...Biblical Worldview Essay Kristen F. Hardin Liberty University Thesis & Introduction The whole world is guilty before the sovereign God. A few characteristics of God are that He is perfect, fair, and wholly equipped to judge our lives accordingly. In Paul’s third letter to the Jews and gentiles in Rome, Paul emphasizes that we are all sinners and not worthy to be in or near the presence of God; however, through the sanctifying work of redemption through Christ Jesus’ death and resurrection this is now possible for anyone who believes in Him through faith. Paul expresses in his letter how Christians should live their life out through faith; although this is not an exhaustive list, it does place heavy emphasis on love. Natural World Paul’s biblical worldview, especially in this epistle gives the reader valuable insight into the natural world around us. Paul mentions in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (New International Version, 1989). The world is without excuse because God has revealed Himself to everyone through creation. This is evident in what we still see today in the natural world. Sinner and Christian are without excuse in the acknowledgement of God’s existence and attributes. Paul’s letter to the Romans provides the...
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...always, even to the end of the age”. As a disciple we are also called to preach the gospel (Mark 16:15), be a witness (Acts 1:8), pass along our faith (Romans 10: 14-15), invite other to follow Christ (Matthew 4:19-20), make disciples who make disciples (2 Timothy 2:2), and be a Christ-like example to those we disciple (Titus 2:3). If we are called as an individuals and the church to develop disciples that develop disciples: how well are we doing? By observing Christians’ spiritual growth, the growth-stage strategies, and the discipleship process at a local church, perhaps some answers will be found. Discipleship at First Baptist Church (FBC) At FBC the senior pastor defines discipleship as “the process whereby a new believer in...
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...DSMN-500 – Discipleship Ministry Jacqueline Thornton Bryan, TX May 26, 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………1 EDUCATION, DISCIPLESHIP, AND SPIRITUAL FORMATION…………………..1 CHURCH MINISTRY PRIORITY……………………………………………………..4 WORSHIP CONNECTION…………………………………………………………….5 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………6 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………7 Introduction As a youth leader working with different age groups, the question of what constitutes the essential activity of Christian ministry is a critic alone. The drive can be to simply educate about the Bible in a Christian setting, to drive spiritual foundation or to nurture discipleship of Jesus Christ. What is really important is to establish what really separates these theories or whether there is significant similarity. While many answers about education have been developed and published by nonspiritual authors, finding answers in the Christian setting require a rather different considerations as the spiritual aspect is a part. God is difficult to comprehend in scientific evaluation, however we can evaluate answers to the quest for an answer based on what Scripture teaches. In Chapter 1 of our text Mitchell states “Jesus expected his disciples to follow him, experience life change, and participate in something remarkable” (p 3). So in order to evaluate the statement “The essential activity of Christian ministry” we much follow his directions and lead as Jesus did. Education, Discipleship and Spiritual...
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...Dietrich Bonhoeffer is an exquisite man, whose theology was extremely influential. His theology shed a whole new light on the true meaning of Christ. By taking a look at Bonhoeffer's life in Germany, you can truly see how his life has greatly influenced his views and works. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran Pastor, a theologian, and a martyr. Bonhoeffer was brought up in Berlin, Germany in the upper-middle-class family of a leading neurologist. He studied Theology at the University of Berlin, where he eventually received his doctorate. As a student Adolf von Harnack, Bonhoeffer was highly influenced by the work of Karl Barth, who was a theologian and considered to be one of the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century. Bonhoeffer studied with Reinhold Niebuhr, from 1930 to 1931 at the Union Theological Seminary in New York. Later, he returned back to Germany where he began teaching technology. Upon returning to Germany, Bonhoeffer became a student chaplain and youth secretary in the ecumenical movement. Bonhoeffer struggled with the Nazification of churches and the persecution against the Jews, which began in 1933. He was one of the founders of the Confessing Church, which consisted of Christians who resisted the Nazi domination. His involvement resulted in him being forbidden to teach at the University of Berlin. Bonhoeffer's resistance against Hitler, along with his Hitler assassination attempt, led to his imprisonment and eventually this all led to his...
