Timothy 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

 

 

Making disciples is not a ministry of the church - it is the ministry of the church! It is what Jesus left us on the planet to do. When Jesus ascended into heaven in Acts 1, he handed the baton to the men that he had taught and trained. If the church was going to succeed, it was dependent upon the faithfulness of those men. That is what the church is still dependent on - faithful men and women who will take the baton from the faithful men and women who have gone before them. This cannot be done through a 4-week class or a "plug and play" program. It must be very intentional, relational, practical and instructional - just as Jesus did it with his disciples. Discipleship must be the life-blood and life-style of the church. If the church does not do anything else, we must make disciples!

At Living Faith Tampa, we have an intentional process of disciple-making. It can be briefly outlined as:

 

COST OF DISCIPLESHIP :

  • This will help the new disciple to count the cost of being a disciple before they dive into meeting with their discipler. This is usually taught in a class setting, but sometimes is done one-on-one as well. This will take about a month to complete.

 

DISCIPLESHIP 1:

  • This is a one-on-one, teacher-student relationship. Usually, this process will take about a year to complete. The disciple and discipler will arrange to meet together at least once per week (usually for about an hour to an hour and a half each time) to  go through the Bible together. This is a time for the disciple to be grounded in Biblical doctrine, ask questions and talk through life's difficult issues. There are specific goals to be accomplished at this stage of your growth (4 goals to be exact) and the process is not fully complete until the disciple goes and makes a disciple themselves. This completes the spiritual "cycle of life".

 

DISCIPLESHIP 2:

  • This is a leadership development stage. This is usually taught in a class setting, but can be taught one-on-one as well and usually will take about a year to complete. At this stage, the disciple will be challenged to give out, while they are still taking in - a kind of "on the job training". The disciple will be taught principles of Bible study, character qualities of leaders, their spiritual growth process, how to disciple others and how to share their faith. During this stage of development, the disciple will be encouraged to serve in some area of ministry to others.

 

LIVING FAITH BIBLE INSTITUTE: