The Need For Discipleship

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The Need For Discipleship

• 2006 CEM Day of Training

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Matthew 2818-20 RSV

• 2818
• And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority
  in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
• 2819
• Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
  baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
  the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
• 2820
• teaching them to observe all that I have
  commanded you and lo, I am with you always, to
  the close of the age."

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Gallup Poll

• 9 of 10 Americans say they pray daily, and 84
  million Americans-almost a third of the
  population-say they made a personal commitment to
  Christ as Savior.
• A pound of meat would certainly be affected by a
  quarter pound of salt.
• If this is real Christianity, the salt of the
  earth, where is the effect of which Jesus
  spoke?
• John Ortberg
• The Life Youve Always Wanted
• pg 30

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Problem

• less than one out of every ten church attenders
  spends any time during a typical week worshiping
  God, other than when they are at a church
  service.
• Barna Reviews Top Religious Trends of 2005
• December 20,2005
• www.barna.org

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Morals of Believers

• A study conducted by The Roper Organization for
  High Adventure Ministries in 1990 found that the
  moral behavior of born again Christians actually
  worsened after their conversions. Examined were
  incidences of illegal drug use, driving while
  intoxicated and marital infidelity.
• The problem can be solved, says one researcher,
  with a new commitment to accountability and
  discipleship.
• New Man, November/December, 1994, p. 13

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The Need

• American Christians are biblically illiterate
• the younger a person is, the less they understand
  about the Christian faith
• fewer and fewer parents are teaching their kids
  much of anything related to matters of faith,
  young peoples belief system is the product of
  the mass media
• Barna Reviews Top Religious Trends of 2005
• December 20,2005
• www.barna.org

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Warning!
When we stop allowing the Word and Spirit of God
to change us we settle for mere religious
activity form.
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Warning Signs!

• The real issue is what kind of people are we
  becoming.
• John Ortberg
• The Life Youve Always Wanted
• pg 34-38

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Warning Signs!

• Am I spiritually inauthentic?
• Woe to you.For you clean the outside of the
  cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of
  greed and self-indulgence. Matt. 2325
• a. Inauthenticity involves a preoccupation with
  appearing to be spiritual.
• b. I work harder at making people think that Im
  a loving person than I do at actually loving them.

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Warning Signs!
2. Am I becoming judgmental or exclusive or
proud? They love to have the place of honor at
banquets and the best seats in the synagogues.
Matt. 236-7 a. As soon as we start to pursue
virtue, we begin to wonder why others arent as
virtuous as we are. b. Do we find it easy to
rate people or compare ourselves with them as
if in a competition?
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Warning Signs!
3. Am I becoming more approachable, or
less? They loveto have people call them
rabbi. Matt. 237 a. Rabbis had the notion
that their spirituality required them to distance
themselves from people. Lepers sinners knew
this and stayed away from them!
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• b. The only rabbi the outcasts could touch
  turned out to be God Himself!
• c. The religious leaders had a different ness
  that pushed people away.
• d. Jesus had a different ness that drew people
  to him.
• e. True spirituality is that way.

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Warning Signs!
4. Am I growing weary of pursuing spiritual
growth? They tie up heavy burdens, hard to
bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others.
Matt. 234 a. Its possible to devote our lives
to observing all the rules and yet never open the
heart to love or joy! b. Observing boundary
markers is simply not a compelling enough vision
to captivate the human spirit. It leads to
weariness.
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Warning Signs!
5. Am I measuring my spiritual life in
superficial ways? You blind guides! You strain
at a gnat but swallow a camel! Matt. 2324 a.
devotional life (for approval) b. Gods primary
assessment of our lives isnt going to
be measured by the number of quiet times we
have c. Am I growing in love for God
people?
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• The real issue is what kind of people are we
  becoming.
• John Ortberg
• The Life Youve Always Wanted
• pg 34-38

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Brian MacLaren, Leadership contributing editor

• Too many "educated" Christians have gotten lots
  of information but are the least Christ-like.

