DESCRIPTION:

The church desperately needs to recapture its mission given by Jesus, "Go and make disciples of all nations." As the church has gotten wider, it has not gotten deeper. The impact of Christian discipleship has been described critically as "privately engaging, while socially irrelevant." The purpose of this class is to develop a long-term, Biblical strategy that returns making reproducing disciples of Jesus Christ the central mission of the church.

This course will equip the student to think about who is a disciple, what is discipleship and how you go about growing people to maturity. We will explore personal methods of disciple-making such as one-to-one relationships, small accountability groups, ministry teams, etc. We will also look at the church as a disciple-making community by analyzing historical and contemporary models, and devising disciple-making structures.

This course will include lecture, class discussion, small group processing, guest speakers, PowerPoint presentation, video, assessments, and strategic decision points. Class will meet twice a week for two-hour sessions.

Cole, Neil. Cultivating A Life For God. Church Smart Resources, 1999.

Frazee, Randy. The Connecting Church. Zondervan, 2001.

Hull, Bill. The Disciple Making Pastor. Revell Books, 1988.

Wilkins, Michael. In His Image: Reflecting Christ in Everyday Life. NavPress, 1997.

Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Church. Zondervan, 1995. Parts Two (pp. 75-154) and Five (pp. 309-98).

Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. HarperSanFrancisco, 1998. Chapters 1- 3, 8, 9.

Foster, Richard. Streams of Living Water. HarperSanFrancisco, 1998.

Henderson, D. Michael. John Wesley's Class Meeting: A Model for Making Disciples. Evangel Publishing House, 1997.

Ogden, Greg. Discipleship Essentials: A Guide to Building Your Life in Christ. InterVarsity, 1998.

_________. The New Reformation: Returning the Ministry to the People of God. Zondervan, 1992.

Webber, Robert E. Journey to Jesus: The Worship, Evangelism, and Nurture Mission of the Church. Abingdon, 2001.

1. Reading: On each required text complete a two-page reading log supplied by the professor.

2. Paper: The overall task is to design a holistic congregational strategy that places disciple-making as the principal mission of the church. To accomplish this, the paper would address the following elements: the need for disciple-making in your context; a working definition of disciple, discipling and discipleship; evaluate the present mission of the church; develop approaches to personal and corporate disciple-making; and develop a holistic scheme or integrative strategy of disciple-making. One 15 page paper.

Meets M. Div. core requirement in Christian Formation and Discipleship (MIN 4).