The Discipleship Model

THE MODEL OF DISCIPLESHIP

Introduction

As many pastors have discovered, mission and vision drives the work but it is the model that defines the structure.  A model is a plan that can be studied and reproduced that will produce results that can be replicated.  Let me clarify this, if a church planter wanted to grow a church that produced similar results, then the planter would study your church and develop a model.  If he applied the model at a new location he would achieve similar results.  The problem is that the results can be either good or bad.  The model does not care what the results are only how to reproduce them.  All churches have models and produce results.  There is no exception.  The question then is what is the model of your church and what does it produce?  The answer to this question will reveal not only the health of the church but also its effectiveness in the kingdom.  A study by Ranier found that churches whom initiate discipleship by requiring participation for new members were healthy, growing churches.  “Attendance increased by a number greater than the number of new members…they are actually experiencing numeric growth greater than the number of new members added each year” (Ranier, 2001, 114). Barna agrees that churches that model true disciple-making strategies are “unlikely to stay small” (Barna, 2001, 106). This paper is an introduction to the need to identify and develop a Biblical model for discipleship and will be used in the future as a springboard for developing a discipleship strategy for a new church plant.

What is in a Model?

Mitchell looks at four passages that help to define the model for discipleship in the church.  1 Thessalonians 1:4-7 describes a model of action in all things being like Christ.  In this passage, Paul looks at the model for discipleship of teaching others to imitate Christ by first becoming an imitator ourselves by our word, actions and deeds.  The Thessalonians were a church that was persecuted but they welcomed the message of Christ.  They measured their life in light of the teachings about Christ and worked to align their lives with Christ.  They were striving to imitate or to become like Jesus.  “In response to Paul and his friends’ preaching and example, the Thessalonians became ‘imitators of us and of the Lord’, which was a visible evidence of their election. In imitating Paul, a disciple of Christ, they were imitating the Lord. The outcome of this was that they became a model for others to follow. In other words, the imitators became the imitated! One thing is clear—our actions and attitudes are watched and followed” (Shenton, 2006, 21).

Becoming Imitators of Christ:  A Model

Paul describes how to become an imitator of Christ in Philippians 4:9.  He says that this model requires three things:  education, observation and practice. To truly model Christ, a disciple must learn what he taught, how he lived and how he responded to situations.  The first, education, is to teach and to learn how Christ lived his life.  In Deuteronomy 6:1-7 the Shema was a model that was used by the Jews to pass along God’s commands to the children.  Shema, which means, “to hear” was the foundation of Jewish education.  Thus God, in Deuteronomy, began the modeling of discipleship beginning with education.  Disciples through education, the reading and discussion of Scripture and scripturally sound literature, and through mentorship gain information about how Christ lived his life.  This knowledge allows the disciple to test his beliefs and decisions against Scripture and make the changes necessary to align himself with God’s will.

Education is foundational for the disciple, but through observation knowledge finds context.  Context occurs when a community of believers experiencing life together and is learned through observation.  Paul in Philippians 4:9 instructs the Philippians to do as they see him do.  Thus by their observing Paul’s actions they learn how to apply the knowledge that he has imparted to them in their lives.  The disciple learns application by sharing and learning how others react to similar struggles with them in the community of faith. 

The final point is that the disciple also models Christ in their personal walk for others. Paul instructed this to the Philippians by demonstrating Christlikeness.  In John 13:35, Christ defines Christlikeness as how we love each other.  Demonstrating Christ always goes back to the root of discipleship, love.  How does this look practically?  Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians 13:4 by describing love as patience and kindness.  Patience is the response in love to outside situations and kindness is the proactive giving of self to others.  People see Christ’s response to the situations of life through the patient endurance of the believer.  They also observe Christ’s love through the sacrifice of self for others.  It is this final part of the model that Paul introduced that is demonstrated by believers who seek to be the imitation of Christ.

