Disciplemaking Philosophy

Disciplemaking needs a Christian Theology and Epistemology

Wednesday, 30 May 2007 08:24

When we disciple we should not apologize for the beliefs that we hold to and have.  The necessity of a theology is given fact of any student and teacher relationship.  If we don’t want to teach theology to our disciples then we are actually dispensing with Christianity and Christian Discipleship.  While it is great to champion the basics. We need to see the basics in relationship to the web of our total beliefs.  This means that you must teach that Scripture is your final authority and you must show this from the scriptures and not some other source of knowledge.  I have learned the knowledge is not just a justified true belief or

Knowledge ≠ belief x truth x justification. 

It is something more.

I would fit the fear of God and Scripture into this equation.  The Bible alone is the source from which Christians are called to draw their epistemology (and everyone else for that matter). Scripture is adequate for every good work, including defending the faith (2 Tim. 3:16-17). In Christ are all the treasures of wisdom stored (Col. 2:3). The Christian is called to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:3-5). The only biblically acceptable apologetic is therefore one which is drawn from the Bible and acknowledges the epistemic lordship of Christ. Any position other than this is merely knowledge falsely so called (1 Tim. 6:20). 

When a disciplemaker starts to disciple and encourage their disciples to confront and witness, do not teach them that common sense is the starting point for defending the faith, but knowing the Scriptures.  If you and/or your disciple start with something else in witnessing, then what you start with, and not Scripture becomes the ultimate authority.  It becomes surer than the sure word of God.  But Scripture teaches us that Scripture itself is to be our final authority (2 Pet. 1:19, 21; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17; 1 John 5:9; 1 Thess. 2:13).  If Scripture is the final authority, and if one proves the authority of Scripture on the basis of something else other than Scripture, then one proves that Scripture is not the final authority. In other words, to prove the authority of Scripture on something other than Scripture is to disprove Scripture.. 

Christian Disciplemakers are morally and logically compelled to defend the faith with an epistemological outlook (understanding how they know what they know) that accords with the faith. Not only is it wrong to defend the faith with an autonomous (man-centered, humanistic) epistemology – Christianity must be understood on its own terms – but, in the nature of the case, blending Christian theology with non-Christian epistemology always serves to undermine the Christian’s ability to defend the faith. As Christians we need to be much more epistemologically self-conscious. 

Disciples must Avoid Minolationism (Part 1)

Wednesday, 30 May 2007 08:21

When teaching and discipling one of the issues is that comes up is that people sometimes separate the act of learning Christian theology from Authentic Christianity.  Authentic Christianity is a single thing.  You don’t separate teaching from other elements because Authentic Christianity is a single thing.  Yes it has different elements, but these elements never are isolated by themselves.  I see this over and over – disciples wanted to know theology apart from a congregation of believers, or with out respect to their own affections and walk with God.

As I am readying through “Systematic Theology – Biblical and Historical” by Robert Duncan Culver, I resonated with him when he compared authentic Christianity to a chemical compound such as sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄).  H H₂SO₄ is not 2 parts hydrogen, one of sulphur, and four of oxygen, somehow mixed together in a glass beaker.  It is a single thing in which there are three elements so integrated as to form a substance different from anyone of three alone, and from anything else.  The distinctive features of Christianity are really of little importance singly. I call the isolation of certain disciplemaking ministries and actions from other distinctive features of Authentic Christianity is “Minolation.”  The elements of authentic Christianity must be always united and so integrated in our lives and teaching that to see them separated would be of little important to us.  Minolation must be avoided.  The Great commission commands us to teach people to observe or obey all that Jesus Commands and not just teach knowledge or doctrine.  Doctrine properly taught is never in isolation from other believers, the world, the church, and God and his mighty acts in history and today.

Dr. Culver says that explicit in scripture there are 4 integrated elements that are together in authentic Christian religion.. They include:

• Certain Acts of God in History, or redemption;
• The meaning of those acts of God as set forth in Holy Scripture, or Doctrines;
• The lives of countless believers, the Christians themselves through the ages but particularly those alive today; and
• The congregations of believers throughout the world, the churches, or, considered in their spiritual oneness, the church.

 Briefly Robert Culvers explains each of these indivisible crucial elements of Authentic Christianity. 

 Redemption - Christianity has been rendered what is is by what God did a long time ago.  We can rehearse the history of Redemption or salvation that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ and died for our sins. 

