4
Growing in
Discipleship
The list of subjects in this section are:
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Growing In A Discipleship Strategy
Discipleship-the Personality of the Church
How Journey was Developed
Why More Outreach is Needed in Discipleship
Why Serving is Not Ministering
GROWING IN A DISCIPLESHIP STRATEGY
Develop banners, bulletin inserts, and other public messages to be placed around the church.
Schedule testimonies from Disciplers and Disciples in the church services.
Challenge the entire congregation with a global vision to multiply Disciple Makers.
Ask for commitments regularly to become a Disciple Maker or a Disciple.
Begin consideration of the church budget and staff needed for Discipleship. Can some be full time soul winning disciple makers?
Schedule follow-up Discipleship Workshops every 6 months.
Schedule “Catch-up” Weeks, Discipleship Camps and Retreats.
Discipleship Workshops, Discipleship Training of other Churches in other cities and countries can be scheduled.
Schedule strategic outreach events to gain disciples for your Disciplers.
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DISCIPLESHIP MUST BE THE PERSONALITY OF THE CHURCH
Maximum results come from integrating every ministry from spiritual multiplication..
Discipleship is both a strategy and a thought process. It should not just be a program but the personality of you and your ministry. When this is true you will avoid extremes and do what matters most. Look for ways that ongoing programs can “feed” people into discipleship.
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HOW JOURNEY WAS DEVELOPED
Rev. John Honeycutt is the author of Journey discipleship lessons used in over 45 countries and 25 languages.
John Honeycutt's grand parents and parents were church planters, pastors and missionaries. John, with his wife Cathy, have been church planters since 1977 and have 3 adult children.
They were designed due to a lack of good discipleship materials for church planting.
Many discipleship materials are good at “grounding” new Believers but fail to multiply them.
Journey is not just a new set of lessons done in a different way with a better look. The result is much bigger than that...it’s the strategy that Journey enables.
Journey has this purpose: leading people to Christ and discipling them to lead others to Christ and betrusted by their Pastor to do the same.
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MORE OUTREACH REQUIRED
Years ago leaders would say "We don't disciple, we win souls!" because they defined discipleship as some kind of "deeper life" Bible study that kept people from winning souls.
Journey defines discipleship as multiplying soul-winning discipler-makers. Journey defines a discipler as a soul-winner who can be trusted by their Pastor to take care of a new believer.
Churches using Journey find they need to have more soul-winning events and plan for strong outreach to help their disciplers have a steady "supply" of disciples.
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WHY MINISTERING IS NOT SERVING
Probably the number one strategy that churches and pastors employ is getting people as involved as possible in the church, as quickly as possible.
Of course, there is a need in the church for people to serve to be able to function effectively and efficiently.
It's interesting to note that every religion has people that serve in it. They are not believers and yet they are actively serving.
By serving I mean cleaning, watching children, taking offerings, guiding people or ushering, etc.
And again, don't misunderstand me; those who serve in the church help things to run smoothly and provide a pleasant experience for attending the church.
But as a strategy for church growth, this strategy fails every time.
The reason is, it’s the exact opposite of what we as leaders and preachers, teachers, missionaries, church planters what we are called to do. We are called in Ephesians 4:11-12 to perfect the saints for the work of the ministry.
Ministry is not the same thing as serving. Serving is not the same as ministry.
In the Word of God, you will find ministry described with these elements: someone who has the Word of God and is transferring it to someone else.
Our instruction is to train our church members to minister. That means they know how to transfer God's Word to someone else.
And, from my experience, when those who are serving have also been discipled, the results of their service are much greater.
So, if we will do what the Word of God says we will see disciples multiply. We can't just get people busy in the Church.
We must get them effectively transferring the Word of God to someone else and that will produce solid church growth.
This is not a new plan, this is the original plan imparted to us.
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