A Proposal on Discipleship and Its Impact on Church Growth
CHAPTER ONE
The Purpose of the Study
The following research objectives will be ascertained;
- To examine the importance of discipleship programme in the growing of churches.
- To identify the roles of church members and leaders in discipleship ministry and growth of the church.
- To seeing our church growing in quality as it was in the time of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- To recommend to the church the biblical principles of discipleship as demonstrated by biblical leaders of various era.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Definition of discipleship
Kittel (1965:808) defines “discipleship” as “fellowship”. “In Galatians 2:9, shaking hands is an expression of the full fellowship established by a common faith in Christ.”
In general terms discipleship is the experience of people who have an interest in each other, as they honestly open their heart stooneanother (Charles1980:6).This is generally understood to take place within the context of participation in fellowship, friendship and a spirit of community. To gain a clear understanding of the full meaning of the word, it is necessary to define it more precisely.
InhisTheologicalDictionaryoftheNewTestament,Kittel(1965:797)notes“discipleshipisderivedfromtheGreekwordkoinos,anditsvariants.Koinosmeans„common‟,inthesenseof mutual or shared. The nouns „discipleship‟, „koinonos‟ and „koinoneo‟ express that which we possess in common.” (Stott 1982:85) The verbal form „koinoneo‟ denotes that which a group of people holds jointly. It thus expresses the concept of sharing things or close friendship with others (Kittel 1965:797).
MacArthur(1973:170) says that“ discipleship is sharing a partnership, commonness, fellowship, and communion.”
The practical outcome of discipleship is that those who experience the grace of the salvation of God seek close fellowship with other believers, sharing the love of God and material possessions with each other. The outcome of such a lifestyle is that other people who observe it are drawn to seeking the salvation of God, and participating in the fellowship between God and other believers.
Discipleship is the transliteration of the Greek word (κοινωνία) which means communion in the sense of intimate participation. The word is used frequently in the New Testament to describe the relationship of believers to each other in the early Christian church. It is also used when referring to the act of breaking bread in the manner which Christ prescribed during the Pass over meal (Matthew26:26-28, 1 Corinthians10:16, 1 Corinthians11:24).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work. The choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to discipleship and its impact on church growth.
References
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- Earley, Dave and Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is…: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2013.
- Malphurs,Aubrey. Being Leaders: The Nature of Authentic Christian Leadership, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2003.
- Putman, Jim, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E Coleman. DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Grand Rapids, MI, United States: Zondervan, 2013.
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