Discipling (Christianity)

James Allen Ross

The purpose of this project was to develop a strategy of intergenerational discipleship for Church on Bayshore, Niceville, Florida. The primary goals for this project were to explore existing models of intergenerational discipleship, assess Church on Bayshore’s potential receptivity to intergenerational discipleship methods, lead a team to develop a strategy of intergenerational discipleship for Church on Bayshore, and present the strategy for approval. To accomplish the goals of this project, the project director utilized various methods to measure achievement. This included evaluations, tests, expert evaluators, and designated groups within the church. The strategy was developed and approved for implementation. The implementation of the strategy is beyond the scope of this project.

David Delane Baysinger

The purpose of this project was to develop a disciple-making strategy for the student ministry of First Baptist Church (FBCC), Corinth, Texas. The project director conducted assessments to determine the disciple-making potential within the student ministry. Then he researched existing disciple0making methods and strategies to determine best practices. The project director synthesized all assessments and research and presented it to the strategy planning team. The team worked together to develop a final disciple-making strategy, which included a discipleship pathway and small-ratio discipleship groups. The project director presented the final disciple-making strategy to the ministerial staff for feedback affirmation. He also presented the strategy to the deacon body for encouragement and prayer.

Timothy A. Bates

This project was designed to equip parents in their role as the primary disciple makers of their children. The project was completed in the context of Southside Baptist Church in Ozark, Alabama, where the project director serves as the pastor. He used the equipping program model for this project. The project director researched methods of discipleship in regard to parenting and then developed a curriculum in order to teach selected parents of the church with these discipleship practices. He used four select teaching times to equip selected adults of Southside Baptist Church, Ozark, Alabama, with competencies to disciple their children. The intended results were for the parents to be better equipped and more confident in discipling their own children. The project was also intended to strengthen the whole church, inspiring parents and their children to both become more active and grow through the experience.

J. David Apple

The purpose of this project was to equip selected members of Big Canoe Chapel, Big Canoe, Georgia, to discover and integrate biblical prayers and disciplines of prayer modeled in Scripture. The project director will research selected prayers in Scripture in order to emphasize key personal prayer disciplines among the multi-denominational congregation. He will develop and conduct an equipping workshop for the selected group of individuals.

The project director will purposefully increase understanding of a variety of prayer disciplines represented at Big Canoe Chapel. The project director will also increase knowledge for developing training experiences regarding prayer for persons from a variety of Christian traditions.

Travis Ryan Benge D.Ed.Min.

This project sought to equip Great Commission leaders at MacArthur Blvd Baptist Church (MBBC), Irving, Texas. Chapter 1 presents the history and ministry context of MBBC. The chapter also explains the project’s goals, the need for equipping leaders, and how this project was conducted and measured. Definitions and delimitations specific to the project are also included.
Chapter 2 discusses the cycle of the disciple-making process. The chapter provides an exegesis of three passages of Scripture. The first is Matthew 28:18-20, the Great Commission. This passage shows that disciple-making begins with Jesus’s command to make disciples, demonstrating the entire process of discipleship, and states that disciple-making begins with evangelism and the conversion the Holy Spirit brings. The second section exegetes Matthew 4:18-22 to show upon conversion, and trusting and following Christ, believers are called to enter intentional discipleship relationships. The third section exegetes 2 Timothy 2:1-7 to demonstrate the importance of generational discipleship, which in this passage shows leaders being sent out. The final cycle of the Great Commission is the development, coaching, and deployment of disciple-makers.
Chapter 3 argues that developing faithful Christian leaders takes development in character and competencies. To have high character but not have the competencies to lead falls short of godly leadership. On the inverse, to have ungodly character and exceptional competencies falls short of the leadership to which God calls his leaders. This chapter is broken down into the necessity of leadership and the model for leadership. Both sections discuss character and competencies. Chapter 4 describes the project itself, recounting the content and teaching methodology of the specific course curriculum. Chapter 5 evaluates the project’s efficacy based on the completion of the specified goals. This project equipped coaches with the confidence and competency to develop shepherd leaders to lead groups with a Great Commission focus.

