Matthew 28:19-20: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and,

lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen”

We as Independent Baptists are well versed in the great commission. We understand that it was a command given to the church and because of it and other passages we stress personal soul winning and Baptism as the first act of obedience for a new convert. I am not against those things, in fact I am very much for them, however it seems that we need to remember that the commission has 3 parts. Whether you remember it as Evangelize, Baptize & Catechize or Win em’, Wet em’ & Work em’ or simply as Reach them with the Gospel, Baptize them and disciple them. We desperately need to remember that there are three parts to the Great commission.

There are a number of reasons why this part of the commission is overlooked:

· It is the least Glamorous of the three: you often hear braggarts at fellowships or in their various publications talk about how many they won or how many they baptized (for the glory of God…of course) but I don’t think I have ever heard or read of someone boasting as to the number they were disciplining.

· It takes the most commitment of the three: It doesn’t take a huge amount of time to lead someone to Christ and baptism is a pretty quick process but discipleship takes a commitment of time and effort. It is not easy, it is not glamorous but obedience to the word of God and to the work of the ministry is always worth while.

· Perhaps the means are just not available: I realize that the small church pastor is already stretched to his limits therefore the commitment of time, not just to disciple but also to gather and assemble material is not very realistic and the resources to buy a program that is all put together is out of reach.

Shortly after we began working with Ayers Road Baptist Church early last year I realized a discipleship program was desperately needed so I began to amass and assemble material toward this end. When we were ready to launch the program I faced the problem of when to do it. With the Sunday services here being 10:00, 11:00 & 5:00 before Sunday evening wouldn’t work and with Wednesday prayer meeting and visitation Thursday and Saturday I really didn’t want to add anything to a crowded week. What we did here was incorporate it into the Wednesday service which has worked well for the crowd here. I realize that may not be the solution for everyone however. Some churches may be able to have a staff member or qualified laymen teach a discipleship class, separate from the regular services perhaps Wednesday or at Sunday School time. I think this is a great option if you have that ability.

At the present time I have my discipleship study about 75% completed and look to have it done soon. I claim originality for none of the material as I have leaned heavily on some other material that has been provided and remembering that there is nothing new under the sun. But I have the program laid out into 12 lessons that look like this: Introduction, Assurance of Salvation, Baptism, Church Membership, The Bible, Prayer, Tithes and Offerings, Witnessing, The Christian and Separation, Christian Ethics and Character, False Teaching, The Lord’s Supper and Knowing and Doing the Lord’s Will. There are some other lessons that I hope to include in the future and I imagine this will be a work in progress that grows and evolves as we go on.

As I started compiling information and laying out lessons I had three main motivations for doing so: To help the folks at Ayers Road Baptist Church, to have to use in the churches we help in the future and to be able to provide it to those who can use it. If you can use this material, I want to get it to you. Whether you use it as it is or use it as a base and make changes to it, it doesn’t matter to me. It is in Microsoft Publisher format (This may be able to be converted to others I don’t know, but I can find out if I need to) but I can E mail it to you or put it on a CD and mail it to you, or I can print it out and mail it to you ready to photocopy. There is no cost to you at all, if you can use it please let me know.

Some years ago I was preaching a revival in a church and while I was out knocking doors with the pastor I asked him “do you have any type of discipleship program?” I was taken aback by his response “we don’t have time for that” Later in the week I noticed that they had goals posted in the church for Salvation Decisions and Baptisms for the year, I also noticed that their Baptism Goal was 10% of their Salvation goal, so what they were aiming for was 10% obedience.

Pastors, Discipleship is a Bible command and makes up 33.3% of the great commission. The future of our churches depends on those we reach and train today. Do you have a plan in place for discipleship?

Because of Calvary,

David Iseminger

Romans 10:13-15