Spiritual Disciplines
The Discipleship Circle
The Disciplemaking Process - A Circle Recently, I read a book called, 'The Disciple-Making Pastor' by Bill Hull which contained the following quote from George Orwell,"
We now have sunk to such a depth that the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men'. . . .(p. 50). The principles described below are not new, but the restatement of them, I believe, is necessary.
The Discipleship Circle describes in a simple graphic form the ongoing process that outlines the Christian life. Jesus Christ modeled this in His ministry and so did Paul. We need to renew our commitment to practicing these principles.
Discipleship Circle
Key Biblical principles that describe the process of developing and training Christians.
Who in turn develop and train other Christians to develop and train other Christians.
Evangelism
The Gospel is shared; individuals come to Christ.
Rom. 1:16; Col. 1:5-7; Acts 1:8; Acts 8:4
Establishing
Building a consistent walk with Jesus Christ through the Word and prayer; may be one-to-one or small group; incorporates the foundational principles; must occur before significant involvement in ministry.
2 Tim. 2:2; John 7:37-39; Matt. 5:6; Matt. 22:37,38
Equipping
Preparing for (i.e. spiritual gifts) and involved in a local church.
Continuing a growing walk with Christ; begin disciple-making process with others.1 Cor. 12,13; Micah 6:8; Eph. 4:11-16; Phil. 2:3-8
Reproducing / Multiplying
Modeling and training believers in communicating their faith to others; trusting God to bring people to Himself; developing the understanding that a disciple trains people to train others; this is more than reproducing, which happens first; it is multiplying.
2 Tim. 2:2; John 17:6-8,12-14,18; Matt. 28:18-20
What's the Point of This Diagram?
Good question! I am glad that you asked. The understanding of the four stages outlined in this diagram is vital to the discipling process. If one is missed or inadequately developed in a local church, it will guaranteed or lead to the stunted growth of the Christians in that church.
A bold statement. Yes it is but once I got a handle on the stages outlined here I realized the often-inadequate support and assistance that most evangelical churches give to new believers. Let me illustrate.
Reg, who is in your church, shared his faith with Phil. Phil repented of his sins and trusted Jesus Christ alone for eternal life. What should Reg do as the next step to help Phil to grow as a Christian?
Most often, in the typical North American evangelical church, Phil is encouraged to read his Bible every day, maybe he is given some type of reading plan for a year, shown a format to pray on a regular basis, such as the acronym A.C.T.S., and encouraged to attend church weekly. Since he desires to serve Jesus Christ now, he begins with great excitement. Older members of the church are blessed by his enthusiasm but generally expect that soon he will “mature” and realize that you can't be excited all the time.
As the weeks and months pass, he is challenged to be involved in the church by serving in a ministry of some type. No one is actually checking with him on a regular basis (weekly) on how his Bible reading is going and what his prayer life is like. Soon, he is less enthusiastic and the Christian life seems to be pockets of joy with extended times of the ordinary.
Less and less time is actually spent in the Word of God. His devotions consist of the latest Christian novel, i.e. the next in the Left Behind series, and contemporary Christian music. After some years of this, he seems to be getting tired of his service in the church. He may have a major disagreement with members of the board and he decides that maybe another church would be a better fit for him right now. So, he goes church hopping.
This is simply an overview of the type of situation that is occurring repeatedly throughout evangelical churches in North America.
This Does not Have to be!
I will not give a full explanation of all the stages in this article. That's for future articles. At this point it is extremely important to understand the first stage, establishing.
How would you or I know if a new Christian, or any believer for that matter, is established in their faith? There is one key area that I would focus on.
First, I would ask them to describe their quiet time. This means the time they spend on a daily basis reading God's Word and recording key insights from it and praying. You might say, “That sounds pretty basic. Is that all you're talking about here?” Well, yes and no.
Yes, I am only referring to time spent on a consistent basis in personal devotions. But no, there is more to it that just asking about it. It involves all the principles of discipling as well. These will be discussed in greater detail in the future. These principles include: time, example, commitment, accountability and relationship.
It takes time for a new Christian to develop consistent devotional patterns. I would suggest that it would take one to two years before Phil would have a daily quiet time. This is a generalization but a minimum of one year would be required for almost every new Christian.
No Service Just Yet
This means that Phil should not be asked to serve in any ministry that would require significant involvement in the church on a weekly basis. He can serve but only in limited capacity. This fits with the principle of faithfulness. Jesus made it plain that we are to demonstrate faithfulness, commitment and diligence to the gifts, abilities and experience God has given us in small matters before He will increase the responsibilities. (Matt. 25:14-30)
In John 7:37-39 Jesus challenged the people in the temple to thirst after Him. The coming and drinking that He describes in this passage are in the present tense. This is a continuous action. This is not a one shot deal.
The Christian life is daily receiving the nourishment from the vine (Christ-John 15: ) so that we might honour Him with the fruit of righteous, godly and serving hearts.
In John 8:31,32 He made it plain that this relationship with Him can only be nurtured through the Word of God. “Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” (KJV)
When we feed daily on the Word, we are nourished and strengthened in our faith and we will have the desire and motivation to live for Him each day. Prayer helps us demonstrate our faith by trusting the Lord in hearing our prayers. This is the way communication happens. We listen to God through the Word and He listens to us through prayer.
This foundation must be laid in each believer's life. Each Christian must understand and experience the life of Christ on a daily basis. This happens in the time set aside for consistent communion with Jesus Christ. Nothing else is important at this point. Yes, there should be teaching about the basics of Christianity. Yes, there should be the building of genuine relationships with other believers. Yes, there should be the initiative to witness to unbelievers about new life in Christ.
But, first and foremost is establishing the new believer in new patterns of living which arises out of consistent time with Jesus Christ reading, recording, memorizing and meditating on the Word of God and consistent time in focussed prayer.