User:Mogroup1/Core Discipleship

'''CORE Discipleship: 3 Strands. 3 Stages. 3 People.'''

The basis for Core Discipleship is contained within the following: "One standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer; three is even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

Oswald Chambers wrote, “Jesus Christ did not say, "Go and save souls", but He said, "Go … make disciples of all the nations … " Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. The great essential is remaining true to the call of God, and realizing that his one and only purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. If I follow any other method, I depart altogether from the methods prescribed by our Lord ..."

The Great Commission has three participles: "go," "baptizing," and "teaching” and one imperative verb, a command: "make disciples." The main idea is to make disciples. The participles tell us how to do that: we make disciples by going, baptizing, and teaching. So the goal of discipleship is to make disciples, teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:18-19).

Jesus' 3-Strand Discipleship

The most effective manner to train and equip people for any skill is by providing effective models and opportunities to practice the skill itself. Jesus used a show, tell, release, and supervise model of training. Jesus ministered to the multitudes (crowd), the 12 (cell), and the inner circle of 3 (core). After calling the disciples, He took them along with Him, teaching and healing the sick as He went. Then, after He thought the disciples had seen and learned enough to try for themselves, He commissioned, empowered, instructed, and sent them out to do the same things. This discipleship process should be no different for those desiring to bring others into a complete understanding and walk in Christ-likeness.

John Wesley’s 3-Strand Discipleship

In 1743 John Wesley created a 3-strand discipleship model, a company of people having the form and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray together, to receive the word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that they might help each other to work out their own salvation. The 3 groups were called societies (multitude), classes (cells), and bands (core).

CORE 3-Strand Discipleship Process

The CORE discipleship process can be integrated using all 3 strands or by launching a CORE Group. It can be used by any Christian church as a road-map and adapted to fit any church expression. In addition to the model, resources are easily and readily available to assist you in equipping the saints.

Strand 1: Crowd

Size: 50+ people; typically the large gathering of saints for corporate worship

Purpose: To bring about a change in knowledge

Focus: celebration - worship.

Wesley's society or crowd group included those in a geographical area, much like a typical, congregational meeting in today’s church. These large groups of people met once a week to pray, sing, study scripture, and to watch over one another in love. However, as is true of today's corporate church gathering, there was little or no provision made at this level for personal response or feedback.

Strand 2: Cell

Size: 5-16 people

Purpose: To bring about behavioral change; conduct

Focus: community - fellowship.

Wesley's class or cell group was the most basic group structure of the society. The class was composed of 12-20 members, both sexes, mixed by age, social standing and spiritual readiness, under the direction of a trained leader. It was not a gathering for academic learning. They met weekly in the evening for mutual confession of sin and accountability for growing in holiness. This group provided the structure to more closely inspect the condition of the flock, to help them through trials and temptations, and to bring further understanding in practical terms to the messages they had heard preached in the public society meeting. Membership in a class meeting was non-negotiable. If you wanted to continue in the society you had to be in a class. In 1742 in one society in London there were 426 members, divided into 65 classes. Eighteen months later that same society had 2200 members, all of whom were in classes. Every week each class member was expected to speak openly and honestly on the true state of his or her soul. This strand closely resembles today's cell group, small group, life group, etc.

Strand 3: CORE

Size: 3 or 4 people

Purpose: To bring about a change of direction, heart and position; knowledge, character and conduct

Focus: committment - discipleship.

Wesley's band or CORE was made up of 4 members, all the same sex, age, and marital status. This was a voluntary group of people who professed a clear Christian commitment, who desired to grow in love, holiness, and purity of motive. The environment was one of ruthless honesty and frank openness. There were specific rules about punctuality and order within the meeting. He introduced accountability questions which everyone answered openly and honestly in the meeting each week. Bands became the training ground for future leaders. This group held to extreme confidentiality in a “safe place”, mutual submission where matters of indifference were yielded to the released leader, and godly stewardship. This was the group that could intensively pursue goals and vision together. There is a strong case to be made for churches to review, adapt and integrate a 3-Strand Discipleship Process into their expression. It begins with the Bible, is supported by sociological evidence, makes sense from an organizational standpoint, and has been proven successful for thousands of years.

Biblical Evidence for 3-Strand Discipleship

Scripture paints a clear picture of a God who not only lives in community but embraces and seeks after it. First, with Adam (Gen.1:26), then with the people of Israel (Deut.6:4) and finally in the Godhead itself (John 1:1-3). There is power in a cord of three and this concept runs throughout God's Word. Since God Himself lives and works in community, and we are made in the likeness of God, then we too are created to live in and for community. To be human is to hunger for community.

Additionally, Jesus and the disciples modeled a closely knit community. Christ Himself came to provide community and live with us (Mth. 1:23) and then He called a small group of disciples to live and walk with Him (Mark 3:7-10,13-14). Jesus knew that the multitudes had great needs, but chose to minister to the twelve and especially the three (Peter, James and John). By walking with and training a few, He ultimately transformed many lives.

This cord of three strands is seen in Jesus' prayer that we may be one as He and the Father and Holy Spirit are one (John 17:11). Additionally, Christ sees our unity and community as our message to the world that He came and that He is love, and if we, the Church, fail at community, we fail our mission (John 17:21, 23).

Relational Evidence for 3-Strand Discipleship

There is relational evidence that God created us to crave relationships and community: • God wants us to seek a relationship with Him (Acts 17:24-27) • God wants us to have relationships with others (Genesis 2:18) • God reveals His emotions to us (Ephesians 4:30; Zephaniah 3:17) • God intervenes when we can’t communicate (Romans 8:26-27)

There is also blessing that comes from community: • Strength for storms of life (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12) • Wisdom for making good decisions (Proverbs 15:22) • Confidentiality and accountability for spiritual health (Proverbs 27:17) • There is strength, reliability and assurance in community (Proverbs 18:24)

Structural Evidence for 3-Strand Discipleship

As churches are planted to accomplish God’s work in the world, organization becomes a necessity to ensure community. The CORE Discipleship process and groups are a way to ensure that this done in a life-giving manner by “doing life together” - everyone is cared for and no one cares for too many (not more than four). Just as is true in a natural family, the CORE Discipleship Process enhances spiritual parenting to ensure that no one stands alone, struggles alone, serves alone, develops alone, seeks alone, or grows up alone.

The CORE Discipleship Process and groups are a God-ordained way to provide infrastructure within any church to assure the development of disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), where the workload is shared (Exodus 18:9-22), where everyone receives care (Acts 6:1) and where leadership can be determined, equipped and repeated (Titus 1:5).

Finally, the CORE Discipleship Process provides a structure for “mutual membership” to promote unity in the body (Ephesians 4:1-6, 11-16), a sense of belonging to one another (Romans 7:2-4) and a place to edify, bless, grow, serve and challenge each other through the exercise of each person's spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 12:12-27).

The Promise

The last phrase of Matthew 28:20 contains an incredible promise: "And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." In context, this verse is primarily talking about making disciples. What Jesus is saying is that when we make disciples according to His plan and process, He will be with us. When Jesus sees a disciple making church, He gets involved there. When He sees disciples going out to make new disciples, then baptizing and teaching them, He is very present. According to Romans 12:1-2; Romans 8:29, God wants disciples to be conformed to Christ's image, and according to His Commission, He promises to help us make disciples to accomplish His plan.