Date

11-17-2023

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Chair

Robert Lytle

Keywords

discipleship, evangelism, faithfulness, grace, legalism, participation, church

Disciplines

Christianity | Practical Theology

Abstract

Discipleship often evokes different responses. However, contemporary Christians have a faithfulness dilemma driven by the constant messages they hear. This DMIN project seeks to develop and promote a ministry structure that educates, equips, and enriches the Christian life based on God’s grace. The project seeks to provide a framework for participants to be transformed holistically by God’s grace. Often, the members of South Rock Christian Church understand grace as the entry point into salvation, but not the identifying trait of their faithful life in Christ. This action project consists of qualitative research that demonstrates a gap between belief and action in its participants. Therefore, this project will explore the breakdown of what the disciple believes and what they put into action. It also consists of qualitative research which entails a six-week Participation Group examining the identity marks of a disciple. The research promotes a grace-based discipleship approach that demonstrates God’s grace as His transformative presence in the disciple’s life. The approach will combat the lies that disciples believe about God, self, and others. The results of the research show that the discipleship problem at South Rock Christian Church is not a belief problem, but one that is not based on God’s grace. The research confirms the reality of a contemporary legalistic lifestyle. Therefore, this DMIN project seeks to provide a fresh approach to the church’s discipleship efforts that are based on God’s grace rather than on human achievement.

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