Personal Plan to Develop Disciples for Jesus Christ Order Instructions: You will create a detailed explanation of your personal plan to develop disciples for Jesus Christ within a ministry context.
To develop your plan, thoroughly cover the 5 V’s of ministry as explained in the course textbooks:
1. Vision—What is your vision for ministry? Who are you focusing on? What regions, demographics, groups, ages, etc., are you aiming to reach and disciple?
2. Values—What are your core values in ministry? What passages and principles are you basing your plan upon? How do these passages apply?
3. Views—What are your most important ministry perspectives? What are your definitions for key terms within your ministry? Example terms include:
a. Church,
b. Pastor,
c. Saints,
d. Gospel,
e. Evangelism,
f. Disciple/Discipleship, and
g. Leader/Leadership.
4. Vehicles—What are the methods by which you will drive the discipleship process? How will you practically implement your plan? What church structure and systems will accomplish your vision? Be sure to cover the following items:
a. Church/organization structure,
b. Small group philosophy (With/Of/Is),
c. Calendar and events,
d. Budget personnel,
e. Curriculum,
f. Slogans, and
g. Communication plans.
5. Verifiers—What factors will you track to measure the success of your plan? What empirical evidence will you use to show the progress of your plan? How will you use these statistics and measures to further refine your Disciple Making Plan? Example measures include:
a. Win/Grow/Send,
b. Ratios and numbers, and
c. Other measures of ministry success.
Your plan must be at least 10 pages and must cover all 5 of the sections listed above. You must use at least 1 biblical reference per major section of your plan as well as at least 10 other scholarly sources to support your plan. Note that your plan must include a table of contents and bibliography; this will not contribute to the overall page count. Current Turabian format must be used.
Personal Plan to Develop Disciples for Jesus Christ Sample Answer
Introduction
In the event, that a Church leader in America is asked to give an account of the progress of the Church, his response would be typically based on some quantitative assessments. First and foremost, the leader will give detailed information on the number of worshipers who attend service every Sunday. He would also mention the buoyancy of the funds allocated towards the Church’s budget passed for the year, the portions directed towards the payment of salaries, remunerations, and church maintenance.
The Pastor or leader will also mention the effectiveness of their program designed to attract people who mostly are worshippers from the other neighboring Churches. With all this, the pastor’s assessment is considered impressive with an overall performance that is above average. Basing our thoughts from this the analogy, it is clear that the leaders today have missed out on some of the basic criteria’s that can be used to assess the functionality of a Church. The Great Commission specifies the responsibilities of each and every individual, “to reach out and make disciples of the nations, by teaching them the ways of Goad and directing them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:16-20.
Many leaders today have been infiltrated by the Church programs so much that they have forgotten to think about the commands of Jesus to go make disciples. Today Churches have developed programs that require believers to sign up and commit themselves to participate in winning souls for Jesus. In essence, winning souls and making disciples is more than just a program. This is the mission of our lives that define who we are in the eyes of God. This paper, therefore, seeks to pursue my personal plan to make disciples for Jesus Christ within the contexts of my ministry. In developing this plan of action, I will also draw focus on the 5Vs of ministry.
The vision for my Ministry
Vision is considered the most important element in leadership in the Christian circles. This term is used to describe the ability of a leader to formulate a plan that gives direction to the achievements he desires to make in the future and also describes the leader’s picture of the future. Biblically, the term is used to refer to an encounter with God where He imparts a special kind of revelation in either a dream or in a saying (Num. 12:6). Sometimes visions are considered as theophanies in the event that God speaks directly to the visionary (Num. 12:8). Most of the leaders in the scriptures were described as recipients to visions.
The Bible also portrays some individuals who received visions but were not leaders like Jeremiah and Isaiah. However, in Paul’s account of the qualification of leaders, he alleges to leaders and deacons who have heard visions from God. As a Christina leader, my vision solely remains my key to my influence in leadership. In my God-given Vision, I see a better picture of the future within my ministerial area that is guided by the scriptures and supplemented by direct communication with God. In other words, God has given me a plan for the Church since this is defined in His will.
My vision, therefore, entails a commitment to; ”Building a Relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in my Church, Area of Ministry and around the World for the glory of God and in accordance with the Great Commission. I can only achieve this vision when I integrate the prospects of the Great Commission into my area of Ministry. In achieving this vision, my focus will solely be on the youths who are pillars in a Nations and who need to be reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ that is contextualized into the modern times.
