Discipleship: A Biblical Overview

Christian Education and Church Growth in Nigeria , 2020

Old Testament is practically relevant to the church age. The practicality and the contextual concepts in the Old Testament, among other things, make it relevant from ages past. One of the dominant concepts in the Old Testament that has practical bearing on the church today is youth discipleship. Although the word "discipleship" does not occur in the Old Testament, its ideological underpinning is pervasive. Some institutions were established in Judaism to enhance discipleship and that is why this paper approaches the necessity of youth discipleship from Old Testament perspective. Discipleship is cardinal to church growth. There is no church that can grow and be successful in the task of the Great Commission without discipleship generally and youth discipleship particularly. There have been scholarly effort on Christian discipleship and its implications on church growth but much attention has not been paid to discipleship in the Old Testament and those who have partially echoed youth discipleship in the Old Testament has not paid enough attention to 'generation gap' that hampers such effort and this is the lacuna to be filled. This paper pays keen attention to the significant of youth discipleship from Old Testament perspective and how that understanding can help to promote church growth today. The task of making disciples that Jesus gives to the church must not be downplayed if the church wants to fulfill her task and maintain her relevance. This paper adopts analytical method and uses David Blomgren theory of Team Ministry to guide it through.

E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies

Many have come to associate discipleship process in the church with Bible studies. As such, preachers pay little attention to disciple-making in their delivery with the assumption that preaching time is not the time to build up disciples. Some preachers are also affected by postmodernism, capitalism, and secularization-individualism and as such want to project themselves only and think about what they can get. They forget that biblical leadership is about building others and developing other people’s faith in Jesus Christ so that they grow to maturity. Preachers who do not see the need to build others and overlook committing the word to them cannot be ideal leaders of the church. Bearing in mind that the key role of the pastor is preaching, this paper emphasizes the role of the preacher in disciple-making. It argues that for effective disciple-making, the preacher must intentionally aim at committing the message to others who have the capacity to teach others too in order to have a ...

This paper follows on the Great Commission in the 4 Gospels, Church Health Not Church Growth, and the 9 Areas of Discipleship. It defines discipleship and disciple-making as taught in the Bible. It presents the life-to-life nature of this process that requires mutually trusting and trustworthy relationship in Christ and the leading and enabling of the Holy Spirit.

2020

I would like to dedicate this thesis to my late parents, Mr. Ronald and Mrs. Janice Yancy, who led me to accept Jesus Christ as a child and instilled love, faith, Christian values, and a desire for education. I would also like to acknowledge my sister, Ms. Courtney Yancy, for her encouragement throughout my lifetime, prayers, and support during my doctoral studies. Thank you to two of my aunts, Dr. Barbara J. Yancy-Tooks and Dr. April D. Yancy, DVM, for their support and motivation throughout my doctoral studies. A special thank you goes to my first pastor, Rev. Dr. Walter L. Kimbrough and his wife, Soror Marjorie L. Kimbrough for encouraging me to begin my doctoral studies. Special thanks to my current pastor, Rev. Dr. Craig L. Oliver, Sr. for his support during my data collection period.

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

According to the Gospel of Matthew, disciplemaking seems to be the signature mark of faithful disciples of Jesus the Christ (cf. Mt 28:18–20). Van Aarde refers to this, with reference to Von Harnack and Lohmeyer as the manifesto of the church, being on the same level of meaning as Deuteronomy 6 in the Old Testament. It may be fair to say that this ‘natural’ way of being and doing was in more than one way exchanged for evangelism practices that did nothing to show forth that following the Christ is a better or best way of living life, here already, to its fullest. These practices even reflected negatively on disciplemaking as such. A personal conviction is that ‘discipling’ may even be one of the missing links in the so-called missional conversation. This article will reflect on current theory on discipling and the natural necessity thereof. It will also draw upon findings in empirical research conducted by the National Church Life Surveys during 2014 in South Africa that may give an...

2022

Kairos - Evangelical Journal of Theology, 2020

The usage of the terms "disciple" and "discipleship" are very common among Evangelical Christians and the meanings of these terms seem self-evident. However, although these circles adopted such language, it was already present in the Jewish culture of Jesus' time. The purpose and the goal of this article is to analyze the concept of discipleship in its original context and see how much the meaning of this term is removed from the meaning that this term has today. This topic we will address in two parts. In the first part, we studied the Old Testament (OT) roots of discipleship and the Jewish educational system in Jesus' time and analyzed whether Jesus himself, and in what measure, passed through that Jewish educational system and how and in what ways he used this model in the discipleship process of his disciples. In this part of the article, we will address the practice of discipleship in the first Church, and after that offer some guidelines on how to apply Jesus' concept of discipleship in the Church today. The key focus of this article is the problematic of applying principles of disci-pleship that were present in the context of Jewish culture, on the Church today , since our analysis reveals that understanding of discipleship today does not correspond entirely to the understanding of that concept in Jesus' time. Although discipleship then and now contained passing on information, it was

Kairos, 2019

The usage of the terms "disciple" and "discipleship" are very common among evangelical Christians and meanings of these terms seem self-evident. However , although these circles adopted such language, it was already present in the Jewish culture of Jesus' time. The purpose and the goal of this article is to analyze the concept of discipleship in its original context and see how much the meaning of this term is removed from the meaning that this term has today. This topic we will address in two parts. In the first chapter, we will study the Old Testament (OT) roots of discipleship, and in the second chapter, the Jewish educational system in Jesus' time. In the third chapter, we will analyze whether Jesus himself, and in what measure, passed through that Jewish educational system, and how and in what ways he used this model in the discipleship process of his disciples. In the second part of the article, we will address the practice of discipleship in the first Church, and after that offer some guidelines on how to apply Jesus' concept of discipleship in the Church today. The key focus of this article is the problematic of applying principles of disci-pleship that were present in the context of Jewish culture, on the Church today , since our analysis reveals that understanding of discipleship today does not correspond entirely to the understanding of that concept in Jesus' time.

More than Disciples: Believers in Christ as Priests and Temples, 2022

The objective of this essay is the assertion that the end goal of engaging in the making of Jesus disciples carries forward the mission of Jesus to bring about the restoration of God’s reigning presence in the world. That this goal is taught throughout the canon of scripture, and that it requires the disciple to learn to function as a priest (1 Peter 2:9; Romans 15:16; Revelation 1:6; 5:10) in building the spiritual temple (1 Peter 2:4-8; Ephesians 2:19-22: 1 Corinthians 3:16,17; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16) and engaging in sacrificial activities (Romans 12:1,2; Hebrews 13:15). This priestly-temple ministry must be taught to new believers in Jesus so that they may fulfill God’s mission to the world begun in Genesis 1:26-28.