DESCRIPTION: The church today needs to recapture the mission given by Jesus to
go and make disciples of all nations. Often, while the church has gone wider,
it has not gone deeper. As well, the impact of Christian discipleship has been
criticized as being privately engaging, but socially irrelevant. The purpose of
this class is to develop a long-term, biblical strategy that returns to making
disciples of Jesus Christ the central mission of the church.
SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: This course will equip the student to think
about who is a disciple, what is discipleship, and how you go about growing
people to maturity. We will explore personal methods of disciple-making, such
as one-to-one relationships in mentorship, spiritual direction, and counseling;
and group disciple-making methods, such as small groups for fellowship,
accountability, recovery, ministry teams, etc.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: The student will (1) articulate a biblical, theological, and
missiological understanding of making disciples in contemporary society; (2)
appreciate the importance of a curriculum in the local church, by understanding
the personal and communal nature of Christian discipleship; (3) have tools for
evaluating contemporary discipleship programs; (4) be sensitive to engage in
disciplemaking programs according to sociocultural variables of gender, age,
ethnicity, and spiritual development levels (understanding how social sciences
provide insights into Christian ministry); (5) evaluate the current model and
create a plan for a revised model of disciplemaking that is culturally relevant
to the student's church or ministry situation; (6) be more committed to the
formation of disciples in the context of Christian community; (7) gain skills
is creating an environment that fosters Christian discipleship.
COURSE FORMAT: The class will meet on intensive weekends Fridays 7 p.m.- 10
p.m., and Saturdays from 9:00a.m. to 12 m.d. and 1-4 p.m. Classes will combine
lecture (information) with a constructivist approach for creating knowledge
(formation) highlighting the students' ministerial experiences that can be
shared in the classroom. There will be some reading and other preparation
before each class session. There will also be assignments due later in the
quarter. Details of these tasks and deadlines will be provided in the
syllabus.
REQUIRED READING:
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT: