3. Discipleship
“The strength and influence of the church is wholly dependent upon its commitment to true discipleship.”
- George Barna
Growing True Disciples

4. It is fulfilling the Great Commission:
What is Discipleship?
It is fulfilling the Great Commission:
“Therefore go 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 I have commanded you.”
Matthew 28:19-20
The original language of NT says “As you are going … make disciples.”
Discipleship is the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

5. What is Discipleship?
The Great Commission is not primarily about evangelism, it is about discipleship.
Although it IS about evangelism, it is PRIMARILY about Discipleship.

6. What is Discipleship?
“Christian discipleship is a process that takes place within accountable relationships over a period of time for the purpose of bringing believers to spiritual maturity in Christ.”
- International Consultation on Discipleship
International Consultation on Discipleship met in 2001.

7. “Christian discipleship is a process”
What is Discipleship?
“Christian discipleship is a process”
Disciple-making is a “shift from program-driven ministry to people-driven ministry … move from concern about quantity (people, programs, square footage, dollars) to concern about quality (commitment, wisdom, relationships, values, lifestyle).”
- George Barna
Growing True Disciples
We need to stop thinking of disciple-making as a PROGRAM, it is a PROCESS involving spiritual growth, spiritual depth. This quote from George Barna is certainly not meant to suggest that programs are not important. They are! But they are not the means through which we grow true disciples.

8. What is Discipleship?
“Christian discipleship … takes place within accountable relationships”
“Disciple-making is not about replicable, transferable methods, but about the mystery of two walking together. Christian maturity is always a social, and never an individual reality. There is no such thing as my maturity. It is only our maturity.”
- Dr. James Houston
Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia
We only take discipleship and growth seriously when we are accountable to other believers.

9. What is Discipleship?
“Christian discipleship is … bringing believers to spiritual maturity in Christ.”
“Too often disciple-making has been understood as preaching the gospel, helping a penitent pray the sinner’s prayer, or offering a compelling case for Christian belief. Disciple-making surely includes all these things, but it has as its goal Christian maturity.”
- Marshall Shelley
Editor, Leadership Journal
The processes mentioned: jumping-off point!

10. What is Discipleship?
“The church in Africa is one mile long, but only one inch deep. Discipleship is not information, but character formation.”
- Dr. Tokunboh Adeyemo
Theologian
We have always been driven to evangelize – save the lost. Officers’ Commission: “I bind myself to Him in this solemn covenant: To love and serve Him supremely all my days, to live to win souls and make their salvation the first purpose of my life.
Full salvation, which is the Army’s teaching, involves growing into Christlikeness – this is discipleship.

11. What is Discipleship?
“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”
2 Timothy 2:2
True discipleship is passing the baton to another generation, who are trained to pass it on to a new generation …….

12. Why Discipleship?
If you continue to do what you’ve always done, you’re going to get what you’ve always gotten.
Why do we think that we can continue doing things the same way and get different results? It is time to say “enough!” If I want different results, I am going to do something differently.

13. Why Discipleship?
Let me tell you a story that will illustrate an essential truth about discipleship. Taken from Ron Bennetts’ book Intentional Disciplemaking.
Imagine a businessman coming to your community to establish a new venture. He buys land and builds offices, warehouses, and production facilities. He impresses the townspeople with his industry and they become curious.
(Mouse-click on each underlined word.)

14. Why Discipleship?
After months of preparation, when the facilities near completion, a long-awaited “help wanted” ad appears in the local newspaper. Word spreads quickly that this business offers excellent pay and benefits, and needs all skills. The unemployment rate plunges to zero as anyone who applies gets hired. You are so excited; you even quit your job as a corps officer to hire on.

15. Why Discipleship?
When the business opens its doors, all the employees eagerly show up for work. At first, they stand in awe of the wealth of resources amassed in this facility. The warehouse is full of the latest machinery and technology as well as plenty of building materials. Eventually, however, a question begins to sweep over the huge crowd of idle workers. It begins as a whisper and gets louder: “What are we supposed to produce?” No one knows. They forgot to ask and upper management never announced it.

16. Why Discipleship?
Finally, you volunteer to approach the owner. A polite secretary ushers you into the owner’s downtown office, and you find him sitting calmly at his desk. “How are things going over at the plant?” the owner nonchalantly asks, glancing over the top of his bifocals while leafing through a stack of papers.
“Fine,” you reply. “We are all impressed with what you have built. We can’t believe the high-tech equipment that you set up, and we are eager to get to work. But we do have one question … what are we supposed to produce?”

17. Why Discipleship?
Produce? Produce? What difference does it make? Just get busy and produce something!
“PRODUCE?” responds the CEO incredulously. “Produce? Why, what difference does it make? Just get busy and produce something!”
Believe it or not, too often some do church that way, but they don’t even stop to ask the question. They just get busy doing something – anything – and treat God as though He doesn’t care or has no particular plan about what to develop with his resources.

18. Why Discipleship? We need to ask ourselves some questions:
What does a spiritually mature believer look like? How do I recognize a disciple of Christ?
What is my corps doing to ensure that we produce spiritually mature believers? Do we have an intentional disciple-making plan?
We will not know what we are trying to achieve if we have not answered this question.
2. The key word here is INTENTIONAL. We must make a conscious decision to make true disciples. It will not just happen.

19. Why Discipleship?
“Disciples don’t just happen. They’re developed through intentional planning and the effort of a community of believers. You, too, can make disciples in your church. But it won’t just happen. You need to decide what you’re going to do and how to do it.”
Ron Bennett
Intentional Disciplemaking
It is time to take action. We need to stop complaining that our people are not being trained and discipled, and find a way to make it happen. (Segue into DT).

20. Discipleship Training
Developing disciples who will lead The Army into the future
Bob Ferrantelli – Discipleship Resources & Leadership Development Director, Central Territory
Dr. Charles Lake

21. Discipleship Training
Written by Dr. Charles Lake, pastor of the Community Church of Greenville, Indiana
Available from our Trade Department

22. Discipleship Training
BASIC COURSE
Four Levels: Nine Sessions Each (36 sessions)
ADVANCED COURSE
Four Levels: Nine Sessions Each (36 sessions)

23. Discipleship Training
TOTAL
BASIC and ADVANCED (72 sessions)
Material for 2-4 years of quality
discipleship training

24. Discipleship Training
COST?
ONLY $15 PER COURSE
$30 for 2-4 years of Discipleship Training!

25. Discipleship Training
Strengths of Discipleship Training:
It is corps-based and long-range.
It trains future spiritual leaders in the corps.
It is written from a Wesleyan doctrinal view.
It is well-designed and structured.
Easy to implement with minimal preparation – “doable!”
It is home-grown.
This has been the universal cry: “We need local leaders!”
3. “I read through these discipleship materials [looking for conflicts with the Wesleyan/
Holiness perspective and Salvationist distinctives such as sacraments] and have found nothing that would approach a conflict in our fundamental doctrinal positions. … As far as Wesleyan/Holiness concerns, there is much to commend in these materials, inasmuch as they consistently urge one to grow in grace and godliness. … I find no conflict with holiness teaching in this training material. …
I would think many cadets here would benefit from engaging the spiritual disciplines on this level.”—Captain Philip Davisson, CFOT, Chicago

26. Discipleship Training
Advantages of Discipleship Training:
Covers most discipleship issues in a sequential/cyclical/spiral manner.
Promotes/develops biblical habits.
Similar to AA type programs - accountability with support and caring.
Can be used at many different levels and places -corps, social service centers.
It is available in Spanish – SA edited version
No need to re-invent the wheel.
Emphasizes the spiritual disciplines, Bible reading, prayer.
3. Bob: “I have observed in the groups I’ve been a part of or worked with that the prayer partner component is quite powerful. In one case, we asked a stronger soldier to be the prayer partner with a difficult soldier, which was reluctantly agreed to. After a few weeks of praying together the stronger soldier said with tears and obvious care, “I really love her an care about her, her life is really tough.”
Cathy: “The memorization of Scripture is challenging but rewarding. One young man used a verse recently memorized to help him deny the temptation to steal money lying openly beside an abandoned backpack!”
Now available in 11 languages, but not SA edited.

27. Discipleship Training
Possible Weaknesses of Discipleship Training:
Readings are long, sometimes difficult.
Memorization may be difficult.
Structure could be difficult if leader is not flexible.
Could be seen as a program, rather than a process based on relationships.

28. Discipleship Training
“We are thrilled to be promoting the Lake materials in our division. Most of our corps are without a discipleship plan for new converts, let alone continued progressive and purposeful instruction for their soldiers. The Lake material is the answer for many corps to this question of how to get our congregations ‘off milk and into the meat’ of a vibrant Christian walk rooted in the Word of God.”
Catherine Hayes
Leader Development Director, PENDEL

29. Discipleship Training
“For a long time, I have been convinced that the weight of the Great Commission is grounded in serious discipleship. And I've also known that a key piece of that discipleship is the devotional life. Finally, a tool has arrived that will meet this need in a practical way.”
Major Colin DeVault
Carlisle, PA

30. Discipleship Training
“The real effectiveness will not be known for a while, but my experience in facilitating groups at my corps is that this is beginning to change the culture of the corps in a wonderful and powerful way in that people are becoming more Christ-like! In addition we anticipate new leaders emerging and more participation in the ministries of the corps.”
Bob Ferrantelli
Leader Development Director, Central Territory

31. Discipleship Training
Two other studies available from Trade:
For New Christians:
“Running the Race” (9 sessions)
For Mature Christians:
“Doing What Comes Unnaturally” (9 sessions)

32. Accountability Log