Building a Discipleship Blueprint

1 Peter 2:4-5

        Congratulations, we are in a building program. You and I are builders. Jesus was a builder (carpenter) and we want to be builders like Jesus. And we want to build like Jesus built. We, like Jesus, are building lives. That is what the ministry of the church of Jesus Christ is all about.

Works of ministry are done so that the body of Christ may be built up (Eph. 4:11-12).

Followers of Jesus are challenged to continue growing in the faith of Jesus.

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness" (Col 2:6-7).

This imagery comparing expanding the Kingdom of God to building a house runs throughout the New Testament.

Peter says, "As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—⁵you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:4-5).

The Great Commission calls us to partner with God in this great building project.

As a builder partnering with God to make disciples, we need a clear blueprint for the steps of discipleship.

Defining Our Ministry Process is Crucial to Making Disciples.

Biblical Foundation: Follow me ... Make disciples.

Great Commandment: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31).

Great Commission: "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).

Defining the process or the steps to making disciples is formulating a strategy for moving people through the disciple-making process.

Determine what kind of disciple Jesus wants to produce.

Jesus said, this is the most important thing for any follower: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31).

By thinking of steps, we are able to describe the process to produce disciples. And by knowing the process, we are able to make a blueprint that will lead people through the steps of discipleship.

What I think we really want is followers of Jesus who are actively partnering with God

by connecting with God through worship,

by connecting with believers for spiritual growth in a small group,

and partnering with God in a ministry of making disciples?

Decide how each program fits the discipleship process. Each program must contribute to the process of making disciples.

Illustration of the Ministry Blueprint

Removing Congestion and Enabling Movement

Many churches are spiritually congested. Spiritual movement is stifled.

Unveiled Faces: "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18).

Because the Spirit of God lives in us, the glory of God is ever increasing as we become more like Jesus.

Just as God transformed the face of Moses, He wants to transform our hearts and our lives.

As a church our part is to design a ministry process that puts people in the place for God to transform them.

        God has designed spiritual growth to be a process. That process begins with becoming followers of Jesus and experiencing the transforming power of God in our hearts. The discipleship process moves people to greater levels of commitment as they experience spiritual transformation. We begin with our clearly defined process for discipleship and build our church’s ministry around that process. Moving people step by step through the transformations.