Personal Plan to Develop Disciples for Jesus Christ in Regions, Demographics, Groups, Ages
In my pursuit to reach the youths who are still unreached by the gospel of Jesus Christ, I was lead by the Spirit of God the places that stretch across Asia and Africa. As my mission strategy, I named this a Zone 101. This naming helped me in remembering the region since the area lies across the continents of Africa and Asia upon a latitude of 10 degrees north of the equator. The demographics of the unreached population portrays that close to two-thirds of the population in this continent, an approximation of more than 2.4 billion youths live within this continent and have not been reached by the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
This can be analyzed in other terms that close to 85% of the people living within the Zone 101 are un-evangelized. Many have not had the privilege to hear the gospel of the message of Jesus Christ. It is also empirical to realize that there are not many Christians who have reached these areas to evangelize probably due to hostility. In order to reach these youths and evangelize them, it is important that as a missionary, I have the role of living their own culture that will incorporate the learning of their language. Cross-Cultural evangelism is, therefore, the only approach that can be employed to reach these segments of youths with the message of the gospel. There are religions that are dominated by Islam and Buddhism. The age groups that I intend to reach are between 18 and 30 years within these continents. My main objective is based on the idea of reaching the youths and turn them into Disciples of Christ who will also disciple others to make the process complete
Personal Plan to Develop Disciples for Jesus Christ and the Core Values in Ministry
As a missionary tending to reach the youths in the Zone 101, my main values are to mainly touch the lives of this generation with the aim of disciplining them to transform and become the next leaders who while complete the transformative process. I believe that when the youths are reached with the right gospel that gives them the confidence to completes Gods mission on earth, they will have the confidence of reaching others for the advantage of the commission. These aspects define my core values in this ministry.
In view of this, there are passages that guide my ministry and give me principles upon which I build my plan upon. An example of a passage that guides me into believing that God is in search for the youths to turn the world around includes that of Joseph who was given responsibility at a young age. The scriptures imply that Joseph was assigned as an overseer in Egypt when he was in his youth stage;
Genesis 37:2; 39:1-4; The Bible mentions the generations of Jacob with Joseph being seventeen years old who pastured flocks with his siblings. He was the only boy that God had eyes on with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s other wives. Joseph one day brought a bad report of them to his father … This saw Joseph brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites as a slave. The Bible mentions that the LORD was with Joseph, and through this, he became a successful man, as he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master realized that the LORD was with Joseph and that the LORD had favor upon him that caused all that he did to succeed. Joseph out of the LORDs doing found favor in the eyes of his master and attended him, and his master made him an overseer of his house and latter gave him the responsibility of being put in charge of all that he had.
This Scripture applies to the generation of youths today who are the pillars of Nations. God is in the business of winning them with the objective to use them to impact the lives of others in this current age.
Personal Plan to Develop Disciples for Jesus Christ in My Ministry Perspectives
My perspective in these aspects entails reaching the youths and giving them opportunities to explore a vocational direction that answers their questions on Gods plans over their lives and the reasons behind Gods calling in their lives. This will be achieved in the event that the youths are in a position to showcase their stories to the world with the aim of changing the lives of others who are considered as lost.
Definitions for Key Terms within Your Ministry
Church; Many people believe that the Church is a building or organization. The original meaning of the Church in Greek is ekklesia which means an assembly of believers or a congregation. The definition of a Church can be described as a building where people worship in homes. According to the New Testament, the Church was described as a building in which a community of believers met in for fellowship Romans 16:5;1 Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:15; Philemon 1:2).
However, the Church is not a building as people perceive but a group of people neither it is not a denomination but everyone who has received the Spirit of God. A Church is, therefore, an institution where Christians meet and apply the requirement of 1 Corinthians 12 that advocates for the teaching, and building of believers in the knowledge of Christ Jesus.
Pastor; A Pastor is defined as one who tends the flocks and herds. In this definition, a Pastor can be described as a person called of God to minister his Gospel and who is in charge of a congregation. His sole duty also lies in watching over his flock through instructing them in the doctrines of the Bible.
Saint; The word “saint” is derived from a Greek verb, ”hagiazo” which means to set aside, sanctify, or to make Holy. A saint is, therefore, a person who is recognized for living a holy life and has the ability to help sinners find the way to heaven.
Gospel; In 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, Paul as an apostle derives the ingredients of the gospel message that details the death, burial, resurrection, and appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospel, therefore, means the good news of the gospel.
