On this basis God gives rebirth and necessary gifts to him for ministry through the Holy Spirit (Cho 1985, 69). The divine call involved the gifts of God necessary to ministry (1 Cor. 12:8-11; 12:28-30). "The church ratifies God's call and gifts by conferring its authority on the individual" said James F. White (White 1976, 54). The gifts given by God are to be used to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ (Harbaugh 1990, 88).
To be a good disciple he must follow Jesus without waiting to be called, but the would-be disciple wants to have his initiative rather than that of Jesus Christ. The would-be disciple wants to bury his father before he starts to follow Jesus (Matt. 8:21; Bonhoeffer 1961, 65).
In the human realm, the man who always obeys God in everything qualifies. C. Peter Wagner stated the qualifications for serving God as follows: (1) people who know God, (2) people filled with the Holy Spirit, (3) people of prayer, (4) people committed to the body of Christ, (5) people obedient to the Lord, and (6) people who are energetic and creative (Wagner 1987, 20-23).
Going back to the Bible, the qualifications of discipleship, like apostleship, have been found in Act. 6:3, and of discipleship, like stewardship, in 1 Tim. 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9 from the human perspective. The people (disciples) called by God must love the Lord and teach God's commandments to their children (Deut. 6:4-9).
The gospel shows the way of discipleship: "A man named Simon of Cyrene was coming in from the fields, and they pressed him into service to carry the cross" (Mark 15:21). "This image of Simon of Cyrene forced to carry Jesus' cross is also an image of one who is called to follow Christ in discipleship," said Cornwell (Cornwell 1989, 109). Accordingly, the way of discipleship is the way of the cross, and the way of discipleship has been shown in the Gospel of Luke:
Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very
self, take up his cross each day and follow in my steps. Whoever saves his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:23-24)
The sacred question and answer issue between Christ and Peter in the New Testament may become a good swearing-in ceremony or inarguration of discipleship:
A third time Jesus asked him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because he had asked him a third time, "Do you love me?" So he said to him, "Lord, you know everything. You know well that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep." (John 21:17)
Discipling the Laity for Disciple Making
This section is the most important part of the second chapter because the methodology of making disciples will be dealt with in this section. God has used men as effective instruments for the purpose of winning the world. God can use anyone who wants to be used; however, only the one that has been called and changed by God can be used. For this point Dr. Bille Hanks Jr. wrote:
One cannot transform a world unless individuals in the world are transformed, and individuals cannot be changed unless they are molded in the hands of the Master." (Hanks and Shell 1993, 41)
God has trained many people for His work to win the world. In the history of church growth the question can be asked "can discipling be done successfully in the local church, or it is something that only parachurch groups can do well?" In answer to these questions, Billie Hanks Jr. has firm conviction that it is quite possible to do so not only in parachurch groups but in the local church.
Billie Hanks's whole ministry at present is tied to his firm conviction that disciple making can be carried on successfully in the local church. Furthermore, pastors and key lay leaders can be trained to have a multiplying ministry of discipleship in their churches. Hanks firmly believes that the potential of multiplication evangelism and the dynamic of the one-on- one discipling relationship "are rooted historically in the local church." (Hanks and Shell 1981, 94)
A one-statement description of the term "discipling" is not given in just one passage of the Scriptures, however, it can be understood as meaning training the people selected by God for His work to spread the gospel throughout the world. To make disciples--a process that involves evangelism and Christian education is the Great Commission that Jesus gave to believers (Collins 1988, 569).
Discipling, by C. Peter Wagner, means bringing people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He regards discipling as one of the two stages of Christianization, so called discipling-perfecting. The two stages are discipling which means bringing a person or group to commitment to Christ and perfecting which means to nuture them in their faith and bring about ethical change (Wagner 1989, 288). He distinguishes the raw material of making disciples in the Great Commission sense from that of modern "disciple making." This is about Christians; that is about unbelievers. He says,
The raw material of making disciples in the Great Commission sense is unbielvers who need to commit their lives to Christ for the first time. The raw material of mordern "disciple making" is Christians who need to be helped along the continuing road of Christian discipleship. (Wagner 1987, 52-53)
John H. Yoder regarded "discipling" as contrasting with "perfecting" (Shenk 1973, 32). Donald A. McGavran broke it down into three separate categories that he called D1, D2, and D3. D1 is the original meaning "turning of non-Christian to Christ." D2 signifies a meaning of discipling, "turning of any individual from non-faith to faith in Christ," and D3 means "teaching an existing Christian" (Wagner 1981, 132).
But the writer thinks that discipling means to make disciples through teaching and training (Webster 1971, I-644). To make disciples (Christians) through the discipling process, therefore, two stages are needed: evangelizing and teaching to observe (obey, NIV) all things whatsoever Jesus has commanded them (KJV) because Jesus has said "baptizing them...teaching them" (Matt. 28:19-20).
Through the first stage the right of the children of God will be given to the people (John 1:12), and then they will be nutured in their faith and brought on to ethical change through the second stage (Eph. 4:13). Of course, the first stage must be accomplished at once, while the second stage can be gradually attained to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13). These cannot be separated from each other. In any case, there is no doubt that discipling is one of the most strategic ways to have unlimited personal ministry (Moore 1981, 31).
To succeed in making disciples, first of all the pastor must believe that the philosophy of discipling ministry is to use the laypeople for the most part. The rediscovery of the laity is more significant in the work and management of the church than the clergy (Dobbins 1960, 61).
The starting point of the discipling ministry is to have a vision. Phillip King has insisted that many Old Testament leaders such as Moses (Ex.3:1-12), Isaiah (Isa. 6:1-13), and Jeremiah (Jer. 1:11-19) were fired up for their task through being given a vision (King 1987, 137).
In fact, a ministry is to its vision what a ship is to its key, therefore, the ministry cannot take its direction and its goal unless it has its vision. The pastor must show the vivid vision to his people and identify his vision with them. According to the vision, the pastor must share his ministry with his laypeople.
The major problem in many chronically small churches is, however, that the pastor just does not trust his laypeople for fear of failing in his ministry (Maner 1982, 65). He actually cannot, therefore, do anything because he hesitates to do this. The pastor must trust his laypeople and their gifts which are given by God through the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4-11; 27-31; Eph. 4:7).
Discipling ministry is that of laypeople-centered rather than that of pastor-centered. Hollis L. Green has pointed out that most local congregations have a wrong "sheepfold mentality." He wrote as follows:
Most local congregations have developed an "active pastor-passive sheep" structure that complicates the whole work of evangelism. Converts believe they are saved to be served rather than to become servants of the Lord...This prevailing concept of the local church must be transformed. (Green 1972, 186)
To succeed, especially in modern ministry, the pastor may switch the active pastor-passive sheep structure to the pastor and laypeople-coworker structure.
Then the pastor must motivate and train his people for the purpose of making disciples. When the pastor makes disciples, he will be able to effectually carry on his ministry. The pastoral team, namely lay-leaders made by the pastor, must be able to assist the pastor in ministry. They can help him: (1) to bring others (evangelizing), (2) to care for the people (carrying), (3) to encourage the members (motivating), (4) to take part in the activities (mobilizing), (5) to teach and train the laity (making disciples) (the General Synod Board of Education under the chairmanship of the Bishop of Oxford 1985, 56).
To succeed in making disciples the pastor must set his principles and methods on the biblical foundation. The first hint of the Great Commission, "Make disciples," has been revealed in Gen. 1:27-28. This is not only a "Cultural Mandate" but also the "Evangelistic Mandate" (Matt. 28:19-20) because it is no doubt possible to analogize the concept of the "Evangelical Mandate" out of that of "Cultural Mandate." (Conn 1976, 1, 2). Direct examples are shown in the cases of Moses-Joshua, Elijah-Elisha, and so on. In the New Testament it is clearly confirmed by Matthew 28:19-20 that Jesus Christ has personally spoken to His disciples giving His command to "make disciples." The direct examples are shown in the case of Jesus-twelve disciples, Paul-Timothy, and so on.