Kevin Richard D.Ed.Min.

Teaching Their Biblical Role in Family Ministry to Parents of South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas

Kevin Richard, Doctor of Educational Ministry
Advisor: Danny R. Bowen, Ph. D
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2022

This project was designed to educate and encourage adults to take to heart their call to be the primary disciple in the life of their own children. The goals are to find out where parents are and how they view their role in discipleship towards their children, to create a curriculum to help them in understating their role, then to implement the curriculum and see if it helps.

Jeffery N. Gray

The purpose of this project was to develop a disciple-making strategy for First Baptist Church of Warrensburg, Warrensburg, Missouri, to equip transient families in military contexts. During the first phase of this project the project director researched the demographics of the Warrensburg community and Whiteman Air Force Base. He also looked at the discipleship demographics of First Baptist Church of Warrensburg. The project director looked at disciple-making resources to determine best practices that would inform this project. The second phase of this project was the strategic planning stage. During this stage, the project director assembled, equipped, and led a team to determine the best strategy to equip transient families in military contexts for First Baptist Church of Warrensburg. The final state was the presentation phase. The project director presented the strategy for equipping disciple making to the elders of First Baptist Church of Warrensburg for approval.

Henry Kliewer

Having walked with the Mennonite Church in a pastoral capacity for over 40 years, the last six as conference pastor of Mennonite Church Manitoba (MCM), I sensed a growing need among its member congregations for renewal of relationship with God and with each other. The concept of " covenant" became a vehicle for testing the potential for meeting such a need. Research in various disciplines — biblical, historical and sociological — broadened the understanding of the term and provided the basis for the doctor in ministry project.

Using the research and participatory methodologies in the project, I took a sample group through a real life experiment with covenant-renewing. The responses of the participants and my analysis sought to answer the hypothesis that a renewed covenant with God is foundational to other relationships in Christian community; it enables the MCM community to grow in faithfulness to God and each other amidst the issues of faith and life, and to discern together through the Holy Spirit the Way of Jesus.

John L Schrock

The Congregational Discipling Model (CDM) is a way of organizing churches that has been developed for use with Mennonite Church USA congregations. This Doctor of Ministry research dissertation seeks to understand the history of the CDM and to assess how the model has been implemented and is working in congregations that have reorganized using the CDM.

The researcher is an ordained minister in Mennonite Church USA who has served in pastoral leadership in congregations from both of the denominations that became Mennonite Church USA (the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church) as well as congregations in the newly formed denomination. The story of the researcher's journey in pastoral ministry in Mennonite congregations is included in this project dissertation since this story provides some of the context for the research that was done. A chapter is also included that looks at how Family Systems Theory helps to inform the researcher's perspective on how congregations function-and also how the researcher functions in congregational leadership.

Catherine E Smith

How can congregations prepare our young people for the challenges of an unknown future? I came into this project with three assumptions: the key to preparing our young people for the future lies in identity formation; the identity that will sustain them in the unknown is the one given to them in Baptism; and the best opportunity for churches to shape and nurture this identity is through the ongoing, life-long experience of congregational worship. Thus, this project questions how identity is shaped, what identity the young people of our congregations are currently being shaped in, what the content of Baptismal Identity is, and how congregations can best shape and nurture that identity through congregational worship. Identity, the project finds, is shaped as practices and liturgies of the various cultures in which we live, work, learn, play, and worship inform our understanding of who we are, who our people are, and what our hope and purpose are. The project investigates the various cultures in which our young people dwell and the faith our churches are largely teaching them; and then claims that the identity these cultures and faith instruction are shaping and nurturing in our young people will not sustain them in the unknown challenges of the future. Following a broad study of Biblical covenant history, creation in the imago dei, new creation in Christ, the covenant family of God, and the call to live out God’s relational purposes and redemptive plan; I propose a definition of the identity our young people receive in the waters of baptism which will provide the solid ground on which they will need to walk in the unknown future.