Culver says,

 What God did in the redemptive career of Jesus of Nazareth was a consummation of events of God’s doing from eternity past, through all the preparatory history of the Old Testament and p to the point when “in the fullness of time… God sent forth his son” (Gal. 4:4). … The element Christianity calls history (events which happened, not mere reports o them) in our religion accounts in large part for the preponderance of narrative in most of the Bible up to the Epistles in the New Testament….   

 Doctrine – The events of biblical salvation history – God’s acts of redemptions – have meaning.  They must be interpreted.  The statement of fact of Christ’s death with meaning it has for the world of sinful people is a statement of Christian doctrine.  We call it the doctrine of atonement.   The Gospel is an account of something that happened and the meaning of that happening was set forth then was Christian Doctrine.  Event and meaning must be joined in a absolutely indissoluble union or there is no Christianity.   Doctrine is not just assertions and interpretation of religious experience.  This is backwards.  Experience comes from Doctrine and not the other way around.  Martin Luther first learned the doctrine of Justification of David and Paul on the grounds of Jesus’ shed blood, appropriated by faith alone, and then after believing appropriating the righteousness of God he had a wonderful Christian religious experience.  Other teachings in scriptures are called doctrines because they are revealed truths that help us place meaning to events of history

 The Lives of Countless Believers – We must tie redemptive history and the meaning of it to our own life.  We seek in this ay after essential and true religion (see Phil 1:20, 21; Gal. 2:20).  The dynamics of the Christian life are on display beginning with the first chapter of Acts through the end of Revelation.  IN a nutshell the elements were constant attention (proskarterountes) to apostolic doctrine (didachē), to the fellowship (koinōnia), to the special central fact of worship (i.e. ‘the breaking of bread’), to their prayers together (Acts 2:41-42, 4:23-41) and to their public testimony (Acts 43-47 and 5:12-42).  These were irresistible to outsiders, purifying to insiders and enviable to competitors for the hearts of mankind.  What set the early Christians apart was the moral quality of their lives in clncert with the love one for another, and care for the welfare of all mankind. 

 An Institution – Church, Churches, and Organization – Believers have a corporate life together.  In pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan, Christian is introduced to the great house built by the Lord of the hill for the relief and security of pilgrims.  There he became equated \with Prudence, Piety, and Charity, was furnished companionship and nourishment, and sent on his way toward the celestial destination with the full armor of  God.   People today and yesterday linked themselves in visible associations see themselves as members of a world wide spiritual commonwealth of believers, and it is this church which is his body that God fills all in all (Eph. 1:22-23).  The unity of believers both locally and universally is so central in New Testament Christianity that our religion can neither be discussed nor possessed with reference to it.  There is no such thing as having Christ, or loving, admiring or confessing Him without similar participation in “the church.”  This is of Christ’s determination. We can never separate the history of Christianity from the history from the church. 

My Disciplemaking and Training Principles

Wednesday, 30 May 2007 08:14

A Church's Philosophy of Ministry

Wednesday, 23 May 2007 04:07

Shavano Baptist Church

Philosophy of Ministry

Purpose:

The purpose of Shavano Baptist Church is to make disciples who reproduce themselves in others (Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 2:1-10, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Colossians 1:9-12; Hebrews 10:24-25; Ephesians 4:11-16; 2 Timothy 4:1-4; 2 Timothy 2:2; Revelation 7:9-17); in order to passionately enjoy and glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Psalm 37:4; Psalm 16:11; Romans 12:1-2; John 4:23-24).

Our product

Our product is a mature, fruitful, growing disciple. We define a disciple as a believer who walks with God, lives the Word, fellowships with believers, contributes to the work of the church, witnesses to the world, and reproduces his/her life in others. (See Appendix 1 for fuller definition of a developing disciple).

Our Philosophy of Equipping and Equippers

1. The senior pastor's role is that of "coach," and his commitment is primarily to give direction for the leadership (1 Peter 5:1-4), train leaders (Eph. 4:11-16), teach and preach the Word (2 Tim. 4:1-2), and be a model disciple for others (2 Tim. 2:2). He should seldom perform ministries lay leaders could do unless it is absolutely necessary. The role of the other ministerial staff members is the same as that of the senior pastor in that staff member's area of ministry.

2. The role of our deacons is to be actively involved in serving their specific areas of ministry and to be models in the discipleship process.

3. The role of our lay leaders is to model discipleship , to grow in their own ministry skills, and to equip the rest of the congregation for ministry. All leaders must agree with our doctrinal statement and our philosophy of ministry.