How then did Jesus make his disciples? First, He chose the candidates for his disciples out of the fishermen (Matt. 4:18-22) or the tax collectors (Matt. 9:9). It is very significant that He chose the foolish, the weak, and the lowly of the world so that no one could boast before him (1 Cor. 1:27-29). Of course, none had been missed. Second, He told them to "Follow me" (Matt. 9:9).
Third, He taught them about their lives and the kingdom of God living within them. Fourth, He trained them to work for the kingdom of God by walking with them. Lastly, He commanded "Go and make disciples" (Matt. 28:19). His method of disciple making is crystal clear in these references (Arnold 1992, 15).
To succeed in making disciples the pastor has to make an effective plan as the first stage of preparation. "An appropriate planning multiplies efficiency when the actual work begins" said C. Peter Wagner (Wagner 1990, 43). He said again, "If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail" (Wagner 1990, 43). Planning can be made through two ways according to the goal of church growth: short-range and long-range. One may be focused on individual growth and the future potentiality for church growth, the other on the leadership needs for church growth in the future (Huber 1975, 17). If the decision of an effective plan for church growth is made, the pastor should schedule to carry on the plan in order.
The first stage is a "goal setting." If the pastor does not have any goals for church growth, he will be aiming at nothing. If the goals are clear and if the pastor has agreed that evangelism needs to be geared toward making disciples, not just decisions, then the methods are almost up for grabs (Wagner 1977, 63). The pastor must note that he is identifying goals for the congregation first, and secondarily he is suggesting these as goals for the individual Christian (Evans 1977, 26). Only the goals in accordance with a vision can give the direction of the growth of the church. In the goal of church growth, two aspects must be considered.
The first goal of the discipling ministry is to make people disciples in which Christ is formed (Gal. 4:19; Col. 1:28) because one who has not been discipled cannot train people. In Col. 1:28, Paul says, "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ." This is for the people of the church who are mature. It may be called "spiritual formation" (Clemmons and Hester 1974, 61). Gary W. Kuhne called this goal "life transference" (Kuhne 1978, 33).
The second goal of discipling ministry is to multiply
disciples for church growth. Who is to be a multiplier? Of course, he is the only one that has been qualified as a disciple through the process of the first goal, "life transference" (2 Tim. 2:2). What, then, is a multiplier? A multiplier is a person who is committed to the task of reproducing his life in someone else who in turn will reproduce himself in a third spiritual generation (Hadidian 1979, 37; Kuhne 1978, 16).
One disciple must have the responsibility to make his disciple for the purpose of multiplication of the church membership. The production of multiplying disciples is the only way to effectively fulfill the Great Commission, and multiplying disciples are best produced through discipleship training (Kuhne 1978, 16).
Gary W. Kuhne has classified the multiplication into four phases in order: (1) evangelism, (2) personal follow-up, (3) discipling the new Christian, and (4) producing other disciples (Kuhne 1978, 17-18). Through these phases he has suggested drawing up a six-year multiplication plan step by step (Kuhne 1978, 18-19). The writer would like to suggest that the goals for the growth of church may be set in three areas: church membership, spiritual maturity, and financial increase.
The first area: membership multiplication, can be achieved through multiplying disciples by making disciples. In the first step, discipler (pastor) can make one disciple or more. If a pastor can make, for example, five disciples in the first generation, the five will be multiplied into ten in the second generation, and the ten into twenty in the third generation. In this case "the pastor" is the first generation, "the pastor's disciples" are the second generation, and the pastor's disciples' disciples are the third generation (Hadidian 1979, 38).
This pattern has been found in the Scripture Tim. 2:2, as a pattern: Paul-Timothy-faithful men-others. Other examples have been shown in the principles of the Bible: Paul, Silvanus and Timothy-the Thessalonians-believers in Macedonia and Achaia, and Jesus-disciples-Philip-Ethiopian eunuch-African (Hadidian 1979, 38-40).
The second area, spiritual maturity, can be attained through teaching and training. This can be attained through the Bible study (2 Tim. 3:14-17) and spiritual exercises such as prayer and praise to God (Luke 22:32, 40; Act. 8:22; Ps. 33:1). R. C. Sproul has written:
Prayer is the secret of holiness, if holiness, indeed, has anything secretive about it. If we examine the lives of the great saints of the church, we found that they were great people of prayer...The neglect ofprayer is a major cause of stagnation in the Christian
life. (Sproul 1986, 21, 22)
Roger A. Swenson suggests a priority of prayer:
To be sure, prayer must precede any attempt to rebuild trust, but we must be prudent in our objectives. There is nothing wrong in asking God to open the heart of another, to make him more understanding, to lead him to tolerance. (Swenson 1991, 165)
The third area, financial increase, can be attained through the membership increase and maturity. First of all, the finances cannot help but increase when the membership increases and matures. The more membership increases, the more the finances increase. It is a matter of common knowledge. Furthermore, maturity of the members accelerates the financial increase. The Christian in maturity, therefore, should be conscious of his giving relationship because that is the responsibility of the man who is "born again," in whom the Spirit moves and has full course (Ward 1958, 9).
Basically the man who is born again recognizes that human possessions belong to God, not himself (Kim 1985, 61). Accordingly, giving can be used to enhance relaionships with God and bless humankind. The grace of giving is often a tremendous stimulant to the life of faith (Forster 1985, 42). Edward J. Hales insisted that the giving life has an effect on other areas of our spiritual lives (Hales and Youngren 1981, 51). The quantitative and qualitative growth of the church must guarantee the financial abundance of the church. Therefore, the financial goal must be set in the ground of quantitative and qualitative growth.
The second stage is involving members. If the church members do not get involved in the church activities, the pastor cannot carry on making disciples for church growth. He cannot even start his disciple making program.
Why, then, do the laypeople not get involved in church activities? The writer thinks that this issue may be considered from two aspects: pastor and laypeople.
First of all, surprising to many, is that some pastors do not want extensive numbers of laypersons involved in ministry (Habecker 1990, 138). The problem is that many pastors have regarded laypeople as ignorant. Of course, they cannot know as much as the pastor about ministry, but their gifts given by God must not be underestimated.
Another problem is that the pastors do not trust the laypeople to be involved in their ministry, but the pastors must trust the laypeople and make them be involved in the ministry because they are also the royal priesthood of the people belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9), and have different gifts for ministry to the church (1 Cor. 12:28-30). Marlene Wilson explained a theology of the priesthood of all believers as follows:
Christ has declared that all believers constitute this royal priesthood. From the earliest tradition of the Old Testament, some of the priests have been called out (ordained) to perform certain special functions... but 99 percent of the priesthood is unordained laity. Ministry is the work of the whole priesthood. (Wilson
1983, 15)
In addition, it must be considered that the laypeople may become good leaders through training by the competent pastor or leader.
Secondly, from the viewpoint of the laypeople, they also have a tendency to be indifferent as well as underestimate their gifts given by God. Therefore, they do not get involved in the ministry. This is a crucial problem. They think that the ministry belongs only to the pastor. Pastors also think that the ministry belongs only to them likewise. Such an idee fixe or preconception must be broken as soon as possible. As long as there are these misconceptions, the church cannot grow.
Eugene B. Habecker suggests the following ways for the laypeople involvement: (1) the pastor must be willing to release laypeople for ministry, (2) the pastoral staff must encourage lay involvement, (3) the pastoral staff must present to laypeople the vision of gathering and scattering church, (4) the pastoral staff needs to think about diversified ministry defined, managed, and operated by laypeople, and (5) we ought to be involing laypersons more extensively (Habecker 1990, 140-143).
To involve the laypeople, the pastor has to first, choose the disciples to be qualified as God chose Noah to build the ark, Abraham to be the seed of chosen people, Moses to build and liberate the nation, and Israel and the twelve to carry the message of the kingdom of God. This is the first step of involvement: selecting. Faithful men were Christ's method (Hull 1988, 147).
Not quantity but quality must be the criterion of the selection in spite of the fact that Jesus wanted many people to be saved. Jesus' means of reaching the multitude (quantity) was the close relationship (quality) with a few (Hadidian 1979, 81). Jesus began with twelve, but it is possible to begin with only one person, or maybe three, or maybe five, or maybe seven, and or maybe twelve such as Jesus did. He established the building of disciples like a pyramid (Wilson 1981, 67).
It is important that the pastor finds the disciples on whom God's favor rests. Therefore, the pastor must not be hasty in selecting his disciples, and he must pray to find the faithful men given by God as Jesus did (Eims 1978, 29; John 17:6, 9). In selection, the pastor also must not be indifferent to the qualities in disciples such as inborn dispositions and talents which are not ability but potential. Of course, these qualities are found by the will of God.
Qualities in disciples may be considered as follows: consecrated status (Christian), appropriate disposition (gentle, humble, and courageous), good personality (faithfulness), positive attitude (enthusiasm), their level (education), and so on. Nothing is more important than their sense of dedication to the Great Commission.
The second step of involvement is calling. This is not out of the world (unbelievers), but out of the church (believers). Evangelism aims at the world (unbelievers) to believe in Jesus Christ and to be saved, while discipleship at the believers to be disciples. This calling is a vocation not only for disciples but for disciplers. They are called as the lights and light-givers in Christ to the world (Matt. 5:14). On this point Ralph D. Bucy wrote:
This "calling," let it be emphasized, is not "out of the world" but out of the spiritual and moral darkness which envelopes the world. It is a "calling" into the spiritual and moral light which is given to the world in Jesus Christ ("I am the light of the world," John 9:5), and which his disciples are to reflect in the world ("You are the light of the world," Matt. 5:14). (Bucy 1978, 23)
The object of calling is all believers (Ayres 1952, 34). Each member must recognize that they stand under God's call and should respond to the call. The call of God is indeed individualized and particularized in concrete task, which is the gift and task of the whole people of God (Bucy 1978, 24). Before calling, the pastor must pray to God for the authority of calling and to move the laypeople. Whoever is Christian must recognize that Jesus Christ is calling men today to be His disciples. An application may be used for the calling. The calling may be carried out both individually and publically (1 Cor. 7:17, 20-24).
The third step of involvement is participating in the life of a congregation. The people called as disciples must be upheld in Christian living through their participation in the worship, fellowship, and mission of a local church congregation (The Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church 1990, 125), while in the discipleship training program. They must not only become mature themselves but also give themselves on behalf of others.
The first successful disciple making absolutely depends upon whether the people called participate in the program or not. Participation is crucially important in making disciples for church growth. To make them participate in the disciple making program for church growth, the pastor must show his vision and inspire, stimulate, excite, and encourage them. By doing so the pastor will motivate them to take part in the program for church growth.
The fourth step of involvement is baptizing. Of course, this may depend upon only the ordained pastor because only the pastor can baptize the people who confess Jesus Christ as their Savior in most denominations. The baptizing is necessary and clearly subordinated to make disciples (Shenk 1983, 230). Jesus commanded "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19). Of course, unbaptized people may participate in the disciple making program, but it is advisable that only the baptized persons take part in the program because of Jesus' command (Matt. 28:19) and the order of the church. If the unbaptized people have been called in an unavoidable case, the pastor may teach the Christian doctrines and baptize them for having taken part in the program. The fifth step of involvement is assimilating. This is the first step for teaching and training courses. There are people who have a very strong commitment to Jesus Christ but are not involved in the life of church activities (Schaller 1989, 78). Assimilation into the body of Christ is an important aspect of a person's own growth and the ultimate fulfillment of the Great Commission (Wagner 1989, 123). It is usually not difficult to join a church, but it is difficult to take part in church activities because a large percentage of the church members do not feel a sense of really belonging to their congregation.
Jerry McKinney did contribute much to the discipleship by teaching churches how to measure and monitor an ongoing process of assimilation (Hanks and Shell 1993, 80). He has suggested that a high percentage left because they never really felt they were a part of the fellowship (Hanks and Shell 1993, 81). It is clear that assimilating is difficult without positive contact to invite them into the church fellowship. Of course, prior to this they must be satisfied with spiritual needs in the Holy Spirit (Act. 2:42, 46) and physical needs in fellowship love (Act. 2:44, 45).
The most important thing in assimilation is to cultivate a sense of belonging to the church in them. In so doing they must be invited to the fellowship of the church. Also, the invitation must come from the active members of the church. The face-to-face contact of the members is more effective (Schaller 1983, 20). For examples, Andrew contacted Peter (John 1:41), and Philip contacted Nathanael (John 1:43), and the Samaritan woman contacted the people of the town (John 4:28, 29).
After this invitation to the fellowship, they must be filled with spiritual satisfaction and close friendship in warm love, and then must be organized into a disciple making group in order to be thaught and trained as disciples. Without this assimilation process, church members tend to settle into the role of mere spectators. The process of assimilation is not completed until a member has been fully integrated into the body and is actively participating in ministry to others (Hanks and Shell 1993, 90). Therefore, the pastors need to make constant efforts to achieve assimilation.
The sixth step of involving is managing. Management is crucially important because it combines the power of ministry to the members of the church. Anthony D'Souza said that management experts have linked dynamics with group and the combination has taken on a special meaning (D'Souza 1986b, 1). No matter how well the groups may be organized, the pastor cannot have the power for ministry without good managerial skills (D'Souza 1985, 1).
There are several sorts of management such as people, program, institution, and time management. Of these, people management is the most important. It is more important than program management because the programs exist for people, not vice versa (Young 1989, 81). The disciple making must be people centered, not program centered because the pastor must develop a ministry to solve problems rather than expecting people to force their problems into his mold (Barna 1990, 24). In other words, the first success in making disciples absolutely depends upon people management. Without it, nothing will go. Other managements must be followed by people management. This people management must come before those.
Time management is secondly important for disciple making. According to Terry C. Muke, an effective ministry demands time, creativity, patience, and effort (Shelly 1985, 9). The writer knew from his experience of making disciples how important time management is. When a discipler fails to control the time of processing program, his intended goal is apt to deviate. For example, because of having one-sided time for the Bible study, spiritual (prayer and praise) and practical training (evangelism and service) can not be carried out as planned.
Time is given to everyone equally in the world; all people have the same amount. There is not any more to have (Keating 1982, 116). Therefore the one that wants to succeed must not waste the time equally given by God. In other words, using the quality time really makes the pastor effective in working for the church (Dayton 1975, 135). Someone who was effective once said, "success is ninety percent time management" (George and Logan 1982, 40). In fact, time is the life (of the soul) in the sense that it is irreversible and irreplaceable, and to waste the time is, therefore, to waste the life. For the life of the creatures was created along with the time by God in the begining (Lakein 1974, 11, 21). Anthony D'Souza wrote:
Although all people have different talents, skills and personalities, each has exactly the same amount of time. Effective leaders know the importance of learning to use that time wisely. (D'Souza 1986a, 86)
Paul also emphasized the importance of time in the Christian life. In Ephesians 5:16 "making the most of every opportunity" may be translated into "redeeming the time" (KJV). It presents the inportance of time in the Christian life. Of course, the basic principle for effective time management is to focus on doing the will of God (George and Logan 1982, 41).