Disciple/Discipleship; A disciple is described as a follower of Christ as described in Luke 10:1. In other words, a disciple is a pupil who is subject to the adherent or a follower of Christ Jesus. Discipleship implies the process in which a disciple is made and concerted into a disciple.
Leader/ Leadership; Leadership is defined as a person who has influence over people. A person who has the capacity to lead others by influencing them is referred to as a leader.
Methods of Driving the Discipleship Process
In driving my process of discipleship, I have designed a structure that aligns those I have reached to join in my vision by maturing and reproducing other disciples who can take the mantle in reproducing other disciples. Matthew 4:19 gives a clear description of what a disciple should be, and through this, I intend to initiate teaching programs to enlighten the new converts on the essence of obeying the command to make disciples. With a vision, I have the mandate as a leader to derive appropriate approaches geared towards meeting my goals of making disciples.
In implementing my plan, I will need the initiative of the community to be reached to cooperate with me in the implementation of the plan. I will also need the assistance of the local missioners who are vast with the language and the culture of the people within Zone 101. Training the local missioner will give an easy in achieving my objectives to reach the local people within Zone 101. I will also need the finances and the support from my local Church in order to make my mission complete. I will also need the assistance of my local Church to also send missioners into the mission field to help facilitate the process.
The Organizations Structure of the Church that supports my mission is based upon the purpose and the approaches that it employs in achieving the great commission. The organizational structure of my church provides a structure that enables the Church to pursue the mission as stipulated in the scriptures. The Church’s mission statement is determined to reach out to the lost with the gospel, a factor that enables me to get the support needed in carrying out this mission. The structure of the Church is one that trains disciples and sends out the disciples to reach to the lost.
In my approach to reach to the lost in the Zone 101, I have the strategy of employing the small group’s model that will enable me to reach out to new people and bring them to the saving knowledge of Christ. Through his structure, the members who belong to this group will be encouraged to bring friends and new members into the fellowship with the aim of reaching out to the society holistically.
In achieving the goals stipulated in my vision, I have come up with a calendar that lists the events that will take place during this period. I have given the mission a time period of one month in which I will engage in the door to door evangelism and also employ hospital and school ministries to reach out to the youths. After the one month, I will initiate a follow-up plan that will trace the new believers who have received salvation and incorporate them into small cell groups that will monitor their growth. In achieving my mission, there will be a need for finances. Through this, I will initiate budget personnel that will be responsible in the coordination of the financial needs with the local church and account for the pennies spent during the mission.
It will also be important that I develop a curriculum that will help in reaching out to the lost and teaching them the doctrines of our faith. The curriculum will be developed on the context of the scriptures and will teach the new disciples how to grow in the faith and also how to reach out to the souls that are lost. A teaching guide will be developed to enable the new believers to follow in the doctrines of the faith.
Our slogan will be based on Roman 1; 16 that states that I am not ashamed of the Gospel since this is the power of God that brings salvation to those who believe in Him, first to the Jew, then to the Gentiles. This will be the major theme that will guide me into transforming the thoughts of the youths in Zone 101. Lastly, it will be my responsibility to develop and come up with a communication plan. Considering the modern trends and time, it will be imperative to use technology platforms to communicate with new believers from time to time.
Factors Will You Track To Measure the Success of Your Plan
In measuring the success of my plan, it will be significant to evaluate the new believers who have been transformed and shaped by the gospel and have also impacted and brought lives to the Kingdom of God. Measuring this would entail the realization that reproduction in discipleship has taken place and still continue to take place. These factors will act as the empirical pieces of evidence that will determine the growth of my ministry.
Through the achievement of this, I will be able to formulate better approaches that are contextualized to reach different groups in Zone 101. The numbers of new converts who have been transformed will also determine the growth of my plans and vision. With all this, it is imperative to notice that growth will only occur in the event that the new believers are transformed, filled with the Spirit of God and are also agents of change in their society. I will be in a position to monitor the progress and also employ other approaches and structures that can reach to the youths who have different backgrounds.
Conclusion
In respect to this, it is important for leaders today to realize that the last Commission of Jesus Christ to His Apostles remains the fundamental law of the Kingdom on Earth today. In harmony to this Command, the Apostles took the opportunity of preaching the word as was stated in the law with the agenda for reaching souls for Christ.
The Great Commission was given to the Apostles before the ascension took place. This Commission was and still remains the plan of the Gods Kingdom that makes us believer have a role to play. In this law, the disciples were given the mandate to reproduce themselves through a process of discipleship that trained the new believers on the doctrines of the faith. Making disciples remains the essence of the great commission. This mission has been passed down from generation to generation and now remains our responsibility to also pass it to other generation.
