Greg Ogden examines what it means to be a disciple and how disciple-making can occur in the church context. In three major sections, the course considers the church’s missional mandate and some core theological challenges to carrying it out, biblical models of disciple making as seen in the ministries of Jesus and Paul, and the application of disciple-making models in the context of the local church.
“Bill Easum puts it this way: ‘The DNA defines an organization in every cell. The DNA of every healthy church is to make disciples who make disciples. The primary role of church leadership is to provide an environment in which people can grow to be disciples who make disciples.’” (source)
“‘Discipling is an intentional relationship in which we walk alongside other disciples in order to encourage, equip, and challenge one other in love to grow towards maturity in Christ. This includes equipping the disciple to teach others as well.’” (source)
“And one of the things they thought they needed to do was come up with a profile of what a disciple looked like. If you don’t have a profile, you don’t have a target in which you’re trying to grow. And so they came up with these six characteristics of what a disciple should be—heart for Christ alone, mind transformed by the Word, arms of love, knees for prayer, voice to speak the good news, and a spirit of sacrifice.” (source)
“Purpose has to do with being or essence or identity. Ask the questions of why do we exist? What is the place of the church in God’s scheme? Whereas mission is our outward focus. It’s what we are all about. It’s the energy in doing the activity. And it answers the question, what are we to do? Or, how do we measure our effectiveness?” (source)
“C. S. Lewis puts in ways that only he can. He says, ‘The church exists for no other purpose [or I would say mission; I think he is using the word ‘purpose’ in terms of ‘mission’ there] but to draw men and women to Jesus Christ, to make little Christs. If they are doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. [It is even] doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.’” (source)