Next in importance is programing. A program to develop the laypeople in the church is one of the greatest need of the 20th-century church as Winkie Pratney said (Pratney 1983, 15). It also is so important for disciple making because it involves the content and proccess of making disciples. This subject will be dealt with again in the stage of teaching and training.
In addition, other managements can be considered such as financial, facilitiy, and so on.
The third stage is organization. It is needed to preserve and carry on the program of disciple making. Without it, the program will fail. Organization does not mean the hierarchical system for the clergy of the church. This means the institutes for the disciple making program as a part of church activities.
It may be classified into three grades: a class for making disciples, a class for making disciplers, and a class for making discipler's teachers. Yoedo Full Gospel Central Church in Seoul, Korea has the Educational Institute for the purpose of training the lay leaders (Cho, Yong W. 1985a, 34). Nevertheless growing churchs are more concerned with people than the preservation of institutions because the church does not need people. People need the church (Easum 1990, 24).
In this project the writer has named the class for making disciples Disciple College, the class for making disciplers Disciple Graduate School, and the class for making discipler's teachers Disciple Seminary. The students of the Disciple College should be trained to be the disciples, the students of the Disciple Graduate School to be disciplers, and the students of the Disciple Seminary to be discipler's teachers.
In this aspect, the church is a school house for training of Christians. One theologian, therefore, identifies this church as "lay seminary" (Baumann 1976, 45). Of course, such institutions can be organized in different ways according to the pastor's idea of the local church.
Nevertheless it must have a basic small size group because it is different from some kind of Bible study. Tom Raabe insists that it is nearly inconceivable for a growing church not to employ a small-group structure of some type (Raabe 1991, 125). "The recent emphasis on 'small is beautiful' notwithstanding, American culture places great store on growth, and churches have not escaped this adulation of size" said David R. Ray (Ray 1982, vii). This is also true in Korean churches.
To succeed in making disciples the pastor must be very concerned about teaching, training, and transforming the laypeople. Those are the most important because those are the practical fields of disciple making. No matter how good the preparation for the disciple making may be, it is of no use unless the practice of the disciple making succeeds in the local church.
It is very important for the pastor of the local church to activate the laypeople for disciple making. C. Peter Wagner says as follows:
Pastors of growing churches, whether they be large or small, know how to motivate their laypeople, how to create sturctures which permit them to be active and productive and how to guide them into meaningful avenues of Christian service...This is due to what I like to call the "laymen's lib" movement. (Wagner 1977, 69)
The motivation of the disciples is evident from the Gospel records (Luke 9:57; 14:25-33). Only one promise is recorded as having been upheld before the disciples: "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matt. 4:18-22). Their motivation seemed simply to be personal relationships. It was transmuted after Pentecost. After this the great truths such as the salvation of humanity, the risen Lord, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the return of the Lord seemed to fill their minds and to be their motivating power (Peters 1981, 120).
It is very important for the pastor to be motivated before he can motivate others. Lasting motivation comes from within (Tillapaugh 1982, 131; McDonough 1979, 72, 78). Unless the pastor is motivated, he can not motivate other people. The reason many pastors have failed to motivate others is that they lack the required self-motivation. Robert E. Maner says:
We must be motivated before we can motivated others. If we are nor turned on, we will never make it happen to others...We will never make disciples out of bench- warming church members until we get excited about it.
(Maner 1982, 67)
And he also suggests the nine ways of motivating the disciples: (1) by an unconditional love, (2) by encouraging the disciple, (3) by challenging the disciple to greater faith, (4) by conveying enthusiasm, (5) by a consistent walk, (6) by seeing the potential of the disciple, (7) by emphasizing practical training, (8) by praying for the disciple, and (9) by getting your disciples into the Bible (Hadidian 1979, 141-158). These are very good ways for the motivation of the disciples. Reginald M. McDonough suggests four keys to effective motivation: (1) stability, (2) teamwork, (3) affirmation, (4) challenge (McDonough 1979, 79, 80).
At any rate, the pastor is responsible for creating an atmosphere of the motivational climate for the disciple making in the congregation. Especially, a "we" atmosphere is an important motivational feature in a healthy congregation. Motivation is serious business for the church (Dale 1989, 97).
Also, the pastor must have experience in learning and training before he teaches and trains other people. Paul says in Romans, "You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself" (Rom. 2:21).
In a sense, teaching and training are different from each other. One gives theoretical knowledge, and the other practices practical behavior. These must not be confused with each other. Billie Hanks analyzes this.
Many of the church's evangelistic failures of the past have resulted from attempting to impart through teaching those skill which were designed by God to be instilled in one's spiritual life through training. (Hanks and Shell 1981, 95; Ibid. 1981, 93)
As a matter of fact, the work of making disciples has need of three processes in building up their Christian living: teaching, training, and tranforming. Teaching involves knowledge and principles. Training involves practical skill. Transforming involves conviction and perspective as the results of these. These three processes do not necessarily build on each other, nor are they exclusive of each other because training includes teaching, and the transforming process takes place in teaching (Hadidian 1979, 92). Those are necessary for a pastor to make disciples.
Teaching is, in general order, the first stage in spite of the fact that training includes it, and the transforming
process takes place in it. Teaching in disciple making requires the transmission of ideas and concepts. Typically words as an instrument of teaching are used to convey his thoughts, and he needs little else to get his point across. In this sense the Lord's illustrations and parables are beyond equal (Hanks and Shell 1981, 96). "Teaching" in the first Gospel is always to be distinguished from both "preaching" and "making disciples" (Shenk 1983, 233). In making disciples people should be taught "to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:20).
The discipler should teach his people to only observe all that Jesus has commanded him. Nevertheless, there is an indissoluble connection between "teaching" and "preaching" because preaching is but another form of teaching (Rein 1962, 49). In fact, lively teaching of the Christian faith will reinforce preaching (Williamson and Allen 1991, 47).
How then can the teaching program begin? The writer suggests two methods. One is an educational system, and the other is Bible study for making disciples.
First of all, class units may be small size. For example,three to five may be in a class. This is not a Bible study but a disciple making group. In disciple making, teaching is very different from the teaching in a simple Bible study. That is a simple communication of the knowledge of the Bible that is taught to transform personality from person to person. Of course, it may begin with the maximumn 12 people as Jesus did, but Jesus did it for three years. John C. Maxwell suggests "Don't start with the whole country. Start with a friend" (Maxwell 1985, 104). If possible, it may be small size, namely three to five whose group is the basic group size of the Body of Christ (Ott 1989, 132) because the period of training must be short.
A text cannot have absolute control of the disciple making process even though it is important. Of course, the better it is, the more it is effective in the program. Jesus and His disciples knew their text book. More important are the ways and skills of teaching. The text, especially, must contain the contents of the Gospel of which its protagonist is Jesus Christ. In Jesus' method, its contents did contain the words of God, Himself, and the experiences of His disciples (Ok 1984, 173).
Teaching must deliver not only the knowledge of Jesus Christ but also His personality and life, and it must be on the revelation of God. In this sense, a study of the life of Jesus, therefore, indicates there are three ways to teach: information, formation, and revelation (Ortiz 1975, 68). In conclusion, the teaching must be on the education of one's whole personality: one's thought, one's words, and one's deeds. To focus on Jesus is not a mere act of piety but takes seriously the example Christ set for believers (Buzzard and Eck 1983, 52).
