Discipleship in the Local Church: A Comprehensive Program

DISCIPLESHIP IN THE LOCAL CHURCH PRESENTATION BY: YAW BOADU MANAGEMENT ASSISTANT M&E DEPARTMENT

FOCUS: • What is Discipleship? • Strategies & Methods • Rolling Out Discipleship

Discipleship: It is the process of making disciples of all people. Matthew 28:19 - 20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you (Mat 28:19-20 NRS)

What do we mean by Discipling: • It is the teaching and encouraging of believers through systematic, personal and Spirit-directed training that holds them accountable for developing Christian disciplines • Disciple-making is an intentional process of: • Evangelizing non-believers • Establishing believers in the faith • Equipping them as leaders • (Timothy 2:1-2)

EPHESIANS 4:11-16 The central purpose of the Church is to train its members to minister effectively to one another, to their communities and ultimately to the world. Discipleship Training is: “Equipping the Saint for the work of the ministry”

Divine Pattern: • God has established leaders • Leaders prepare God’s people • God’s people do work of service • The body of Christ is build up • What are we doing to prepare the saints for service? • Our Church is in a Discipleship of a sort but: • How we are doing it? • The Content of what we are doing

FOCUS: • Cultivate a discipleship culture in our congregation. • How: • Preach and Teach discipleship in the church/group meetings • Invest in a few disciple-makers

The Leader’s Responsibility: • Colossians 1:28-29 • Ephesians 4:11-16 • Our Responsibility is to build a church not a church building • Ephesians 2:22

Stages in this process: • Commitment stage • [desire & commit to] • Evaluation stage • [where we are & where are we going] • Training stage • [Mentors, Plan, Execution] • Ministry stage • [Involvement & Assessment]

ROLLING OUT • In PCG (local church)we already have: • Generational Groups • Inter-generational Groups • Session members • Lay preachers • JY Leaders • Children Service Teachers • Bible studies leaders • Ushers • What is left is a comprehensive program that moves the entire church to a common plane in the same direction

Disadvantages: • The kind of autonomy enjoyed by the group • The hierarchical system of higher court drawing programs for the local • The treatment of a church group in block • Discipleship as a process is not complete until we die. It is on-going, hence it must have phases and people must be moved from one phase to another.

The Case of PCG: • The Session Members as Disciple-makers • Group Presidents/Executive members as Disciple-makers • Bible Studies leaders as Disciple-makers • JY/Children Service leaders as disciple-makers

Teach them to teach • Teach them to lead • Teach them to influence • Train Preachers • Train Counselors • Train Prayer Leaders • Train Teachers • Train Leaders • Train Prayer & Deliverance workers • We invest in structures than human resource

FOCUS: What should be the Content of Discipleship training Material Content varies depending on groups and their need based on proper assessment

Example: Let us take the kinds of people in the church and their needs: • Enquirers • Attenders • Believers • Converts • Disciples • Engagers • We need to know: • The characteristics of each • The nurture needs of each • The indicators of maturity for each

Lots of people go home empty or confused because we are all grouped together for studies. The church already exists with old members and placing them in these categories are very difficult. There are people who are engaged in work of God but are not necessarily Disciples. We can therefore bring all of our together to start on a level field using the various leaders and the existing groups.

QUESTION TIME

Discipleship in the Local Church: A Comprehensive Program