Acts 2:  The Model in Action

The early church as described in Acts 2:42-47 is the model for the church.  A careful examination of this passage reveals the three parts of the model that Paul described all through his letters to the epistles and was the basis of the churches he planted throughout Asia and the Mediterranean.  Verse 42 begins with an important part that is easily overlooked by many Christians today.  The early church was above all else devoted.  The early church abandoned everything to have community together.  “It was their commitment to each other in community which enabled them to be an uncommon, even extraordinary people” (Carver, 1990, 476).  The same level of devotion must be produced by the disciple-making process in the church today for the model to become fully what God intended for His church.  Believers must take their eyes off of self and get to the heart of God’s plan, which involves community, and the sacrificial giving of themselves.  “The more people sense that the church’s regimen is not just busywork but is truly developmental, the more committed they become to the process and the more other people are attracted to the church” (Barna, 2001, 107).  The church must develop a level of devotion more than attendance.

The early church modeled education, observation and practiced this regularly. In verse 42, the early church learned from the apostles about Christ.  They heard the stories of how Jesus lived and observed this modeled by the apostles.  They were actively involved in education.  Community thrived within the early church as the disciples met in their homes celebrating life together around the table.  They loved each other sacrificially giving everything they owned to each other.  They existed in a place of worship where they praised God together in community as each person imitated Christ and in turn observed Christ imitated by others.  The model was functioning and there was a result.  The end of acts reports the outcome of this model.  The number of the disciples increased daily.  Looking at the early remarks in the introduction, this model of discipleship still works today.  Churches who make discipleship a priority are growing and reaching people for the kingdom.

Today’s Church

Many of the churches of today have abandoned this model, most of which is unwittingly, resulting in a lack of emphasis on discipleship and the lack of community within the church.  Often, these churches are marked by marginal attendance, little or declining growth, lack of participation from the congregation.  For today’s churches to thrive again, a new look at the Acts 2 model must be performed.  “Community is the forum where Christian people live and practice faith” (Allen, 1985, 305). Many of the growing churches and new church plants emphasize community.  Trained leaders promote education by teaching through various techniques including demonstration, lecture, Socratic, discovery, dramatic and practice methods (Mitchell, 2001, 333-335).  Often the venue for community occurs in small groups, which serves as the source of education, soul care and outreach.  Truly successful churches determine their success based on the quality of their disciples rather than the number of attendees.  Churches such as this who focus on discipleship rarely worry about attendance. 

Conclusion and Application:  The Church Plant

This week has been a truly eye-opening experience about the importance of discipleship.  While I understood the importance of discipleship, it was just “lip service.”  Discipleship was important but not the goal.  However, the new church plant vision has changed.  The church that will be planted next year will be disciple-focused.  The early development of the vision strategy already involved a heavy involvement in small groups.  From this vantage point, small group was a placeholder without substance until now.  The vision lacked the intentional focus on discipleship.   The strategy was to build a church the lived in community.  Discipleship is the community.  Going forward, the new church strategy will be to endeavor to develop a discipleship model that mimics the early church by producing disciples that imitates Christ.  The church will focus on Christian education, community and demonstrating Christ’s love to each other and the world.  At its heart, the small group will be what will be defined as the “win.”  If people are engaged in small group ministry and the church is strategically and intentionally working to produce disciples that make disciples, then we are doing the best that we can to partner with the Holy Spirit to be a church following God’s model—the model of discipleship.

Reference List

Allen, Joseph.  1985. Renewal of the Christian community. St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly. 305-323.

Barna, George. 2001. Growing true disciples: New strategies for producing genuine followers of Christ.  Colorado Springs, Colorado:  WaterBrook Press.

Carver, Gary L. 1990. Acts 2:42-47. Review and Expositor, 87. 475-480.

Mitchell, Michael R. 2010. Leading, teaching and making disciples:  World-class Christian education in the church, school and home.  Bloomington, IN: CrossBooks.

Ranier, Thom S. 2001. Surprising insights of the unchurched. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.

Shenton, T. 2006. Opening up 1 Thessalonians. Leominster: Day One Publications.