Who should teach them? Of course, the pastors at first should teach them. The Bible says "you are to teach them" (Matt 28:20). The "you" in this verse must be the apostles for the pastors of today, and then his disciples who were taught by them can teach other people. "Unless we do more than teach our people, will never really fulfill the Great Commision. We must make disciples out of them," said Robert E. Maner (Maner 1982, 65).
Where should one teach? There is no limit to the places for teaching. There can be church facilities, business offices, house rooms, and so on. It is good for the place to create great atmosphere for teaching. Of course, the things such as distance from the members, a convenient time, and inclination of the members may be considered. Moreover, the world (field) may be their classroom like the ancient pattern of teaching (Hian 1987, 48).
How then should one teach? First of all, teaching must take place with the blessings of the Holy Spirit. Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is, therefore, crucial in Christian teaching (Education Board of Discipleship the United Methodist Church 1979, 71). The Bible says, " But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you" (John 14:26), and "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13).
Human wisdom and efforts must be requested from God, however, for teaching. God already gave some necessary gifts and talents to the people, especially His children
(Matt. 25:14-30). C. Peter Wagner says:
The gifts of teaching is the special ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to communicate information relevant to the health and ministry of the Body and its members in such a way that others will learn. (Wagner 1979, 127)
Therefore, the people have to do their best for the glory of God. They have to teach all that Jesus commanded using their talents, wisdom, knowledge, and ability under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Next, the Bible study is the best way of church growth because church growth must be biblical, based on principles from God's Word (Hunter 1985, 108). How then should we lead the Bible study for making disciples? This is vitally important for making disciples because it is not a simple study of the biblical knowledge, but of the personality and work of Jesus Christ.
In fact, the knowledge apart from application falls short of God's desire for His children. Knowledge must result in change and growth (Swindoll 1988, 9). This Bible study, therefore, must be very different from an ordinary study of the Bible. Its study must not be a simple reading and writing. Its program must involve pious and practical training for the people.
In the classroom, the practice of godliness such as reading and writing the Bible, meditating, praying, prasing, and relationship will be exercised, while the practical trainings such as evangelism and services for the people will be carried out in the field. Growth in personal depth may depend on a deepening of a daily encounter with God through prayer and meditation (Clemons and Hester 1974, 61). Spiritual ministry furthermore must begin with prayer and be carried on in the spirit of prayer (Stube 1982, 73).
In the classroom the knowledge of the Bible can be gained through reading and writing. Rev. Soon Hwa Hong suggested a concentration on what to know, what to recognize, what to feel, and what to do (Hong 1983, 11). Meditation gives a quiet time to be able to communicate with God. Many gifts and much grace of blessing will be given by God through praying in the name of Jesus Christ. Especially, intercessory prayer can be a real experience of spiritual growth and commitment (Kemp 1974, 39). God will gain glory through praising. As putting a little water into the pump system causes the mechanism to pump up the deep waters of the earth, praise causes one's praise to want to come forth (Dargatz 1991, 40), and the relationship between the people will make this fellowship in Christ. In fact, relationships take on a much deeper meaning when people realize they need each other (Furey 1986, 24).
Training is the practical part. It is the process by which the pastor helps disciples learn a particular skill and to practically put the principles the pastor taught into practice in the field. The lay training will have to be initiated by the pastor or it will not be done at all (Lindgren and Shawchuck 1981, 117). Training requires the transmission of learned skills. Training exercise helps the disciple to put the words of God which he has been taught by his pastor (discipler) into practice in the field.
Jesus said, "teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (NIV), "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (KJV). The "to obey" and "to observe" mean practical action. "Christ was more action orientated; his disciples learned by doing as He did" said John Wimber (Wimber 1992, 191).
After the disciple knows the words of Jesus through teaching, he also needs to know how to observe them and then apply them into his life in the field. For example, a discipler must show his disciple how to study the Bible, how to pray or how to witness in the field.
Accordingly, the discipler must help his disciple to repeatedly practice until he will be skilled in them. Allen Hadidian adopted four steps in the training process from Chuck Miller's "Discipling Ministry Seminar," and explained them in detail. Those are: (1) the discipler does it, (2) the discipler does it, and the disciple is with him, (3) the discipler does it, and the discipler is with him, and (4) the discipler does it, and the discipler is in the background (Hadidian 1979, 98-103)
Paul Y. Cho suggested other four steps in the training process. Those are (1) teach them, (2) motivate them, (3) recognize them, and (4) praise them (Cho 1984, 33, 34). The writer analyzes that Miller's seems to come from a structural method, and Cho's from the principle of training by his experience in ministry.
How then should one begin the training program? First of all, it is necessary to train the leader (discipler) before the training for the laypeople. James M. Kouzes with Barry Z. Posner uncovered five fundamental practices common to successful leaders (discipler) as follows: (1) challenge the process, (2) inspired a shared vision, (3) enabled others to act, (4) modeled the way, and (5) encouraged the heart (Kouzes and Posner 1987, 7-13).
After having trained the discipler, the training classes must be organized according to their level as the study classes had been.
The disciple's leadership has to be developed, and can be developed in him. Paul W. Milhouse insisted:
When we study the Master's method with the men who he selected to carry on his work, we see that leadership can be developed in men who are not what we usually call natural leaders. (Milhouse 1946, 42)
The leadership stimulates the health and growth of the church (Gibbs 1987, 9). The leadership ability of the disciple can be developed through a teaching and training program, but it must not be substituted for spiritual power. It takes effect on the spiritual power. In the New Testament, the Greek word which identifies the supernatural dynamic of the indwelling and filling Holy Spirit is the word dunamis (Gangel 1976, 126). In Romans, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 15:13).
Training is always best done when it is a direct response to specific goals and programs (Lindgren and Shawchuck 1981, 115). John Finney penetrated the leadership potential to be able to develop (Finney 1989, 41). The director of leader training should obviously develop the training plan of the church (McDonough 1976, 46). In accordance with the development of the training plan, the leadership ability of the disciple can be developed.
As the lay-consciousness develops, the church is ready to set up its own Lay-ministers Training Center. This Lay-ministers Training Center is like a locally based theological seminary designed to train the laity (Win Arn 1979, 29, 32). The writer has organized this center into three steps: disciple college, disciple graduate school, and disciple seminary as mentioned before. At this training center the laypeople can be taught, trained and equipped to accomplish their work for the growth of the church.
Transforming the disciple is the process by which the pastor (discipler) helps him to gain a conviction or perspective on some aspect of Christian growth and a sense of mission to other people. This is a very crucial process in building up a disciple, Allen Hadidian gave a reason for this:
No matter how much knowledge (teaching) and skill (training) he has, he will not continue in an activity unless he is transformed on the inside, that is, unless he gains a conviction that the particular activity is essential. (Hadidian 1979, 103)
The pastor (discipler) should be seeking to change the disciple's sense of values and plant convictions in his disciple that will affect his whole life, and send him out to the world for the purpose of saving the sinners. The disciples of Jesus never forgot that Jesus sent them out into the world to serve (Wagner 1988, 134).
After having been taught, equipped, and organized, they may be sent to the field two-by-two not solo, because the leadership should properly be listed as a collective noun and the disciples of Jesus were not called to go solo all that time (Greenslade 1984, 70). Jesus said, "Therefore go and make disciples." (Matt. 28:19). While living in the earth, He sent His disciples two-by-two (Luke 10:1; Mark 11:1). It is the way Jesus Christ to sent His disciples. The trained disciples must go into the field which needs them. This is the Great Commission. Jesus Christ commands:
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. (Luke 10:2,3 NIV)
They must go to the lost sheep of Israel to whom Jesus points (Matt. 10:6), and to the people who beg them to come and help (Act. 16:9). Of course, this is also that God the Holy Spirit calls them to preach the gospel to the people. Because they are the disciples and servants of the Lord, they must go uncoditionally everywhere He wants them to go for the purpose of preaching the gospel.
