ASBURY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY a community called ••• This material has been provided by Asbury Theological Seminary in good faith of following ethical procedures in its production and end use. The Copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States code) govems the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under celiain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to fumish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy of reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. By using this material, you are consenting to abide by this copyright policy. Any duplication, reproduction, or modification of this material without express written consent from Asbury Theological Seminary and/or the original publisher is prohibited. © Asbury Theological Seminary 2011 800.2ASBURYasburyseminary.edu 859.858.3581 204 North Lexington Avenue, Wilmore, Kentucky 40390 . ..... __ .. _ - ASBURY SEMINARY 1010704071 11111111111 ABSTRACT OUTFITTING TEAM-DESIGNED PROCESS FOR DEVELOPING AND EQUIPPING DISCIPLES by Dennis . Heiberg As Church upon its third millennium, researchers have lack of intentional discipleship development has ill a without depth. of this to a team of from United Methodist Florida, of an intentional ..... ro,,,.,"' ... for \.oLVVH;'~ and spiritually healthy study sought to the effect of designing an intentional ...... .,.r,I''''''t:''' for ..... .l~'VH/,''"' making eighteen-year-old church a team approach pastor and thirty key leaders. The study made use of an image that would communicate the challenge today's discipleship development, the sport of whitewater rafting. In this metaphor the church viewed as an outfitter, "Outfitting Disciples for the Journey of a LJu,,-,uun. " providing necessary resources and training for equipping healthy disciples. study with the completing the Natural Development questionnaire determine the level spiritual health of Grace as determined by eight quality characteristics. Two researcher-designed performance audit questionnaires were also . One analyzed church's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. other assessment was a Personal Discipleship Evaluation that sought to measure participants' spiritual maturity in discipleship development. At the conclusion , a posttest instrument was administered to who were able to remain in the designing phase of the discipleship 1J.LL<""u." process for determining how they were affected. ~U"A~"~j"'U revealed that in midst developing a and intentional ministry tool for the church, our team in community with one another, commitment to own personal discipleship development, and to an intentional for Church. The strength of study is that it was done with the laity of the church in a small setting over a period of time allowing relationships to built, .. ""cn""/~t and vision to shared. We found the image of whitewater vividly illustrated the journey of a disciple, therefore, would be usable in a variety of churches and cultures. OUTFITTING DISCIPLES: TEAM-DESIGNED PROCESS FOR DEVELOPING AND EQUIPPING DISCIPLES A Dissertation the Faculty Asbury Theological Seminary In Partial Fulfillment the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Ministry by C. May 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables .......................................................................................................... x L'IS t 0 fF'Igures ...................................................................................................... XIII... Acknowledgments ............................................................................................. Chapter 1 Overview of the Study ............................................................................... 1 Background to the Study ......................................................................... 1 The Problem ............................................................................................ 3 Biblical and Theological Foundations .................................................... 7 Purpose Statement ................................................................................... 8 Questions ................................................................................. 8 Research Question 1 .......................................................................... 8 Question 2 .......................................................................... 8 Research Question 3 .......................................................................... 9 Questi on 4 .......................................................................... 9 Definition of ................................................................................ 9 A Winning Team ................................................................................ 9 Intentional .......................................................................................... 9 Strategy or Game ..................................................................... 10 Whitewater .......................................................................... 10 Outfitting .......................................................................................... 10 Outfitter...................... .......................... ............................................ 11 III Spiritually Healthy ........................................................................... 11 Disciple ........................................................................................... II Disciple Making ............................................................................... 11 Purpose ............................................................................... 12 Gift-Ba'3ed Ministry ........................................................................ 12 Mission ........................................................................................... 12 .................................................................................... 13 Natural Church Development .......................................................... 13 Discipleship Evaluation .................................................... 13 Strengths, Weaknesses, Obstacles, Threats ..................................... 14 Context the Study ............................................................................. 14 Description the Project ..................................................................... 19 Methodology ......................................................................................... 19 Subjects ................................................................................................. 20 Instrumentation ..................................................................................... 20 Data Collection ..................................................................................... 21 Delimitations Generalizability the Study ................................... 21 Overview of Dissertation ...................................................................... 22 =hapter 2 Review of Related Literature .................................................................. 23 A History the Church's Mission ............................................. Disciple Making in United Methodist Church ................................ 26 lV The an Intentional Strategy ................................................... A for Transformation.. ............................................... John Wesley's Model for Making Disciples ........................................ ...................................................................................... 37 The Meeting ........................................................................ 38 The Band .......................................................................................... 40 The Society ........................................................................... The Bands .......................................................................... 43 Wesley's Foundational Principles for ....................... 44 with Other ................................................. 45 Wesley's Group Strategies ............................................................... 46 Wesley's Leadership ....................................................... 47 Wesley's on Personal Experience ......................................... 48 Discipleship Image of Whitewater Rafting .................................. 49 Biblical and Theological for Disciples ................. 51 A Biblical Disciple ................................................................................ 53 Jesus' Intentional Strategy Disciple Making .................................. 56 Hands-On Making ............................................................. 57 Vital Elements for Biblical Ie Making ...................................... 58 Biblical Mandates for Disciples ................................. 60 Gift-Based Ministry ......................................................................... 63 Natural Church Development Characteristics ...................................... 64 v Empowering -LJv'",.... ...,. Gift-Oriented Ministry ..............................................................