• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Bible Reflection 5 Tests to assess disciple making in the Church

5 Tests to assess disciple making in the Church

Posted on June 23, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 4 Comments


Building
Image via Freefoto.com

The church is called by Jesus Christ to make disciples. How does one assess how well a local church is doing at making disciples?

Quality versus Quantity

Quantity is easy to assess by counting heads on a Sunday morning, but how about quality? How do we assess the quality of the disciples that are being made?

Numbers tell part of the story, but cannot be the only means of assessment. A good preacher and a good worship band will pack the house on Sunday mornings. But there needs to more than 20 to 60 minutes of instruction on a Sunday morning or Wednesday night. Discipleship and growth have to happen in one-on-one meetings, small groups or perhaps even classroom instruction.

No church is doing this perfectly and the point of this exercise is to provide food for thought as to how to identify good discipleship. Toward that end, I thought of 5 ways of assessing how well your church is doing.

1 – Are disciples grounded and ready to give an answer for their hope?

In an increasingly ill-informed and possibly hostile cultural environment, disciples need to be able to explain what they believe and why they believe it (1 Peter 3:15).

Recently there have been some really scary statistics as to the high percentage of teens who leave the church, many of them never returning. I wonder how many of those who leave do so because they have not been properly trained to understand and defend their faith. With proper training, would these teens succumb to attacks from their peers and teachers? If parents have been trained to explain their faith, would the numbers of children who walk away be lowered?

2 – Are disciples growing in their display of the fruit of the spirit?

Even the most mature believer among us will look at Galatians 5:22-23 and reflect on how much improvement is still possible in displaying the fruit of the Spirit. One never arrives, but we should see progress. Do visitors to the church feel loved, see joy, experience patience, etc.? Do the members of the church experience these things from each other? Can you look at people that have come to Christ in your church and see progress in Spiritual fruit being displayed? Is this the norm for people in the body?

3 – Are disciples growing in their ability to understand and explain Scripture ?

Have the disciples been taught the skills they need to rightly understand Scripture (2 Timothy 2:15)? Have they been instructed in using Bible study tools? Have they been given an overview of Scripture so that in reading they can place what they are reading in a proper historical context? Have the disciples been given grounding in the fundamental beliefs of Christianity? Can the disciples explain what they’ve learned and bring others along in the disciple making process?

4 – Are disciples equipped for the work of ministry?

Do disciples have a handle on how they are gifted and how they fit into the body of Christ? Has the leadership of the church helped them with this understanding? Has the leadership equipped them and empowered them to exercise that gift (Ephesians 4:12)? Is spontaneous ministry happening or does the leadership of the church need to coordinate everything that is taking place?

5 – Are disciples turned loose to be lead by the Holy Spirit to build up the church?

If the pastor or the elder board feels the need to approve every Bible study or prayer group that is formed within the body, people are not free to minister. Either God is in control or the church leadership is, there is no middle ground.  1 Corinthians 12:7 tells us that the Holy Spirit gives gifts as He sees fit to be used to build the church.

It is a well used phrase, but it applies here: you can’t steer a parked car. If you turn people loose to begin Bible Studies, prayer groups and practical ministries then God can use those people for his glory in a way that the church leadership never could have dreamed.

Leaders, remember that if you reprimand someone (no matter how gently) for doing something without checking with leadership, you are diminishing their initiative. After several thwarted attempts at taking initiative, they will either become passive and wait to be told what to do, or they will leave and find another church. Neither of these results is good for you or the Body of Christ.

These are five that I’ve been thinking about. Can you add to the list? What else can be used to assess the disciple making process? Please comment below.


Filed Under: Bible Reflection, Church Leadership Tagged With: Bible, Bible Study, Body of Christ, Christ, Christianity, disciple, Discipleship, Holy Spirit, Sunday

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

Worship in the midst of trials

Our honesty about where we are and what concerns us is an act of worship of the highest value to God. It may not be pretty, it may be really raw or rough around the edges, but God loves for his children to seek Him in the hard times.

Traffic Light

Wanted: A Point of Reference

When you are sitting at a stop light in your car and see motion out of the corner of your eye, there are two responses. The first is to push harder on the brake pedal and the second is to look at a lamp post, building or some other stationary object to see if your […]

Farm

A test for idolatry

Even though we do not bow down before any images we may fall into idolatry. I offer some thoughts on how to identify idolatry in our lives.

Under Construction

Under Construction: New Blog Theme for Attempts at Honesty

Attempts at Honesty is under construction as we customize the installation of our Pagelines theme. The colors, graphics and fonts will be changing over the next few weeks as I learn more about Pagelines.

Feedback is scary – but you need it

This is a repost of an article at theresurgence.com. Every leader should develop a culture that encourages feedback. Feedback is essential in eliminating blind spots and making sure that you are achieving the goal.

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
June 2023
SMTWTFS
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930 
« May    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2023 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in