"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" said the Lord. "Here am I. Send me!" said his servant (disciple). He said, "Go and tell this people" (Isa. 6:8, 9). The Lord Jesus Christ commands also right now:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matt. 28:19-20)
Can the results of the disciple making program be measured? This is very important because it is related to the growth of the church. Without measurement the degree of church growth through the disciple making program may not be known. Therefore the results of the disciple making program must be measured. Because the disciples are people, and the people are countable, the making disciples is not only an objective, it is a measurable objective (Hedlund 1977, 1). Whatever is to be measured must in fact be measurable (Yamamori and Lawson 1975, 94).
First of the measuring criteria of church growth is an increase of the church members. This is the measurement of numerical or quantitative growth of the church. The disciple making typically measures its success in terms of how many people have become members of the church. It includes, of course, the ways to increase the numerical church growth: biological, transfer, and conversion (Miles 1981, 51,52).
Second of the measuring criteria of church growth is the maturity of faith in the Christian life. The fruits of faith can be measured (Hunter 1983, 128). This means a qualitative or spiritual growth of the church members. It can be measured in terms of an evaluation of one's Christian life. In other words, it means how often have they been attending the worship, prayers, and activities of the church. And it also concerns much about giving to the church, and serving the church and their society. Third of the measuring criteria of church growth is an increase of giving in the church. This means financial growth of the church. The statistical data of the offerings and donations will become the criterion of the financial growth of the church. It is very clearly measurable. An effective disciple making program in the church may result in a financial increase in member giving and church finances.
Evaluation is necessary for the church to plan and change or to change and plan the programs again. The church can plan new programs according to the evaluation of the old programs. Evaluation should be going on throughout the entire planning process.
Evaluation may be conducted not only by the pastor and church leaders but also all the members of the church that have participated in the program.
There are several methods of evaluation. Such methods as questionaires, personal interviews, public hearings through the meeting for the evaluation, and documentations of the church and the study and training group may be considered.
The content of evaluation may be the program style and scale, goals, activities, methodology, problems to solve, planning for future, and so on.
It is very important to ask not "what we are doing" but "how well we are doing." In fact, it is not the training content that is important but the training method. To improve the program effectiveness, evaluation and feedback will be helpful (Lidgren and Shawchuck 1981, 93).
Conclusion
When just about all the members of the church actively take part in the activities of some ministry, the church can be bound to grow (Wagner 1986, 71). Of many activities for church growth the disciple making program is the most effective one because it can multiply church membership and cause the members to gain maturity in their Christian lives and the church may expect that the finances necessary to conduct the activities for church growth will increase. Disciple making is a costly ministry. Billie Hanks, Jr. said, "To be used of God to make disciples, we must be willing to pay the price...and it is a costly ministry" (Hanks and Shell 1993, 166). He also explained that making disciples may require one to pay a high price. In this sense, he said that the costly ministry involves: quantity of time, lack of recognition, inconvenience, hurt, vulnerability to exposure, tunneling, weakness reproduced, and life (Hanks and Shell 1993, 167-169).
Quality discipling emphasizes a balanced combination of the triangle principal methods of processing: that which can be learned through "teaching," that which can be gained through "training," and that which can be done through transforming. One deals with ideas, the other with skills, and another with commissions.
If the pastor is convinced that God wants him in a discipling ministry because it has a firm biblical basis, he may try to conduct the disciple making program for church growth.
Today also, the pastor has to recognize and determine whether or not the discipling ministry can be successfully carried out. The steering committee of the church must always and repeatedly demonstrate that the pastor and the key lay-leaders can be trained to have a multiplying ministry of discipleship in their church. They must be convinced of that, and then, the pastor and his church can move foreward for the growth of their church in quantity and in quality.
CHAPTER III
PROCEDURES AND TREATMENT OF DATA
As mentioned and explained in the previous chapters, it is very difficult to promote church growth in quantity as well as in quality. Nevertheless, the church must grow both in quantity and in quality. In so doing, the pastor, the whole staff, and the laity of the church should work for the growth of the church.
The Elim Christian Reformed Church started with only 15 people including the pastor's family (4 persons) in the city of Westminster, Southern California at the end of 1988. In the early stage the church grew very rapidly. It had grown to a total of 93 members by the end of December, 1989, even though its attending members numbered from 60 to 70. In spite of conflict between a group of the pastor's followers and a group of the deacon's followers (page 7) in the church, it had steadily grown to a total of 104 members, and its attendance was from 65 to 75 at the end of May, 1990. Nine members of the total membership (104) had been lost without any known reason, so the total membership was 95. After that, unfortunately, the conflict within the church became more and more serious, and changed into a dispute between the two groups in the church.
Finally, the group of the deacon's followers numbering about 23 left the church at the first week of July, 1990. At the same time, another group which was not directly related to this trouble, numbering in about 26, also left the church because of the stress caused by the conflict. At last, the remnant of the church who had followed their pastor numbered in about 46, and its average attendance was about 30 at the end of July, 1990. Thus, the total membership of the church had dropped down from 104 to 46. It showed a 56% decrease because of the trouble in the church.
The church had grown to about 57 members (24% increase) and its attending members were about 35 (15% increase) at the end of June, 1991. The total membership of the church was about 70 members, and its attending members were about 52 at the end of June, 1992, which was just before the start of the disciple making program.
Based on the above calculations the church had been increasing in membership, but it was a small increase in a church with a small membership. At the begining of July, 1990, the writer studied the situation and came to a firm determination to begin with a few families and restore the church. At that time, the key members of the church encouraged him to rebuild the church. The pastor had a vision to build the church but in spite of his best efforts, the church experienced little growth.
At the begining of September, 1991, the writer moved the church to the city of Garden Grove, Southern California in which many Korean people lived. At that time, he began to look for strateges for the growth of the church with a burning desire. What about the place of the church? What about the facilities? What about the time for worship and activities? What about the co-workers? What about the finances? What about the programs? What about the pastor and the laypeople? He was taking account of all of these factors.
For the growth of the church, the most important factors were, the writer concluded, the pastor, the laypeople, and the programs. So he made up his mind to minister eagerly to the laypeople with the disciple making program. By this time it was the end of June, 1992. The disciple making program began at the first of July, 1992.
Setting Project Goals The writer, at first, set the goal of church growth in quantity, in quality, and in finances in expectation of the operation of the disciple making program. The rate of those growths were fixed to be around a 30% increase even though the qualitative growth of the church was hard to be measured in figures. But the qualitative growth could be measurable depending on the measurement of their Christian life. For example, it was possible to measure by the number of their participation in worship services or activities, by the amount of their givings or offerings, and by their service in the church and society.
In number of membership, the goal of growth was about 70 attending members. The total membership goal was about 100 members by the end of December, 1992, which was the sixth month from the start of the disciple making program. In so doing, two ways were used: the way of the disciple making program and the other way as it were indirect evangelism by the disciple college students using the church members. The goal of membership increase through the desciple making program was 15 members, and also 15 members through indirect evangelism.
In fact, It was impossible to expect a large membership increase through the disciple making program in a short time. The program should be planned, therefore, to be not a short range but a long range project. In other words, the disciple making program aimed to make the disciple crack units for a steady multiplication of church member in the remote future.
To achieve the membership goal (100 total members), a threefold strategy was used: an one-on-one disciple-making strategy with the students of the disciple college under the guidance of a discipler (50%), an one-on-one evangelism strategy with the laypeople who were encouraged by the students of the disciple college (30%), and the increase from natural or unknown causes (20%).