Personal Plan to Develop Disciples for Jesus Christ References
- “AFRICA – IMF: Mission Visits and New Funding.” Africa Research Bulletin: Economic, Financial & Technical Series52, no. 2: 20744A-20746C.
Barton, Ruth Haley, Diane J. Chandler, Tan Siang-Yang, Judy Tenelshof, and James C. Wilhoit. 2014. “Spiritual Formation in the Church.” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 7, no. 2: 291-311. Academic Search Premier,
Beck, Richard. 2014. “The Integration of Theology and Psychology Within the Church of Christ Tradition: Psychotherapy and Positive Psychology as Case Studies.” Journal Of Psychology & Christianity33, no. 4: 344-353. Academic Search Premier,
Collinson, Sylvia Wilkey. 2005. “Making Disciples and the Christian Faith.” Evangelical Review of Theology 29, no. 3: 240-250.Academic Search Premier,
Hewitt, Roderick R. 2014. “Evangelism as Discipleship.”International Review of Mission 103, no. 2: 200-214. Academic Search Premier,
Keener, Craig S. “Matthew’s Missiology: Making Disciples of the Nations (Matthew 28:19-20).” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 12, no. 1 (January 2009): 3-20. Academic Search Premier.
Ordan, Richard. 2014. “A Militant Crusade in Africa: The Great Commission and Segregation.” Church History 83, no. 4: 957-987.Academic Search Premier.
Sprochi, Amanda. 2011. “Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary.”Library Journal 136, no. 12: 102-107. Professional Development Collection.
Vajko, Robert. 2014. “The Gospel Commission: Recovering God’s Strategy for Making Disciples.” Mission Studies: Journal of The International Association For Mission Studies 31, no. 1: 104-105.Academic Search Premier,
Zondervan to publish updated NIV Bible.” Christian Century 126, no. 20 (October 6, 2009): 13-14. Academic Search Premier.
[1]. Zondervan to publish updated NIV Bible.” Christian Century 126, no. 20 (October 6, 2009): 13-14.
[2] . Barton, Ruth Haley, Diane J. Chandler, Tan Siang-Yang, Judy Tenelshof, and James C. Wilhoit. 2014. “Spiritual Formation in the Church.” Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul Care 7, no. 2: 291-311.
[3]. Zondervan to publish updated NIV Bible.” Christian Century 126, no. 20 (October 6, 2009): 13-14.
[4]. Ibid. 1
[5]. Collinson, Sylvia Wilkey. 2005. “Making Disciples and the Christian Faith.” Evangelical Review Of Theology 29, no. 3: 240-250.
[6]. Ordan, Richard. 2014. “A Militant Crusade in Africa: The Great Commission and Segregation.” Church History 83, no. 4: 957-987.
[7]. Ibid. 2
[8]. Collinson, Sylvia Wilkey. 2005. “Making Disciples and the Christian Faith.” Evangelical Review of Theology 29, no. 3: 240-250.
. Ibid. 3
[10]. Zondervan to publish updated NIV Bible.” Christian Century 126, no. 20 (October 6, 2009): 13-14.
[11] . Sprochi, Amanda. 2011. “Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary.”Library Journal 136, no. 12: 102-107.
. Ibid. 5
[14] . Hewitt, Roderick R. 2014. “Evangelism as Discipleship.”International Review of Mission 103, no. 2: 200-214.
[15] . Keener, Craig S. “Matthew’s Missiology: Making Disciples of the Nations (Matthew 28:19-20).” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 12, no. 1 (January 2009): 3-20. Academic Search Premier.
[16] . Vajko, Robert. 2014. “The Gospel Commission: Recovering God’s Strategy for Making Disciples.” Mission Studies: Journal of The International Association For Mission Studies 31, no. 1: 104-105.
[17]. Zondervan to publish updated NIV Bible.” Christian Century 126, no. 20 (October 6, 2009): 13-14.
[18]. Ibid. 6
[19]. Vajko, Robert. 2014. “The Gospel Commission: Recovering God’s Strategy for Making Disciples.” Mission Studies: Journal of The International Association For Mission Studies 31, no. 1: 104-105.
[20] . Ibid. 7
[21]. 2015. “AFRICA – IMF: Mission Visits and New Funding.” Africa Research Bulletin: Economic, Financial & Technical Series 52.
