Home | Login | Join | Mission Center

| CENTER | 4TH MISSION | HISTORY | CH GROWTH | THEOLOGY | MINISTRY | SHARING | Q & A | PASTORS | VIDEO/AUDIO | FREE BOARD

Join Lost PSW
ID
PW
Keep ID








Discipling the Laity for Disciple Making (01)
Paul Jang  2008-03-24 03:17:41, hit : 3,640


Discipling the Laity for Disciple Making (01)


This section is the most important part of the second chapter because the methodology of making disciples will be dealt with in this section. God has used men as an effective instrument for the purpose of winning the world. God can use anyone who wants to be used: however, only the one that has been called and changed by God can be used. For this point Dr. Bille Hanks Jr. wrote:

One cannot transform a world unless individuals in the world are transformed, and individuals cannot be changed unless they are molded in the hands of the Master." (Hanks and Shell 1993, 41)

God has trained many people for His work to win the world. In the history of church growth the question can be asked "can discipling be done successfully in the local church, or it is something that only parachurch groups can do well?" In answer to these questions, Billie Hanks Jr. has firm conviction that it is quite possible to do so not only in parachurch groups but in the local church:

Billie Hanks's whole ministry at present is tied to his firm conviction that disciple making can be carried on successfully in the local church. Furthermore, pastors and key lay leaders can be trained to have a multiplying ministry of discipleship in their churches. Hanks firmly believes that the potential of multiplication evangelism and the dynamic of the one-on- one discipling relationship "are rooted historically in the local church." (Hanks and Shell 1981, 94)

A one-statement description of the term "discipling" is not given in just one passage of the Scriptures, however, it can be understood as meaning training the people selected by God for His work to spread the gospel throughout the world. To make disciples--a process that involves evangelism and Christian education is the Great Commission that Jesus instructed believers (Collins 1988, 569).

Discipling, by C. Peter Wagner, means bringing people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He regards discipling as one of the two stages of Christianization, so called discipling-perfecting. The two stages are discipling which means bringing a person or group to commitment to Christ and perfecting which means to nuture them in their faith and bring about ethical change (Wagner 1989, 288). He distinguishes the raw material of making disciples in the Great Commission sense from that of modern "disciple making." This is about Christians, that is about unbelievers. He says,

The raw material of making disciples in the Great Commission sense is unbielvers who need to commit their lives to Christ for the first time. The raw material of mordern "disciple making" is Christians who need to be helped along the continuing road of Christian discipleship. (Wagner 1987, 52-53)

John H. Yoder regarded "discipling" as contrasting with "perfecting" (Shenk 1973, 32). Donald A. McGavran broke it down into three separate categories that he called D1, D2, and D3. D1 is the original meaning "turning of non-Christian to Christ." D2 signifies a meaning of discipling, "turning of any individual from non-faith to faith in Christ." And D3 means "teaching an existing Christian" (Wagner 1981, 132).

But the writer thinks that discipling means to make disciples through teaching and training (Webster 1971, I-644). To make disciples (Christians) through the discipling-process, therefore, two stages are needed: evangelizing and teaching to observe (obey, NIV) all things whatsoever Jesus has commanded them (KJV) because Jesus has said "baptizing them...teaching them" (Matt. 28:19-20). Through the first stage the right of the children of God will be given to the people (John 1:12), and then they will be nutured in their faith and brought about ethical change through the second stage (Eph. 4:13).

Of course, the first stage must be accomplished at once, while the second stage can be gradually attained to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13). These cannot be separated from each other. In any case, it is no doubt that discipling is one of the most strategic ways to have unlimited personal ministry (Moore 1981, 31).




.



 

Copyright ¨Ï 2008 Fourth World Mission Center. All rights reserved.
Phone : (714) 842-1918, (424) 293-8818, E-mail : revpauljang@hotmail.com
Address : 16000 Villa Yorba Lane #131, Huntington Beach, CA 92647, U.S.A
Mission Center Homepages : www.mission4.org / www.usmission4.org / www.mission4.info