The one-on-one strategy was the assigned tasks of the disciple college students during the period of discipleship training. To check whether they did these assignments or not, the discipler let them fill out papers on their evangelism activity, making a record each month (Appendix A-5 and Appendix B-13).
In spiritual maturity, more and more growth was expected by the writer. How then could it be measured? In order to measure the spiritual maturity, the writer thought the best ways were to count the number of people participating in worship services, church activities, and social services, and to check the amount being given in the offerings. Financial (giving) savvy is not only compatible with faith, but it also can be an integral part of faith (Briles 1988, 29). Although the qualitative growth of the church and of its membership could not be perfectly measured, the quantitative growth could guarantee the qualitative growth to a certain extent. In this sense, a considerable goal of spiritual growth could be obtained during the same period.
In the financial growth of the church, a goal of a 30% increase as compared with the last six month budget was
set because it could be not expected that all members of the church would double their offerings to the church. All the church members did not have the same chance as the members of the Elim Disciple College to be taught and trained for giving to the church.
The finances should not fail to increase to a certain extent because the membership of the church would increase, and the disciple makers would be trained to give to the church through the disciple making program during the six months of training.
Treatment of the Subjects
The disciple college started with four classes including one youth group which the youth pastor taught, but the youth group failed. So the college had three classes in which there were five members each. At the early stage total members were 15 disciple students, but two disciple members failed to complete the course of disciple making training. Thirteen members, therefore, completed the discipleship training course. Two classes were trained at 2:10 pm after the Sunday worship service, and one class was trained at 9:00 pm on Friday night. The length of the training time was from two hours to four hours at one time. First of all, the staff of the church such as elders, kwonsas, deacons, deaconesses, etc. were selected. The pastor as a discipler motivated the staff members of the church to take part in the discipleship training. Whoever was or would be a staff member was expected to complete the discipleship training courses included in the disciple college as a requirement for the men to become deacons and deaconesses, the disciple graduate school, as a requirement for the women to become kwonsas and ordained deacons, and the disciple seminary as a requirement for the men to become elders. This was a rule of the church. Other laypeople could be selected as the candidates.
The term of the disciple making program was different according to the grade of discipleship training. The term of the disciple college classes was six months, the disciple graduate school six months, and disciple seminary one to three years. Of course, in this project only disciple college classes were implemented because the other classes could not begin yet. The student of those classes (disciple graduate school and disciple seminary) must be the graduate of the disciple collge.
In this project, how the six month disciple college had operated would be tested according to the hypotheses which were presented in chapter one. Of course, this term might not be enough to achieve the goal of growth of the church, but it would be enough to test its possibility for church growth.
The text for the disciple college classes was " Called to Awaken the Layman" written by Rev. Han Hum Ok, senior pastor of Sa Rang Church located in Seoul, Korea, in which he has amazingly successful in ministry through a discipleship training program. This book contained the doctrine of the Bible, well-organized according to a systematic theology, and a quiet time program for training in the Christian life.
An orientation offered advice for successful completion of the classes. The first theme of the orientation was time management, namely "choosing a priority" in life. Time management was taught first by the discipler (pastor) for three hours, because this is most important to progress in the disciple making course. If they did not attend the disciple making program class, no effective results of making disciples could be expected.
In class, first, the discipler called the roll of the students to check their attendance according to their roll book (Appendix B-3), and their assignments according to the checking list of the assignments (Appendix B-4). The assignments were their preparation of the lessons to be studied (in the text): QT program (Appendix B-6), Bible reading (Appendix B-8), Bible reading instead of skipped lecture (Appendix B-9), memorization and recitation of the passages of the Scriptures (Appendix B-10), and special assignments (Appendix B-7). Also the discipler assigned homework to them and let them put that content down in the paper for the content of the Homework (Appendix B-5).
Anyone who had not done his homework should do it before the next class hour, and if anyone did not attend the assigned class, he should give the notification of absence (Appendix B-11) to his discipler. If anyone had missed some lessons, he should take the lessons again, and should present the certificate of the supplementary lessons (Appendix B-12) to his discipler. He should also pay the five dollar penalty with his report of absence (Appendix B-11) for each class missed according to the rules of the discipleship training (Appendix B-1) whenever he did not attend.
After checking all assignments, the class did begin with the prayer of a student because the prayer is a principal branch of religious worship (Henry 1819, 2). First, they studied the questions of the Scriptures under the same subject in the text by discussing together, and applied those answers to the questions of the Scriptures to their Christian life. Of course, the discipler would check at the next class hour whether those applications succeeded or not. If those did not succeed, the reasons should be sought, and those should be applied to life again.
Next, they had the QT (Quiet Time) program according to the QT form (Appendix B-6) in the text, which contained the following details in order: today's words and the subject, summary of today's words, the words given to me, and application and prayer. At that time, the words of God and their testimony would inspire them graciously; they would be filled with the Holy Spirit, and could not help praying to God and praising Him. At that moment they used to glorify the Lord as well. They would finish by earnestly praying to the Lord for their discipleship training, their successful mission, and the growth of their church. They were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. They would go home expecting gracious meeting at the next time.
Collection of the Data
The data was designed for the purpose of measuring the results that the implementation of the discipleship training produced according to the goal of the hypotheses presented in chapter one. There were three data designs: (1) questionaire, (2) documentation, and (3) interview; and then were three methods of measurement: (1) quantitative growth, (2) qualitative growth, and (3) financial growth in accordance with the hypotheses. The data also could measure the whole faith personality of the disciples in Christian life through the record of their self-evaluation in each field every month (Appendix A-1 to A-5) even if it was a subjective judgement.
Design of the Questionaires
The design of the questionaires was categorized into
six methods as follows.
Attendance Record
The record of church attendance contained such kinds of attendance as: Sunday early morning prayer, Sunday worship service, Sunday praise service, Wednseday evening service, Friday home cell meeting, home visitation care, home worship service, business worship service, and other worship services (Appendix A-1). It required them to record the reasons for their absence in every situation.
It also contained their self-evaluation for the purpose of measuring their whole Christian lives as compared with the previous month. Of course, their self-evaluation depended upon only their own judgement.
This information was for the measurement of the attendance conditions in the Christian life through the disciple making program. It might also be a way of measuring spiritual (qualitative) growth.
Prayer Life Record
This form was divided into two categories: public prayer and private prayer. The public prayer was divided into four categories: Sunday early morning prayer, daily early morning prayer, Friday all-night prayer, and prayer on the mountain (Appendix A-2). Also, the private prayer was divided into five categories: prayer at home, prayer at the business, prayer in the car, prayer on the way, and at other places.
This form contained seven subjects of prayer: for oneself, for the family, for the business, for the church, for others, for the nation, etc. (Appendix A-2). This form also contained a reference and a self-evaluation (Appendix A-2). This was the design particularly devised for the evaluation of their spiritual ability.
Bible Study Record
The Bible study was the design for the steadfastness and stability of the individual faith based on the Word of God. It was classified into three categories: disciple college program, Bible reading and others (Appendix A-3). This form contained the disciple making program, home cell-group meeting, Bible study, Sa kyung hoe, seminar, Bible recitation, and Bible quiz.
The reading and others contained Bible reading, Bible recitation, and looking for passages of Scriptures (Appendix A-3.) This was designed so that each could evaluate his own faith.
Giving and Service Record
This was designed to measure the Christian life through giving and services. This was classified into three categories: offering, relief, and service (Appendix A-4). Thewffering contained tithe, thanksgiving, offerings for mission, offerings for relief, and other offerings.
Relief was classified into three categories: relief for church members, relief for unbelievers, and others.
