Making Disciples in a Post-Christian World

By John M. Haselton ThD

>The book reviews the history of disciplemaking from the church fathers to today. It suggests solutions to overcoming our society’s resistance to the gospel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798385003501

John M. Haselton ThD

John Haselton is a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary M.A. and a ThD candidate at Newburgh Theological Seminary. In addition John maintains a blog at lovingjesusstyle.blogspot.com

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Copyright © 2023 John M. Haselton ThD.

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Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright© 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

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ISBN: 979-8-3850-0349-5 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0350-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023913808

WestBow Press rev. date: 08/31/2023

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 Discipleship in the Old Testament

Chapter 2 The New Testament Church Discipleship

Chapter 3 Problems Common to the 1st Century Church and the 21st Century Church

Chapter 4 Modern Day Discipleship

Conclusion

Bibliography

NEWBURGH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

GO, MAKE DISCIPLES

ThD Dissertation

INTRODUCTION

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." ¹

The scripture above is a command from our Lord. The command is not to go, the imperative verb in the verse is make disciples. Today’s church in the United States of America for the most part ignores this command. As a whole the church is trying to become more like the world. That is to say that the world, flesh, and the devil are making disciples out of us rather than the other way around. Since about 1960 the church has stopped being a major influence in culture. Now culture influences us to do its bidding. Think of all the things that the church has not fought to influence culture about. The list is extensive but here are some highlights: Divorce, Sex, Abortion, to name just three. We as Christians have been pushed from being a central player in culture to the margins. We have seen attendance drop in our worship services, our moral authority disappear, and we have seen all influence from the realms of the arts and culture disappear. And to make matters worse we have not fought back against this cultural tsunami that has removed us from our places of influence, As the psalmist asks, What can the righteous do when the foundations are destroyed? (Ps. 11:3) Indeed, what can we do? The purpose of this book is to seek to answer that question. We will study scripture and other sources for wisdom to discern the times in which we are living. Jesus began the quotation above by saying all authority had been given to him. It is time for his church as his representatives on earth to reclaim that authority and use it to bring revival and restoration to the world.

Before we begin to discuss this topic in earnest, I think it wise to define what a disciple is. So, I am going to present you with a definition we can use during this discussion. In its simplest terms a disciple is a learner. A disciple sits under the teaching of a master teacher and learn a body of material. The noun mathetes is the Greek word in question. It is used consistently throughout the gospels and the book of Acts to mean a disciple.

However, I like the following definition for discipleship." Discipleship is the process of devoting oneself to a teacher to learn from and become more like them. For the Christian, this refers to the process of learning the teachings of Jesus and following after his example in obedience through the power of the Holy Spirit. Discipleship not only involves the process of becoming a disciple but of making other disciples through teaching and evangelism.²" Now that we have the definitions out of the way we are ready to start considering the shape discipleship has really gotten in America today, we will examine the problems and seek to provide remedies.

We will begin with some mildly encouraging statistics: 1.) 25 million copies of the Bible are sold annually in the United States. 2.) Nine out of ten homes in the U.S.A. have a bible in them. 3.) Over 400 million copies of scripture in full or in part are distributed annually in this country.³ So far so good right? Until you look at what is happening to all those Bibles once they are sold/distributed. The fact is not much. Only 16% of those Bibles are read every day and less than half are read each week. And of the sixteen percent that are read only thirty-seven percent of people say that studying their scriptures makes a tangible difference in their life.

What happened during the pandemic? Surely more people sought comfort and solace from scripture during the lockdowns. Not so says a Christianity Today survey which found that daily bible reading dropped from 14% to 9% during the pandemic⁴. People cannot be faithful disciples if they do not pick up their bibles and read them. And having read them obey what they find written there.

CHAPTER 1

DISCIPLESHIP IN THE

OLD TESTAMENT

While the terminology of disciple/discipleship occurs more rarely in the Old Testament than it does in the New Testament. Its use is worth considering how this language was used before Christ’s advent. There are two Hebrew terms that are used to denote the term disciple: (talmidh, and limmudh). These terms speak of the fact that Israel as a nation is to be seen as a disciple of Yahweh. Although they are certainly used