4. The church member's role and responsibility is to grow as a disciple, to be trained to use his/her gifts, to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to directly minister to Christians, and to seek to win those to Christ who do not know Him. The church will encourage individuals to develop and employ their gifts in ministry to be creative, pro-active, and need oriented in disciplemaking. The church will encourage church members to minister according to what God wants them to do (God's call) and will provide resources whenever possible.

5. We recognize that it is as important to serve as it is to lead in building a healthy, disciplemaking church.

6. Within the Body of Christ, the Spirit has gifted and appointed certain members to serve God's people by providing leadership. While those not so gifted and appointed are equal to those who are, they serve a different function and in this sense do not share the same level of leadership authority.

7. All ministry staff, and lay leaders must be growing disciples committed to the church's philosophy of ministry and doctrinal statement.

8. Leaders will be selected during the disciplemaking process by considering character, giftedness, and proven experience, as demonstrated over time through this process.

9. To ensure their spiritual growth and good stewardship of their spiritual gifts, all pastors, deacons, small group leaders, Sunday School teachers and outreach leaders (after completing a Basic Accountability Small Group) will meet in our Ministry Community or with their disciplemaker at least once a month.

10. All leaders of church ministries will take part in appropriate leader training to develop the gifts God has given them.

Our Philosophy of Church Programs

11. In order to promote loving relationships (Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31), we will establish a healthy balance between Worship Service(s) (Eph. 4:3-4, Acts 4:32),Sunday School Classes (John 13:34, Acts 2:42b), and small groups (Acts 20:20) to provide the proper group dynamics and infrastructure for the disciplemaking process. We will encourage everyone to be involved in a Worship Service, a Sunday School Class, and a Small Group.

12. The purpose of every activity of our church is to produce and further develop disciples.

13. An indispensable method of making disciples is the small group. We will offer small groups and other ministries at multiple commitment levels to develop sequential growth for disciples. We see one-on-one approaches as valid and sometimes necessary, but only as a secondary method for most in our church. Small groups will be developed to provide relevant Bible study, intimate caring relationships, and outreach that leads to personal accountability and discipleship.

14. While making all our ministries warm and accepting of newcomers, the primary function of our Worship Services will be true worship and proclaiming the Word.

15. Our Sunday School classes consist of segmented open groups developed in order to challenge participants toward maturity in Christ through the study of God's Word, outreach, assimilation, and fellowship.

16. The group structure will be set up so that no one will be expected to attend two groups of the same dynamic, style, and function.

17. The management of all ministries will be delegated to the leaders of those ministries, and accountability will be maintained through leadership training meetings and normal disciplemaking channels.

18. We will seek to minimize the number of our policy makers and maximize the number of persons doing ministries.

Our Philosophy of Methods and Principles to Help Us Best Make Disciples

19. Disciplemaking requires intentionality. (The right things don't happen by accident.) Therefore, we will, at all times, have an intentional strategy to accomplish our purpose.

20. We will primarily make disciples as a church, not just as a collection of independent individuals. Leadership will be unified through prayer, a common vision, and the support of the Philosophy Of Ministry.

21. We are committed to the principle of multiplication of ourselves by evangelizing, discipling. equipping, and leadership training.

22. We are committed to the expansion of ministries by delegating Ministry opportunities to those who are faithful, able and teachable. (2 Timothy 2:2)

23. We will multiply ourselves and train others using the method of apprenticeship.

24. Loving accountability is an indispensable method in making disciples.

25. Disciplemaking is accomplished through relationships. (People are not looking for a friendly church they are looking for friends.)

26. Evangelism is the starting point and indispensable catalyst to all disciplemaking.

27. We believe evangelism is most effective when practiced as part of our daily lives.

28. We believe that many of the church's most important ministries take place outside of Sunday morning activities, and that each
member of the congregation is responsible for participating in ministry.

29. Each member is responsible to make disciples even though our lives are crowded with other priorities.

30. We believe that God has invited us to share in His work in the world through prayer. We desire to be a praying people.

31. The emphasis of ministry is placed on the product (disciples) rather than the program(s) of the church.

32. Facilities and resources are only important as they serve to enhance the mission of making disciples. God will provide for every genuine need. We will budget for growth.

33. We will be a church that not only reproduces disciples but develops new disciplemaking churches in San Antonio and beyond.

34. Our responsibility to missions starts in our community and extends to the ends of the earth.

35. Our organizational structure and leadership styles will flex and change as we move through different phases of our church's life-cycle .

36. This philosophy of ministry will be pursued with grace during the first 15 months and will take full effect on Auguest 1, 2001

37. This Philosophy Of Ministry will be as binding as our bylaws and can be amended in the same way as our bylaws.