Service was classified into four categories: for the church, for the family, for the society and others.
This data could contribute to the evaluation of spiritual maturity of the students of the college in the Elim Christian Reformed Church of Garden Grove, Southern California.
Evangelism Record
This form was classified into eight sorts of evangelism: Sunday evangelism, visitation evangelism, disciple making evangelism, evangelism for prize contest, business evangelism, literature evangelism, prayer evangelism, and indirect evangelism (Appendix A-5). This was a test of their sense of mission (Matt. 25:14-30). Of course, this contained an evaluation of their own faith. This should be related to their spiritual gift and to their mission to the world.
Use of Church Documents for Data
The whole design of the documentations was focused on the measurement of the growth of the church members, particularly of the disciple college students. The documentation for the data was prepared from the administration records of the church and of the disciple college. All the documents would decisively help the writer measure the growth of the church numerically, spiritually, and financially. The documents of their attendance record and the financial record of the whole congregation were available for inclusion in the analysis of the disciple making program data. Therefore the writer arranged the design papers of the document to be available for the data. Appendix A-1 was designed to measure the attendance rate of the disciple college students. And the writer used the documents of the church in order to measure the rate of the attendance of the whole congregaion. All the records of the discipling students were taken from the disciple college.
The data for measurement of the financial growth rate of the disciple college students was also taken from the questionaires (Appendix A-4), while the data of the financial growth rate of the whole congregation was taken from the financial documents of the church.
The data of their spiritual growth was measured by the questionaires (Appendix A-1 to A-5), particularly by the prayer life questionaire (Appendix A-2). Of course, the rest of the questionaires (Appendix A-1, A-3 to A-5) helped the writer measure their spiritual growth.
Data from Interviews and Discussions
The records on their Christian life had already been prepared, so the writer had interviews and discussions with the disciple college students just after the graduation ceremony was over in the church sanctuary. It was 2:00 pm on May 23, 1993.
First, a group discussion of the graduates was held in the pastoral office of the church. The pastor and the disciple college students had free discussion about the disciple making program. All participants gave their impressions of results of the disciple making program in turn with open minds. They evaluated the results of the disciple making program for the growth of their faith. Therefore the merits and demerits of the discipleship training for the past six months were evaluated by the group discussion.
After this group discussion a personal interview with each participant was done in the same office. The results of the personal interview were almost identical to the group discussion. It was very good for both discipler and disciples to discuss the growth of their faith and future perspective with an open mind.
The results will be seen in the interview record tabulation in the chpater five.
Final Collection of Data
The data on the procedures of the disciple making program was respectively collected in different ways. The questionaires were collected once a month. The questionaires (Appendix A-1 to A-5) were given to the disciple college students at the class hour at the begining of every new month, and they would fill up the papers along with the items written in the questionaire papers.
Those questionaires were the church attendance record, the prayer record, the Bible reading record, the evangelism record, and the giving and service record. The questionaires were just collected at the time when those were filled out by the students in class.
The documents of the disciple college and the church related to the data of the disciple making program were collected from the clerk and secretary of the department of administration of the disciple college and the church. The documents were collected by the writer, and arranged to be analyzed.
The data on the interviews and discussions with the students of the disciple college was directly collected by the writer.
Treatment of the Data
The data collected was treated in several ways to show the results of the disciple making program. The collected data was tabulated to evaluate the results of the disciple making program in reference to the hypotheses of this study.
Data for Hypothesis One
The attendance record in the church diary was surveyed when the first period was over in order to measure the membership increase of the church. The church diary (Appendix C-1) and the church directory (Appendix C-2) were tabulated in Table 1 (p. 119). Thus the increased rate of membership of the church could be measured according to hypothesis one in the first chapter. Through this method, the growth rate of the membership could be measured every month for the six months.
Data for Hypothesis Two
The questionaires A-2 to A-5 were surveyed in detail according to every item designed in those questionaires in order to measure the spiritual growth degree (qualitative growth) of the Elim Disciple College students. Through this survey the writer could know the growth rate of their faith according to hypothesis two in the first chapter.
First, in order to measure the qualitative growth of the church the number of their participations in prayer meetings was figured out (Table 2, p. 122).
Second, in order to measure the qualitative growth of the church, Table 3 (p. 123) was tabulated from the Bible study record (Appendix A-3).
Third, in order to measure the qualitative growth of the church, Table 4 (p. 124) was tabulated from the church financial record (Appendix C-3).
Fourth, in order to measure the qualitative growth of the church, Table 5 (p. 126) was tabulated from the giving and service record (Appendix A-4).
Fifth, in order to measure the qualitative growth of the church, Table 6 (p. 127) was tabulated from the evangelism record (Appendix A-5).
These surveying figures were put in Tables 2 to 6. Through these tables the writer could measure the growth degree of the group as well as individual growth degree.
Data for Hypothesis Three
The financial documents of the church were surveyed in order to measure the financial growth of the church. So the amount of the givings and offerings recorded in the financial documents of the church was figured out after the disciple making program was over, and it was evaluated in comparision with the amount of the givings and offerings before the start of the disciple making program (before the first period of six months). It was evaluated only one time after the period of six months when the discipleship training operated from the first day of July, 1992 to the last day of December, 1992.
Through this survey the rate of the financial growth of the church could be measured according to hypothesis three in the first chapter.
In addition, the evaluation of the whole personality in their faith was taken by using the self-evaluation form in every questionaire (Appendix A-1 to A-5). Of course, this was a subjective evaluation, nevertheless, it was very valuable in the measurement of whether their faith grew or not. It was a good opportunity to evaluate their faith
in their own way.
In order to know the growth of their whole personality in faith, the writer had been surveying their self-evaluations every month during the period of six months from July, 1992 through December, 1992.
CHAPTER IV
RESULTS OF THE STUDY
The results of this disciple making project will be presented in this chapter, and the findings of the project which was done during the period of six months from July, 1992, through December, 1992, will be reported with reference to each of the hypotheses. As stated in the previous chapters, the growth of the church which was presupposed in Chapter One was measured from three points of view: quantitative (numerical), qualitative (spiritual), and financial (giving). These are included in the hypotheses.
Through the measurement of these variables, it was possible to show whether or not the disciple making program contributed to the growth of the church. The concern of this chapter is to show if the results of the disciple making program supported the hypotheses. The writer used the disciple making program as an experiment in relation to the growth of the church. Expecting a good outcome, he collected the needed data for evaluation of the hypotheses from the begining. He tabulated the data needed to measure the results, and then he analyzed the tabulation tables in detail.
First, it is important to review the changes prior to this project in the total membership of the church. In 1990, after planting the church, its membership was 104, but it fell down to 95 without any apparent reason. Then at the end of June, 1990, the membership divided into three parties, and many left the church. As a result of this division, no more than 46 members remained. After that, the membership increased so that by the end of June, 1992, there were 75 members. Five of these were lost so that at the begining of the disciple making program the total membership was 70.
Hypothesis One
Hypothesis One is, "Use of the disciple making program in the Elim Christian Reformed Church for a period of six months will increase the membership of the church." This hypothesis was supported by the data collected. After the implementation of the disciple making program, the membership of the Elim Christian Reformed Church showed a 44% increase as seen in Table 1 (p. 119).
Table 1 presents the number of people attending the Elim Christian Reformed Church in July, 1992, and in December, 1992. This table was taken from the church diary (Appendix C-1). It shows the growth of the church to be a 44% increase (last bold number). This is total membership increase of the church.
It also shows an increase in the early morning prayer meeting of 50%, an increase in the Sunday morning worship service of 38%, and an increase in the afternoon praise service of 25%. The total membership increase of 44% is well above the previously set goal of 30%.
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