One on One
In his
book The Master Plan of Evangelism Robert Coleman points out the example of
Jesus in his ministry as individual instruction, small group instruction and
preaching to large congregations. These
three are at least helpful in considering how a church should organize the
discipleship ministry of the church.
Making disciples is a direct command in Scripture (Mt 28:18-19). Jesus’ example of making disciples when working
with individuals, small groups, and larger gatherings is strategic for the
modern church. This blog post focuses on one to one discipleship.
Richard Baxter (1615-1691) in
his book “The Reformed Pastor” describes how he traveled from home to home
teaching the catechism. He had a clerk arrange
appointments for the members of the parish.
Rev. Baxter would visit each family in the parish. The church provided printed
catechisms which he left with his congregation members. His approach was to talk with all members of
the household but the time spent with the children was by habit short. He focused on teaching the catechism to the
fathers who was expected to pass down the information to the rest of the
household. Depending on family
composition, he may work more with the mother who was head of household or wife
of an unbelieving husband. His work with
individuals consumed much of his time, and he worked exceedingly hard. He had lasting effects on the congregation
many years even after his death.
Fast Forward
to the 20th Century when Dawson Trotman (1906 – 1956) worked with
individuals in the military. He met with
US Navy sailors individually. He taught
practices such as daily Bible reading and prayer. He also covered basic teachings such as
salvation, Christian growth and inspiration of Scripture, however he focused on
instilling practices that would lead the individuals he was mentoring into
finding God for themselves in Scripture.
This approach has been successful in teaching Biblical literacy and
praxis but was light on theology.
I have
personally gone through several discipleship programs which used the individual
instruction method. In college I was
discipled by Don Braem as an older brother in the Lord. (Discipleship period: 1981-82). While
stationed in California I went through the Barnabas program (Discipleship
period:1986). I was mentored by Steve
Martell, who was mentored by Bill Holdridge, who was mentored by Cliff Stabler,
who was mentored by Ray Stedman. This program used the book Authentic
Christianity by Ray Stedman which directs the Christian away the tendency of
seeking salvation by faith but seeking sanctification by works. Sanctification is also a work of God. Later when stationed in Virginia I went
through the One-to-One discipleship program mentored by Ron Johnson
(Discipleship period: 1989-1996). This
was 10 lessons on basic Christian life.
I took four other guys through the material. When I moved to Maryland I was mentored by
Arthur Ames (Discipleship period: 1996-1999).
I had wrestled in embracing the Reformed faith. Arthur was just the right guy to answer my
questions and lead me down the right path. All of these and other Christians have been instrumental in my own growth as a Christian.
One on one
is best for establishing foundational information, identifying educational gaps
and removing them, and developing mature leaders.
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