Date: Jun 30, 2003 [ 8: 14: 57]
Subject: Summary - Discipleship & Followship
© 2003 BCP Harry Shelton Cole
Subject: Summary - Discipleship & Followship
SUMMARY OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH PLANTING LIST
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Moderated and edited by Pastor Harry Shelton Cole
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Introduction: We got a great response this last week to the Question of the
week. I think that it may have spilled over to the open list in the debate
that ensued about Calvinism. The answers were so good that I did very little
editing on them and here they are in answer to the Question
How do you get people to follow and be faithful after they have been
saved and baptized? Discipleship? Is it lessons, love, committment?
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>Pastor Michael O'Neal, Pastor of Gospel Light Baptist Church
I don't think there is really anything a pastor can do to GUARANTEE
growth in a new convert. It is up to the convert and his desire to
please God. However, I do believe that we CAN do things to greatly
accelerate the growth and encourage the growth of a convert who exerts
even a small amount of effort to make progress in his Christian walk.
For about six years, I have had an assistant pastor teach my auditorium
adult class. He has been 100% loyal since he joined my church around
nine years ago, and he has not disappointed me.
Meanwhile, I have been teaching a New Members & Visitors adult class
each Sunday. We are currently meeting in my office. Sunday I had six in
the class. I sat at my desk and the members sat in folding chairs in a
semicircle around me. I teach a six-lesson course of doctrines I call
"Bible Basics." When a member concludes the course, they transfer to the
auditorium adult class. The course takes anywhere from 12 to 20 weeks,
depending on the participation of the members. Although I have a
prescribed curriculum, I will without hesitation break from my lesson
plan to deal with questions from my class members.
I have assembled these lessons into a small book. Bible Basics may be
ordered for $3.00, two copies for $5.00, or five copies for $10.00, all
postpaid. Each lesson is followed by a fill-in-the-blank test, and a
score key is in the back of the book.
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>Pastor Marvin McKenzie, Bayview Baptist Church, Oregon
<editors note -- my favorite comment and one that helped me>>>
I have chosen to allow God to get them to follow and be faithful. While
I try to do follow-up work on those we win to Christ, I take the
approach that, just as the lost person can refuse salvation, the
Christian can refuse obedience. My job is to tell them what the Lord
expects and then leave it up to them to choose to obey. This helps me
keep from being discouraged at results. While I have no control over
another's choices, I do have control over mine. I choose, therefore, to
witness to as many as I can, explain to them what Christ asks of them,
and then leave the rest between them and the Lord.
Some we witnessed to or won to Christ 10 years ago, are just now
beginning to become faithful church folk. Some of them, we thought we
had lost for good! Christ hadn't though!
So far as discipleship, I am not sure how many will agree with me on
this, but I am of the opinion that is what church is. I do not
encourage much in the way of discipleship outside of the regular church
services. Sunday School, Sunday night, and Wednesday night services
here are designed to disciple. I believe this is the Great Commission.
Go out and make the disciples, baptism them into the church, and , once
in the church, teach them all things whatsoever Christ commanded.
them into church. There is a time limit to the study and it must be
ended. The key in our approach to the lessons is love and fellowship.
Jesus said by THIS shall all men know that ye are my disciples. What?
Love.>>>
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>Pastor Jeff Ables, Calvary Baptist Church, Knob Noster, MO
Dear Brother Cole,
I pastor a military church so we have sometimes a transit church.
Therefore I am a church planter at heart. I'm on my forth church in
seven years. So the topic you bring up is dear to my heart. I'll give
you my 2 cents worth.
1. After someone is saved and baptized I try to encourage them to joined
the discipleship class. We use the ABC's of Christian growth. 26
lessons. We meet every Sunday evening 30 minutes before church.
2. I assign a family to a newly saved convert or in many cases a newly
saved family. This family is challenged to "take under their wing" the
new family. Encourgment and accoutability I believe is the key. Encourge
to be in church and if not this gives them someone that will call them
make sure everthing is ok.
<< editors note -- Good way to love them >>>
3. Leadership. Even though I'm busy I want them to know that as their
Pastor I care about their spiritual needs and want to help them anyway I
can.
Note: These things work for our church , most of the time.. But keep in
mind we are a mostly military church. Military personal like
accountability and I like giving it to them.
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>Pastor Bob Hines, Boise, ID
We began an experiment with 1/1 discipleship about 10 years ago. I was
fortunate enough to have a man on staff that wrote a wonderful
dicipleship manual based on the book of Romans. We have added to and
updated since then, but it still servs as the basis for all of our men's
discipleship. I mention this because I have found that using someone
else's material just doesn't seem to be as effective as developing your
own.
designed to be a soulwinning tool as well as discipleship >>>>
The people of our communities are unique in some ways. The people of
the Northwest are not like the people in Texas. We are dealing
primarily with 1st generation Christians...whereas in Abilene, Tex. we
dealt with 3rd-5th generation Christians. The needs of the two are
entirely different in terms of their basic understandings of the Word
and the seperated life. We had to develop a text that would minister to
"our" people.
