Discipleship Training in the Local Church

Every church, regardless of its size or programming, does some level of Christian discipleship training for its people. Any kind of teaching that shares what the Bible teaches about God and His will for believers’ is a Christian discipleship training event – even if it is not billed or generally conceived of as such. Thus, a pastor’s sermon, if it is teaching the Bible, is a form of Christian discipleship training. So is a Bible study class, a men’s, women’s, or youth meeting, or a special discipleship training opportunity for the church. While every church does have some level of Christian discipleship training going on, the way it is conceived and carried out is quite varied.

Frankly, the vast majority of churches do not even think of Christian discipleship training in any kind of systematic way. They just carry out their regular church programming of worship services, Bible study classes, and various other opportunities, and what happens just happens. This is not necessarily bad, of course, but it is quite haphazard and does not provide a comprehensive way for church members to receive good Christian discipleship training.

Pastors messages in weekly worship services have an element of randomness. Some pastors have no systematic approach to preaching at all, and each message is completely random. Others use a “sermon series” approach, but the various series also tend to be random. While the messages in a series may be on the same topic, the series themselves tend to be random. There are other pastors who preach systematically through the Bible, or through books of the Bible. While these ultimately cover most of the topics Christians need to learn, it still ends up being a random approach to discipleship training. You never know when any given topic will come up, and each sermon only gives one little piece of the larger puzzle.

You basically have the same situation in Bible study classes and the various other groups that comprise a church’s regular programming. While these studies, depending on the particular literature being used, provide an opportunity for more interaction among participants, the material itself is still necessarily rather random.

While few and far between, there actually are some churches that intentionally incorporate specialized Christian discipleship training into their programming. But there is a reason so few churches even attempt it. It tends to be rather difficult to pull off.

There are a number of reasons why implementing a Christian discipleship training program is so hard. For one, it is difficult for most churches to find a time to do it. Generally, established programming already occupies most of the times people traditionally come to church, Another reason is that Christian discipleship training tends to be one of the lowest priority elements for most churches. That kind of training is more time and effort intensive, and a significant percentage of Christians struggle to make it a priority. One other difficulty involves developing a systematic curriculum that covers all the bases that need to be covered. While there are a lot of different materials on the market, most of them are produced by people and groups in specialized fields. A church wanting to put a focus on Christian discipleship training would still need to come up with their own system for implementing a comprehensive plan.

So what is a church to do?

I’m not going to dance around this. It is quite possible for a church to put a priority on Christian discipleship training, but it will have to do some things that go against the grain of tradition – and bucking tradition is not easy. There will be nay-sayers, and there will be less participation than in most other church programs. And typically, even if something gets started, it will shrink over time.

Unless ..., unless something can be done to profoundly catch people’s imagination. And what, exactly, might that be?

The missing element in most Christian discipleship training efforts is a foundational understanding of worldview concepts. There are literally dozens of different topics people can study that relate to the Christian life. But rarely do people have a grasp of the core concepts that tie them all together. And without that, training ends up being random and haphazard. That is why many people lose interest after a short period of time, and why there are way too many people whose faith is a mile wide and an inch deep. An understanding of worldview is the glue that ties everything together. So:

• when the pastor preaches a sermon,
• when you do Bible study,
• when you want to master biblical doctrine,
• when you watch a TV program or movie,
• when you interact with someone who believes a different religion,
• when you interact with other Christians who believe doctrines different from your Christian tradition,
• when you want to share the gospel,
• when you want to defend your faith (Christian apologetics),
• or anything else where beliefs come into play,

... if you understand worldview concepts, you have a way to understand where and how all of these things fit into your Christian life. It is as simple as that. A comprehensive Christian discipleship training system needs to include worldview training.

[MarketFaith Ministries is a worldview discipleship ministry, and we are able to help you develop and move forward with a plan to more effectively implement Christian discipleship training in your church. We have resources and provide specialized training to help churches in that way. Contact us at info@marketfaith.org and lets explore how to implement a powerful approach for your church.]

Freddy Davis is the president of MarketFaith Ministries. He is the author of numerous books entitled The Truth Mirage, Rules for Christians Radicals, Liberalism vs. Conservatism, and his latest book Shattering the Truth Mirage and has a background as an international missionary, pastor, radio host, worldview trainer, and entrepreneur. Freddy is a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Communication, and holds MDiv and DMin degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a popular speaker, particularly on the topic of worldview and its practical implications for the Christian life. He lives in Tallahassee, FL, with his wife Deborah.

You may also contact Freddy at Leadership Speakers Bureau to schedule him for speaking or leadership engagements.

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