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...Discipleship is best accomplished when a believer understands the commission, and the practice of disciple making. Discipleship is a mandate for hall Discipleship by definition, is a process where disciples grow by knowing the word of lord Jesus Christ and well prepared by the holy spirit, who stays in our hearts, to be able to overcome present life trials and challenges. This process therefore is best fulfilled when a believer understands discipleship making practice and the commission. The mandate for spreading the gospel therefore is for us all according to the following reasons. First, all the followers of Jesus Christ are commanded to witness. According to Bonhoeffer’s book on the cost of discipleship (1959), Christianity without discipleship is Christianity without Christ. He argues that trust in God should be followed by the knowledge and following of Jesus Christ. People must therefore according to the book be willing to suffer for the word of Christ for the Satan not to gain entry to the church. Bonhoeffers also argues that when Jesus revealed the truth to his disciples he told them it is individual’s to decide whether to choose or reject him. Philip nation as well in the book Transformational Discipleship also argues that our job in the church is to make more and more disciples. He says that this can be...
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...Centrality of Christ Submitted to Dr. Robert Gowins in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of DSMN 500 Discipleship Ministries by Shawn T. Hunt January 24, 2015 Introduction There some basic principles of Christian discipleship that can be seen from the beginning of this class. That Christ is the center piece of the Christian faith is the core of discipleship and disciple making. Without Christ there would not be a need for discipleship, if He had not come here to die for our sins we would still be trying to live up to the imperfect law. But because He did come down to us and did die for us we can see the need to follow Him. Obedience to Christ and to His teachings to paramount and the first thing a disciple needs to set out to do. Because Christ is the centerpiece of our faith Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey have detailed three stages of discipleship. Declaration, development and deployment are a model of how Christ is seen making disciples in His early ministry and can still be seen and used today. Christ as the Center From the very beginning of His ministry Christ demonstrated how a life of discipleship is intended to look. Christ did not use mere words to teach, His actions were confirmation to the first disciples the cost of following Him. Of all that He did, Christ demonstrated for us that humility was the core of following Him. Christ humbled Himself with His very birth and He humbled Himself with His death. Christ wants us...
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...Discipleship is most commonly linked to the twelve disciples. However, may go beyond the twelve disciples according to how one may define this many-sided term. Discipleship is not for everyone and can have its demands. I believe discipleship is a way of life that one must be called to do. Discipleship is a Christian way of life that can have its demands but can be a rewarding spiritual life. There are demands that come along with the discipleship of Jesus. These demands require you to live a life that completely follows Jesus and his teachings. According to Mark 3:14, discipleship demands a radically changed life. One would be risking possessions, security, and home in order to be with him. It demands daily prayer, the belonging to a community, the celebration and spread of the Word, also a life giving spirit. I believe that demands have not necessarily changed. However, there is a difference in how one was called before and now. I believe that before when Jesus was present it was much easier to determine who was an actual disciple of Christ merely because Jesus chose his twelve. Now it is a much different case. Today you may have your radical Christians who take the word too literal and don’t take into account that times have changed. Of course now you don’t see persecution for being a follower of Christ like it was before. I believe that a person’s gender and social status may demand the same type of discipleship dimension however, the influence you have on others is different...
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...Church Evaluation Form Not every church will have every ministry. If they do not have a particular ministry, just indicate this in the space provided. Church #1 Name: Christ Fellowship Church #1 Website: http://gochristfellowship.com/ 1. Ministry is…praying for others. a. Does the church have a prayer ministry? What does it look like? A community of prayer called the Traffic Ministry Team. They give you links to get started as well as a form so that they can contact if that is a more comfortable preferance. 2. Ministry is…following Jesus’ example by practicing spiritual mentoring and multiplying. a. Does the church have a strategy for evangelism? Yes, many class room and personal opportunities to participate in many different levels of evangelism, including the Hispanic community. b. Does the church have a strategy for discipleship? Yes, Discipleship is obviously important to this church. c. Briefly describe what they look like. Evangelism opportunities are available, through open invitations to current planned evangelical trips, as well as classes teaching about their trips to come and what their purpose is. Discipleship opportunities are available through extending classes to the Hispanic community, Seniors, providing special events throughout the week. 3. Ministry is…leading small groups. a. Does the church have a small group ministry? What can learn about their small group...
