Deacons Meeting

Disciple Making

As you all know this year I attended the SBC convention for the USA and the main issue was the lack of evangelism/discipleship taking place within our churches.

Barna Research tells us that less than 10 percent of Christians have ever shared their faith. Only 20 % of active church members invite people to church within the SBC.

We are losing the evangelism battle something we are trying to remedy but even more important than leading someone to Jesus is helping them grow into maturity. This is called discipleship.

This should be the burden of our heart and must be the emphasis as we move forward into the future of UHBC. We have many who come to faith in Jesus however bc they are never fully developed in their faith they fall away.

Some might make the case that this happens because they were never truly saved to begin with, in some cases I might agree but there are many other cases where the reality is simply they have never developed a Christian worldview. This is something discipleship addresses.

Think about it the disciples failed miserably when Jesus was arrested but the Bible records that Jesus’ teachings came back to their minds after He rose from death and they understood His teachings to be true.

I believe this is where we are at right now in our church, we have many many baby believers, we have some who have atteneded here for years and either have never accepted Jesus genuinely or because they were never discipled fell away.

Case in point (Joey Richardson)

Our church is changing, we have many people here that none of you know really well, but you see them every week. As of right now if you don’t see them during the week there is no way to get to know them. But we have to grow into deeper fellowship with them because:

A. Our Core group is spread thin

B. MY job is to ensure the health of the church 10 years from today

We have to develop leaders who think about ministry and life scripturally through the lens of a Biblical worldview. Minds have to be renewed, habits have to be addressed and we must walk with them to accomplish this.

THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL IT IS A SCRIPTURAL MANDATE

The Great Commission:

Go ye Therefore into all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS THAT I HAVE COMMANDED YOU….. and Lo I am with you always even to the end of the age. ()\

It is on this basis the unique, supreme and worldwide authority of the risen Son of God, Jesus Christ commissions His disciples to make disciples of all nations.

Sometimes our translations give the impression that GO is the emphasis of this command, but the main verb of the sentence is MAKE DISCIPLES; with 3 subordinate participles hanging off of it.

GOING (or as you go) BAPTIZING and TEACHING.

Baptizing and teaching are the means by which disciples are to be made. Whatever else baptism might symbolize and involve, here it refers to the initiation of disciples into repentance and submission to the authoritative Lord Jesus, the reigning Lord of the world.

The teaching that the disciples are to do, reproduces what Jesus Himself has done with them. He has been there teacher and as Jesus has taught them they have grown in knowledge and understanding.

The disciples are now, in turn, to make new disciples by teaching them to obey everything commanded by their Master.

This making disciples by teaching corresponds to preaching the gospel in the parallel mission mandate of Luke Where Jesus says REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS SHOULD BE PROCLAIMED IN HIS NAME TO ALL NATIONS BEGINNING FROM JERUSALEM. ()

But what about “going”?

Traditionally this has been read as a missionary mandate, a charter for sending out gospel workers into the world. However, this can lead local churches to think that they are obeying the great commission if they send money (and missionaries) overseas.

But the emphasis of the sentence is not on going. In fact the participle is probably better translated WHEN YOU GO or AS YOU ARE GOING. The commission is not about a mission somewhere out there somewhere else in another country.

IT IS A COMMISSION THAT MAKES DISCIPLEMAKING THE NORMAL AGENDA AND PRIORITY OF EVERY CHURCH AND EVERY CHRISTIAN.

We have a massive influx of new believers in our church and this is the process by which we are seeking to give them an avenue to walk into spiritual maturity.

Step one- New Members Class

Anyone who desires to join the church must go to this 6 week class during the Sunday School hour this will cover our beliefs and what we believe about core doctrines, and our biblical vision for who we want to be as followers of Christ.

Step 2: New Believers small groups for men and women

These classes are held by my wife and the youth pastors wife and this encompasses any and all new ladies in the faith. We use the “WALK WITH GOD” curriculum from disciple first ministries. This teaches spiritual disciplines and helps them begin learning how to discern God’s voice, quiet times, Journaling, praying ETC.

This curriculum is a 3 phase year long process that has 3 books (Walk with God, Reach Your World, Invest in a few)

Which takes them through spiritual formation and sharing their faith, right into being willing to lead a small group of their own.

Step 3: Sunday Night D-Groups

This is the Newest phase we are actually implementing right now. A shift away from an actual service to D-groups meeting to learn about deeper things in the faith.

Such as doctrine, spiritual warfare, tithing, Disciplemaking, our vision for worship, missions, church history ETC.

These subjects change yearly.

We get different small group leaders yearly, these leaders commit to teaching one subject all year long. Their small groups change quarterly as our D-groups rotate and everyone studies the subjects we offer for the year.

These are multigenerational groups different ages and backrounds not clicks.

We encourage our D-group leaders to ask the members of the D-group in the first meeting to pray about 1 person who is lost or unchurched. EVERY MEETING the group prays for the Lord to radically save them.

The D-groups meet 3 Sunday nights but on the 4th Sunday night they have a cookout at the home of their choice, but at this cookout there is NO lesson, but there should be a time of prayer.

However we use this 4th Sunday cookout as an avenue to invite those unchurched or lost friends to come hang out. Being intentional and this leads to gospel conversations.

You will need 2 small group teachers per D-Group so in the case the leader is sick the group continues on.

Areas this helps in the church:

SPIRITUAL MATURITY

SS TEACHERS AND LEADERS OF SMALL GROUPS ARE PRODUCED

# of VOLUNTEERS SHOULD INCREASE

FELLOWSHIP

UNITY

GREATER ENABLEMENT TO SHARE THEIR FAITH

As the older adults mingle with younger adults it should produce deeper relationships and attack the us versus them mentality.

It also gives the New member a road map for spiritual growth as opposed to just baptizing them and leaving them in the crib to fend for themselves.