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• The Christian church is failing to live up to
  its promise were not even coming close to
  fulfilling it. Our nation has a strong economy
  but a weak morality. Believers are largely
  indistinguishable from nonbelievers in how they
  think and live. The church has lost its place at
  the table of cultural relevance. Can we restore
  the impact of the church through more events and
  buildings? No. It will take zealots for
  Christ-individuals who are intractably devoted to
  knowing, loving, and serving Him with all their
  heart, mind, strength and soul-if we are to
  transform our world. George Barna
• Growing True Disciples, p. 11

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The Bottom Line
Discipleship is not religious activity or
something we do in church on Sundays. It involves
every part of our life. Not just our spiritual
life. A Passionate Life
Mike Breen Walt Kallestad
pg 88
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• We Must Be Make Disciples Again!

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Discipling Older Adults
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What Is A Disciple

• Transformed people, transforming their communities

• A Learner, A Follower

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When God makes us new creations, we are meant to
help create a new world around us
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I pray that when I die, all of hell will throw a
party to celebrate the fact that I am no longer
in the fight C T STUDD
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Design For Discipleship

• Preaching
• Sunday School
• Small Groups
• Coffee House
• Etc.

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What Must These Ministries Do

• Connect With People
• Challenge People
• Teach People
• Change People
• Involve People
• Interact With People

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These Ministries Should Answer Two Questions

• How Now Shall We Live?

• Saved To Do What?

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How Now Shall We Live?

• We Should Be Walking With Christ
• Moving Towards Maturity
• Acknowledge His Lordship

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Leisure Time
Career
Marriage And Family
Education
CHRIST
Possessions
Money
Self
Cares
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• We Should Be Walking As A Servant
• We Should Be Conversing With God
• We Should Fellowship With Christians
• We Should Walk In Fruitfulness
• We Should Engage In Spiritual Warfare
• The Battle
• Know Your Enemy
• The Conflict With Sin
• The Assurance Of Victory

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• We Should Be Responsible Stewards
• We Should Have Integrity In Living

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Saved To Do What?

• Help Others Find Christ
• Recognizing Needs
• Present Christ
• Follow-Up
• Have A World Vision

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Understanding Post Moderns

• Preserving our Davids
• Tony J. Powell

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Baby Boomers / Busters1946-64

• 8 Million 20 something's who were active in
  Church as teenagers will no longer be active by
  the age of 30.
• They are driven by excellence and practicality.

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Generation X / Cold Warearly 60s to late 70s

• Survived mass divorces as children
• Space shuttle explosions
• Public Political corruption
• Environmental disasters
• From rated G to R movies (devil child etc)
• Internet

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Generation Y / Echo / Millenniumearly 80s to
late 90s

• VERY BIG
• 3 Xs the size of the Boomer Generation.
• Very Diverse
• Instead of being raise by tv, this generation is
  raised by computers video games.

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Identify, Recruit, Equip and Deploy

• How do we reach them?

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Preserving our Davids

• Improved communications
• Resource train them
• Learn from them
• Retain them
• Recognize their gifts
• Let them minister

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Real Life

• The message of the Gospel provides spiritual
  freedom, but our local church structures too
  often steal our innocence and produce bondage,
  slowly draining us of the very spiritual life and
  joy we are supposed to minister to others.

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What This Means

• We can clearly identify Post Moderns as those
  that are not interested in an Azusa street, but
  those wanting to see signs wonders now!
• Teach one to fish and he shows another how not to
  starve.

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Next Steps

• According to Ed Stetezer, a Post Modern expert,
  these guys are interested in a real move of God.
• Most have studied and observed our churches and
  their opinion is, if it is real, show it to us.
• A first century ideology using a 21st century
  method.

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CEM Day of TrainingFebruary 11, 2006Hosted by
the South Carolina Church Education Ministries
Department of the International Pentecostal
Holiness Church

• Making Disciples
• Discipling Youth
• Instructor Gene Henderson

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Making Disciples

• Discipling Youth
• A New Generation, A New Opportunity

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Can the Youth of today make a difference in our
world?
Making Disciples

• Discipling Youth

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John 68-9 Jesus Christ used a boy that had
little to offer to satisfy the hunger of 5000.
Making Disciples

• Discipling Youth

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How can my Church Disciple this Generation?
Making Disciples

• Discipling Youth

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Answer By becoming a part of the lives of your
Youth.
Making Disciples

• Discipling Youth

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Back to the Drawing Board
Discipling Children
R. Welby Fowler Day of Training
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Disciple
On Converts or Disciples? here is my basic
assertion. I believe that since World War II,
here in North America, our strategies for
evangelism have been guided more by cultural
paradigms than biblical paradigms. The result has
been that while we have had a superficial level
of success in terms of numbers reached, we have
failed to produce the kind of vibrant followers
of Jesus who make a positive difference in
culture. In other words, we have been far better
at calling forth converts than we have been in
making disciples of Jesus

• Why dont we just give them crayons and let em
  color?
• Youth worker of 123 Church

Fuller Professor of Evangelism Richard Peace
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gt10
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Our Strategy is Failing!
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• Scripture warns us, calling us neither to make
  converts to Christianity nor to count
  decisions for Christ, but rather to make
  disciples of Jesus Christ, a much higher and more
  ambitious challenge.

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• our strategy deserves a re-thinking

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Principles of a Life-Giving Childrens Ministry
1. Children are never too young to start knowing
Jesus.
2. Childrens Ministry Leaders are serving God,
not the Childrens Ministry
3. There must be Life-Giving Relationships among
childrens Ministry Leaders
4. Effective childrens ministry is relationally
driven
5. Childrens hearts can be changed.
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The Childrens Ministry is plentiful, but the
servants are few!
Dont you think our strategy deserves a
re-thinking?
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Back to the Drawing Board
Discipling Children
Contact Welby fowler welby_at_fhmi.org
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The Pastors Role In Discipleship

• 2006 CEM Day of Training

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RESOURCES

• There is almost an endless array of resources
  that any one ministry can pool from that will
  facilitate its vision for DISCIPLESHIP.
• For the next few moments we will highlight some
  items that may help you sift through the plethora
  of available mountains of materials.

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EXPOSURE

• Dont try to re-invent the wheel.
• Glean from others who have walked where you
  are.
• Before honor comes humility (Proverbs 1533
  1812).
• NEVER feel inferior or intimidated to go to a
  ministry that is doing something you want to do
  and ask them HOW to implement certain things in
  your ministry.

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EXPOSURE

• Being exposed to the way someone else is doing
  something can be a great benefit to you and your
  team.
• Once in a while schedule a trip to take your team
  somewhere that is doing something on a BIG scale
  like you want to do.
• However, there is a drawback

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INDIVIDUALITY

• When considering the multitudinous array of
  resources you must take time to find
• What fits
• What matches
• Ladies, it is a lot like shopping for shoes for
  that one special outfit that you are wearing to
  that one special event. You may have to shop for
  weeks, but youll know when you find it.

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Four Ps Of Resource-Hunting

• PATIENCE
• You cant do this quickly.
• PRAYER
• You must be led.
• PERSISTENCE
• Finish strong.
• PAY-OFF
• It will be worth it all when you see the
  disciples being formed.

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Are you.

• OVERWHELMED
• FROM
• TODAYS
• MATERIAL
• YET?

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Teach Them To Grow

• The resources of discipleship should be those
  which will equip and enable the individual for
  this journey of maturity.
• The investment must be in themselves and not just
  waiting for a Sunday School teacher to hold their
  hand.

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Life Development Plan

• http//ldp.lifechurch.tv/jsp/main.jsp
• This is a phenomenal site that will enable each
  disciple to embark on their own personal journey.

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INTERNET

• http//www.walk-this-way.com/index.htm
• http//www.omega-discipleship.com/online/item1.sht
  ml
• http//www.gosdm.org/
• http//www.renovare.org/

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Updated Technology

• We live and function in a computerized society.
• E-mails are a quick and convenient way to
• Keep in touch
• Deliver personal information
• Forward sites and information of interest
• Video and computer generated graphics should be a
  trend in our discipleship settings.

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MATERIALS

• Request free samples. Sometimes suppliers keep
  their older products available to send out to
  give a potential client some type of feel of
  their material.
• NEVER BE AFRAID to rely on the Holy Spirits
  creativity to BIRTH something in you.
  Personalize all material with your own distinct
  flavor.

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It is alright toGO AGAINST THE GRAIN!!!!
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It is alright to think outside the box!
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Searching for Materials

• Since we are an Internet savvy society I would
  recommend simply going to www.yahoo.com or to
  www.google.com and typing in Christian
  discipleship material. You may have to weed
  through some stuff, but there you will also find
  a surplus of material.

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Thanks for Coming!

• Now go and Be a disciple
• Make disciples!