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...Making Plan HEBRON BAPTIST CHURCH __ A Paper Presented to Dr. Douglas White Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary __________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for DSMN 500: Discipleship Ministries __________________ by Timothy Taylor #177780 October 15, 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION……………………….………………………………………………2 VISION…………………………………………………………………..………………3 VALUES…………………………………………………..…………………………….4 VIEWS………………………………………………….…………………….…….……6 VEHICLES………………………………………………………………………………6 VERIFIERS…………………………………………………………………………….14 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………17 BIBLIOGRAHY…………………………………………………………………..……20 Introduction As I prepare the Disciple Making Plan for Hebron Baptist Church I have had time to reflect on the desires of the congregation and listen to the voice of God as He has spoke to my spirit. My current status has been encouraging, as we have shifted from being a reactive ministry to a proactive ministry. At this time I am presently in my 10th year as pastor of a church in an urban area of Brooklyn, N.Y, My first 8 years very little in the way of discipleship was accomplished as our building was old and the congregation was already small and began diminishing though relocation and death. Our efforts at discipleship were further hampered after in my 3rd year we experienced a major collapse in part of our building. Over the next 5 years the concentration of the church was on our building. Every bit of our energy...
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...DISCIPLESHIP IN CHRISTIANITY (A LOOK INTO THE PRIMITIVE AND MODERN APPROACH) BY OTITOJU TEMITOPE ROSELINE Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN THEOLOGY at the REDEEMED CHRISTIAN BIBLE COLLEGE SUPERVISOR: PASTOR G.G. OBAFEMI ABSTRACT One would agree that, apart from His (Jesus) sacrificial work on the cross, the most significant thing our Lord did upon the earth was to make disciples. Our Lord had written no books, He had built no organization; there were no physical structures or monuments left to commemorate Him. He had placed the future of His earthly work entirely in the hands of His disciples. Had they failed there task, humanly speaking the church of Jesus Christ would not exist today. In the last decade, discipleship had become a popular subject in Christian circles. The great difficulty is that when we use this term we frequently mean something entirely different from that denoted by the biblical terms. For instance, we hear talk about discipling others or being discipled. People go to their Pastors and ask to be discipled just like Paul discipled Timothy. Now the question is just how did Paul discipled Timothy? This is precisely the problem. We almost completely fail to grasp the biblical concept (primitive) of discipleship. Questions are been raised to the fact that discipleship concept lacks clarity of what it means, how it is done and the likes of...
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...Discipleship Counseling Sharon Drexler Liberty University Abstract Neil Anderson’s book, entitled Discipleship Counseling is a complete guide to teach how to help those who are hurting. This book is a useful resource to counselors, pastors, church leaders, or anyone who needs a step by step guide to biblical counseling. Dr. Anderson gives readers a very strong foundation of counseling through Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, truth, the counselee’s faith, and the support of the church and Christian community. He discusses the encourager’s role in discipleship counseling as well as the role of the person being counseled. Anderson makes it clear that both parties must be open to the Holy Spirit and his truth if one wishes to reach the road to recovery, and the healing and peace that can only be found through Jesus Christ. The book is broken into three distinct sections to help the reader better understand how to reach these goals. The first section gives a description of mental health. In the second section Dr. Anderson describes root issues and how to counsel the spiritually oppressed and in the third section he takes the reader step-by-step through the freedom appointment and the Steps to Freedom. Discipleship Counseling Christians who choose psychology as a career are often challenged with claims that are a direct contradiction to their own worldviews, doctrines, and theology. In their search to resolve these issues and to achieve the goal of integrating...
