Disciple Making: The Essential Activity of Christian Ministry

One of the most important characteristics in determining the success of an organization is the alignment of the efforts of the organization’s members toward a common goal. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the leadership of an organization determines said organization’s goals and clearly communicates them with the subordinate members. Churches are not exempt from this basic leadership truth. As members of this organization under the Lordship of Christ, we must look to His goals, which are made clear in Scripture. A careful examination of Scripture revels that Jesus “came to seek and save the lost”[1] and that he is “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”[2] Jesus also communicates his organizational goal for the Church in the Great Commission when he commands those following him to “Go . . . and make disciples of all nations.”[3] In light of the personal and organization goals of the leader of the Church, Jesus Christ, it is clear that “the overarching and ultimate goal of Christian education (and ministry) is producing disciples who worship Jesus.”[4]

While the goal of “making disciples who worship Jesus” is a seemingly simple goal, it is in fact multi-faceted. One must first deal with the definition of two key terms, disciple and worship, before fully appreciating the complexity of this single imperative. Simply put, a disciple is someone who has made Jesus the Lord of his or her life, has entered a process of relational discipleship with other maturing Christians, is becoming Christ-like, and is committed to the mission of Christ.[5] While one could spend quite a great deal of time unpacking the full meaning of what it means to be a disciple, this definition will suffice for the purpose of examining the essential activity of Christian ministry. The second term that requires definition for this examination is that of worship. The most common biblical terms for worship, the Hebrew shachah and the Greek proskyneō, emphasize the act of prostration and the doing of obeisance[6]; worship is characterized as the submission of the worshipers will to the will of the one being worshiped. When confronted with the characterization of these key terms, it becomes obvious that the “production of disciples who worship Jesus” is not a once in lifetime occurrence, but rather a reproducible process, “a lifelong commitment to a lifestyle.”[7]

If the “production of disciples who worship Jesus” is a process and a lifestyle, there must be requisite components that undergird the development of worshiping disciples. The foundational activities that make-up this process are education, spiritual formation, and discipleship. Education is “the creative process of utilizing external and internal forces to facilitate the functions of teaching and training in promoting and attaining growth and development, enabling complete individuals to comprehend, contemplate, and contribute to their community and culture.”[8] In the context of the church, the goal of education is to help the student grow and develop in their comprehension of biblical principles and ideas. Education is the development of “head knowledge.” Just as education deals primarily with informing the mind, spiritual formation deals with transforming the heart. As a person grows in their relationship with Christ they will have a deeper and greater revelation of God’s character and attributes. This greater and deeper revelation leads to an internal shift of attitude and a changed worldview. The work of spiritual formation begins with conversion in one’s regeneration and indwelling of the Holy Spirit and continues thereafter as “the ministry of the Holy Spirit does not end at conversion, but continues beyond.”[9] Spiritual formation is the inevitable result of spending time with the Lord and is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit; the “continued transformation of moral and spiritual character so that the believer’s life actually comes to mirror the standing he or she already has in God’s sight.”[10] The final component in this process is discipleship, one Christian intentionally pouring his or her life into someone with the goal of helping that person, the disciple, along as they grow in Christ. In order to effectively minister to people, one must spend time with the people in close proximity and get to know them in real-life situations. There is no substitute for time spent with another person.[11]

These are all individual components of the process, but are inextricably linked and interrelated at their deepest levels. The three constituent parts of effective disciple making are all the natural offspring of true worship. When a person truly worships God and submits their will to his, his mission becomes their mission. True Christian growth is indicated by “an increasing level of concern for the spiritual state of others.”[12] True worshipers of Jesus Christ become “fishers of men”[13] and seek to engage others in this process. To be a true Jesus worshiping disciple means that what one knows is moving their heart and causing change in their character. The final part of the transformational process ends in their hands, the giving of their hands to Christ’s service.[14] Those who have become “disciples who worship Jesus” aim to multiply other “disciples who worship Jesus” in fulfillment of Jesus mission to seek and save the lost.

Churches must be deeply interested in each and every part of this process, because the overarching goal of making disciples who make disciples falls flat with any one of the parts neglected. All too often the result of a great deal of education without accompanying spiritual formation is arrogance. Conversely a person who has pursued a great amount of spiritual formation without any education is ripe to be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine.”[15] A great deal of “head knowledge” (education) about God is of little worth to someone who has no “heart knowledge” (spiritual formation) of God. In addition, neither education nor spiritual formation is possible without one person sharing both their “head knowledge” about God and their “heart knowledge” of God in an intentional relationship in close proximity to another person in real-life situations (discipleship).

Churches who are truly seeking to be Jesus’ church will make disciple making their primary concern, simply because disciple making is the task that Jesus has left for the church in the intervening time until his return. The Church is the organization Jesus Christ has ordained and super-naturally empowered to carry out his mission on earth. Jesus and the Church are so closely related that the phrase “the Body of Christ” is a common New Testament metaphor for the Church. This is found through out the New Testament; the Church is called “one body in Christ” in Romans 12:5; “one body” in 1 Corinthians 10:17; “the body of Christ” in 1 Corinthians 12:27 and Ephesians 4:12; and “the body” in Hebrews 13:3. Additionally, the Church is clearly equated with “the body” of Christ in Ephesians 5:23 and Colossians 1:24. The use of the analogy of a body to represent the Church reveals its inherent life and intended unity.[16] As the “Body of Christ” the church is Jesus’ hands and feet to carry the good news of the gospel to those who are captive in sin. Churches need to look no further than Jesus himself to find a model for the most effective method of carrying out their mission.

A careful study of the life and ministry of Christ reveals that he was an intentional leader that made disciples in a relational environment by following a reproducible process.[17] If churches are serious about fulfilling the Great Commission and following the example of Jesus Christ, then the majority of time, talents, and treasure stewarded by these churches must be spent in the pursuit of making disciples in a relational environment by following a reproducible process. This means that church leaders must work diligently to ensure that the focus is on the education, spiritual formation, and discipleship of each and every person under their charge.

The Church is an organization that is under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and its success in accomplishing the goals that he has set forth hinge on the alignment of the efforts of the members of the Church toward this common goal. The Church must labor toward its assignment to make disciples as mandated in the Great Commission in aligning with Christ in his goal of seeking and saving the lost. When one takes into account the definition of a disciple and what it truly means to worship and applies these principles in the context of the goal that Jesus Christ has laid before the Church it is obvious that “the overarching and ultimate goal of Christian education (and ministry) is producing disciples who worship Jesus.”[18]

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[1] Luke 19:10 ESV
[2] 2 Pet. 3:9 ESV
[3] Matt. 29:19 ESV
[4] Dr. Michael R. Mitchell, Leading, Teaching, and Making Disciples: World-Class Christian Education in the Church, School and Home (Bloomington, IN: CrossBooks Publishing, 2010), 246.
[5] Jim Putman, Church Is a Team Sport: A Championship Strategy For Doing Ministry Together (Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker Books, 2008), 142.
[6] Walter A. Elwell, ed., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2001), 1300.
[7] George Barna, Growing True Disciples: New Strategies For Producing Genuine Followers of Christ (Colorado Springs, Colo.: WaterBrook Press, 2001), 19.
[8] Mitchell, 233.
[9] Elmer L. Towns, Theology For Today, 2nd ed. (Mason, Ohio, USA: Cengage Learning, 2008), 290.
[10] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2007), 890.
[11] Mitchell, 253.
[12] Daniel L. Akin, ed., A Theology For the Church (Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Academic, 2007), 851.
[13] Matt. 4:19 ESV
[14] Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples (Colorado Springs, CO.: NavPress, 2010), 30.
[15] Eph. 4:14 ESV
[16] Towns, 637.
[17] Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples, 35.
[18] Mitchell, 246.