up of vine workers is the opposite of a group of spectators and consumers harnessed to the yoke of an institution and its programs. Church leaders, both clergy and laity, must labor to constantly cast the vision for disciple-making and then set the conditions for that vine work—then church members can get on with prayerfully speaking the Word of God into the lives of one another (Ibid, pp. 154-155).
This must take place through vision-casting, in Scripturally driven mind-shifting ways, so that years of tradition do not stand in the way of the radical vine work called for in the Great Commission (Ibid, p. 161). The motivation to serve and be trained will come from the gospel and from a deep work of the Spirit of God in people’s hearts. It will come from grace not guilt (Ibid, pp. 162-165).
B. Diagnostic questions to evaluate your current ministry practices:
o Is there a culture of one-to-one disciple-making in your congregation?
o Do your Bible study leaders know what it means to shepherd?
o Are your leaders themselves training oriented? Are they seeking to train more leaders so that they can be unleashed to ministry? o Does everyone in your church know a basic way to share the gospel?
o Do your people know how to encourage someone through the Word of God? o Do your people know what it means to serve Jesus and live out their faith in their relationships and in everyday life?
o Is there a core group in your church whose members understand the priorities of the church and know how to train others in those priorities?
o Is there a clearly marked path in your church for training, recognizing, and unleashing/releasing individuals to ministry?
o Is the next generation of gospel workers being raised up? (Ibid, pp. 172-173).
C. The more we become like Jesus; the more we will want to pour out our lives in love and service to others. Are the members of your congregation being effectively taught and equipped to serve? What gospel transformation does is change people from a worldly minded self-centered way of living to a heavenly minded other-person way of serving— wanting and sacrificing in order to see others grow. Leaders motivate by means of vision (not by compulsion)—give your disciples frequent tastes of ministry by taking them with you (Ibid, pp. 176-177).
D. The goal of all ministry (on and off of church campus) is to nurture disciples. Disciple-makers are to invest in their disciples in such a way that they are equipped in conviction, character, and competence—only in this way will we be able to multiply disciples (2 Tim 2:2). The Scriptures call us to abandon ourselves to Christ and the gospel, realizing that God is focused on people-growth by the power of the Spirit. However, congregations tend to slip into religious ‘forms’ while abandoning the N.T. function of the church which is making disciples. Church leaders must recapture this vision for disciple-making and in response, call the brethren to refocus on the Word and help people to be shaped into Christ-likeness through discipleship.
When church leaders cast the vision for discipleship, then growing members of the body will be far more intentional at constantly training others so that replication takes place. This will mean that many of our disciples will be called to other places; other churches; and to mission fields—this replication and movement of disciples is how the early church spread all over the known world in just a few decades (1 Thess 1:5-10).
E. Spirit-engendered ministry is very often NOT able to be pushed through a programmatic grid. Instead it happens spontaneously. As stewards of the discipleship vision, church leaders must complete their part in the ministry “chain reaction” by seeking to unleash the mutual edification of the body. The discipleship vision needs to be reiterated because it easily slips from view. As stewards, the church leaders must see church programs as only an attempt to set conditions for ministry—this is a needed part of the mind shift (Jay Wegter, Toward a Pauline Ecclesiology).
F. We need to recognize that the Holy Spirit is the true ‘Administrator’ of ministry? He is sovereign in ministry and over ministry (1 Cor 12:12-26). Church leaders must see their role as working to ‘complete the loop’ so to speak of the discipleship continuum. By ‘continuum’ we mean that each believer is to be living the life of a disciple who is learning to be a disciple-maker. In other words, the “loop” of discipleship ministry scribes the following circle: leaders equip members to do the work of ministry. Members edify the body and take responsibility to bring one another to maturity. Lay leaders grow into church leaders who continue the cycle of equipping for the growth of the corporate body.
Church leaders teach, but most commonly NOT with a view (or with the expressed purpose) of training the members to do the lion’s share of ministry. Leaders haven’t done their job until they labor to see the loop closed—to see those under their equipping released to ministry, and to see those released to ministry equipping others and releasing them to ministry. “And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim 2:2).
A pastor friend recently shared the following account with me. “During a sermon series on the nature of the church, I told the congregation that church attendance and devotions are not enough. God requires that you see all of your relationships as opportunities to move others closer to Christ. Everyone you know is either moving closer or further from Christ—God wants to use you to move them closer to Christ” (Wegter, Toward a Pauline Ecclesiology).
If you dropped every religious activity—everything—and simply said: I’m going to disciple three people into the kingdom, in 11 iterations, the entire American population would be Jesus followers ~ Alan Hirsch
Many people in churches today get the idea that they pay the pastor to do ministry for them. It’s the mercenary mentality, I’ll pay you to do what I’d rather not do. But the Bible says a pastor’s job is to equip you to do the work of the ministry (Eph 4:11-12) ~ Jeff Vanderstelt
The down side of [this Bible conference] is that none of you will be equipped by this. You’ll get informed. But that’s all. Equipping begins when you go out and obey Jesus. We do not gather for the sake of gathering. We gather and train for the purpose of sending you right back out again ~ Jeff Vanderstelt