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...Anderson’s book, Discipleship Counseling, is packed with information and insight that was inspired by the Holy Spirit on how to help people break free from personal or spiritual bondage and to also find the peace that only Christ can offer. Information is presented in a way that will enable a counselor to be more comfortable, confident and competent in a role as encourager. Knowledge is also shared so the counselor can be the kind of helper that is needed to help people be set free. A tool presented to the counselor is “The Steps to Freedom in Christ” which shows specific methods to discipleship counseling. Chapter themes, such as, “Defining mental health” and “Counseling the Spiritually Oppressed” go into specifics in certain areas that may need to be addressed in the counseling sessions. The information is presented in such a way that the counselor is able to take the information and put it into practice with those who come to them for help. Summary Discipleship Counseling by Dr. Neil Anderson (2003) provides the reader with great insight and prepares the counselor to be able to counsel and help those who are in bondage to past hurts and sin. The information in this book also provides counselors with the information to help free people from their emotional pain and spiritual conflicts and guide them to a more complete understanding of who they are in Christ. Starting with presenting an understanding of the theological issues in counseling and what discipleship counseling is...
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...And the rationale behind such relationship is to gain 100% attention of such individual, not only that such person will have freedom to express himself or herself to the person talking to him/her without any form of suspicion. This writeup is made to x-ray the importance of one-to-one discipleship as stated by our lord and saviour Jesus Christ. This report also focuses on the hinderances to this missing ingredient in christendom today. 1.1 Disciple In Christian usage a disciple is a follower of Jesus Christ, an adherent to the Christian tradition. A student, learner or pupil in the school of his/her master (Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers) Someone who believes in ideas of a great teacher especially a religious teacher and tries to follow him. Someone who has an aptitude to acquire knowledge from a mentor (disciplar). Someone that accept the doctrine of his master without any logical reason. The example is that of Jesus Christ and His disciples. Matt. 10:24 says “the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord’’. In other words no man can ever expect to be greater than Christ, for He is the only Lord and Christ (Act 2:36). The word disciple appears in the bible 28 times, while the plural form (disciples) appears 244 times The disciple, as an adherent and follower of Jesus is a prominent figure in each of the four Gospels, and is the counterpart of Jesus in His role as teacher, as well as...
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...Abstract Discipleship counseling means to help people with broken souls to walk freely with Jesus Christ. To understand the whole person the counselor must consider the body, soul, mind and spirit. Dr. Neil T. Anderson discusses three different themes throughout his book to help the counselee bring people back to God. The integration of Theology, the study of God and Psychology, the study of the soul, can cause concern in the Christian community. Wondering who is responsible for integrating God into the secular counseling can be easily answered. Defining mental health to alleviate some of the suffering related to the natural and spiritual realm. Keywords: discipleship counseling, integration, theology, psychology, secular, mental health Discipleship Counseling Caring to the desires and problems of hurting people today is difficult and can be overwhelming at times. As today’s generations search for purpose, meaning, and significance, many are experiencing a pervasive sense of emptiness and loneliness. Obviously, from a Christian approach the problem is a spiritual one and so must be the cure. Anderson explains that one of his basic themes is the idea that one’s identity in Jesus Christ can be nurtured by the counselor derived from a model based on integration of both Theology and Psychology. Methods are given to help counselee to overcome traumatic experiences in their lives. Traumatic experiences are deeply etched in people’s minds. They shape their beliefs about...
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...Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Man For many years the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer have touched many lives in the Christian community. The impact he has had and continues to have in today’s society is incredible and the reason for this paper is to examine the merits of his work and to look at his life and his particular place in Christian history by closely examining his background and historical setting, and some of his more significant works. This paper will look into Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship, and Ethics, and his Prison Correspondence. These works are important in understanding the man and as a theologian and they give an accurate picture of what it was like to live back in those times as a Christian. Despite the numerous accounts of WWII that are out there are very few that give us an account from the perspective of a Christian and the hope that all Christians can share even in the darkest of times. But before we get into his works let us take a look at some of his background. Who was Dietrich Bonhoeffer? With every great hero there must be a great villain, and in the case of Bonhoeffer there was no greater villain than the Nazi party or specifically Adolf Hitler himself. Not many people realize this but when Nazism first started it was considered a Christian movement coming from the Lutheran Church. The Nazi party tended to get much of their beliefs from the sayings of Martin Luther in his later life. Because in Luther’s later life he did come to write many anti-semantic...
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