The results have been gratifying. Our first year we had "0" men to
serve in leadership who met the scriptural qualifications for Deacon.
After 8 years of ministry without the discipleship we had only a
handful....6-10 men qualified. After 10 years of ministry with
discipleship we had 48 men qualified this year.
It is a lot of work, but understanding you area and then building a
discipleship program that fits YOUR PEOPLE has been the most effective
method for us.
Also, building a strong emphasis on prayer...then creating and
environment and opportunity for them to pray together is very effective
in building strong relationships together. We recently built a "prayer
chappel" a room dedicated to nothing but prayer. It is open 24 hours a
day...7days a week.
Prayer is a vital part of discipleship >>>
IT HAS TRANSFORMED OUR CHURCH.
If I were starting again...this would be the first building project I
would invest in.
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>Pastor John Waldrip
I have seen fast starters and slow starters in the Christian life. As a
matter of fact, the ones in my Church which seem to be the most reliable
and faithful over the long haul are those who did not explode out of the
blocks.
However, it strikes me as amazing and not at all explainable by the
cultural differences that existed then that men back during the days of
the First Great Awakening, the Irish revival in the 1850's and the Welsh
Revival of 1905 saw an extremely high percentage of professions of faith
who proved out over the long haul to be genuine conversions.
I guess I just don't buy the C. I. Scofield view of initial
sanctification, or his view that the majority of Christians (genuinely
saved, not professors) are carnal and only some are spiritual. I think
most Christians are spiritual and the vast multitides who comprise
Christendom are not saved at all. I even go so far as R. G. Lee to
believe that most members of most Baptist Churches, based on their
lifestyles and a CAREFUL scrutiny of their so-called conversion
experience can't possibly be saved. 2 Cor 5.17
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Brother Eric in DC
I have two groups going on now. One is from a 10 lesson course I
adapted for the deaf. It is the very basics of who is God, salvation,
baptism, etc. Our church uses the 10 lesson course for its "New
Convert's" class and I changed it to suit the needs and vocabular level
of most deaf.
The second I have recently started is focusing on a little more
"meatier" subjects. They are in relation to leadership responsibility
(1 Tim, Titus), problems in the church and how to handle conflicts in a
Christ-like way. The point is that because the deaf community is small
compared to us "hearing folk", gossip, back stabbing and the like can be
a very big problem (not that it is of no concern for a regular
congregation). I am going through a study in 1 Timothy now and has been
very good.
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MORE ON DISCIPLESHIP
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John Waldrip, Whittier CA, wrote on last weeks question of discipleship.
My suggestion for discipleship is to teach what Paul taught and what Peter
taught and what John taught.
What is the only new converts book in the New Testament? It is the only book
that we know was written to brethren only weeks old in the Lord? It isn't
John. It certainly isn't James. It was Paul's first letter to the
Thessalonian Church.
In chapter one Paul indicates that what convinced him that those people were
truly the elect (Is this okay to write here?) of God was their work of faith,
labor of love, and patience of hope. As I understand chapter one, Paul's
communication of their maintenance of three kinds of relationships showed him
that they were truly saved.
Work fo faith is evangelism. Labor of love I take to be ministry to
Christians. Patience of hope speaks of the vertical relationship that
sustains the two horizontal relationships.
Now, on to Peter. In Second Peter 1 old Pete gives us a ladder, stairway,
progression, whatever you want to call it, of spirtiual growth and maturity.
Granted, you can't grow mature Christians in the time devoted to
discipleship sessons, maturation takes decades, but at least you can show
your converts that maturity looks like.
What John taught in First John is familiar to you all.
Back to Paul. It has always amazed me, personally, that we do not use First
Thessalonians for new converts, when it has always been known to be the FIRST
NT book written to new converts.
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More on Disipleship added by Malcom Fiestel,
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I have been out of town awhile, again, and have just read a few of the
comments on discipleship. Those who commented that we must lead people
to Christ carefully must share some common experiences with me. I would
almost say we need to discourage anyone who seems to believe too easily.
I want to develop a series of evangelistic lessons that last six weeks
as a preparation for a commitment to Christ.
People, also, do need to be taught the basics. Just as we feed a young
child we should pursue those who are new born Christians. We have to be
persistent and forgiving. Sometimes it takes six months to get through
a six lesson course.
However, the most important thing that I have discovered in teaching
faithfulness is teaching new believers to feed themselves and holding
them accountable to do so. I am, however, always ready to pick up the
fallen, failing believer and allowing them another chance to learn
simple lessons. Those who have learned, fallen, tried again and found a
supportive teacher to help them have learned how to survive. Where the
tug of the world and the snares of the enemy abound we need survival
training.
I too have been unsatisfied with many groups lessons, so am writing my
own for our ministry in Taiwan. I plan to divide it into the following
categories. pre-evangelism - 6, basics (John) - 13, witnessing - 6,
victory over sin - 6, bible study methods - 6, attitudes of a Christian
worker - 6. Most of the people we have discipled that have really
remained faithful and learned to serve with us have had one on one
contact for approximately two years.
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