Discipleship funnel
In an earlier post, I presented notes from a presentation[1] I heard arguing that the entire local church is a counseling ministry (with counseling defined as ministering the Word).
The idea is that every ministry of a church is about the work of counseling, or discipleship, with the church’s official counseling ministry providing intensive discipleship.
Because the whole church is a counseling ministry there should be continuity between the different ministries of the church. In each ministry, the goal is to minister the Word to one another (Col 3:16) so that we grow in Christlikeness (Phil 3:7-20) to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31, Rom 11:33-36).
In the same presentation I listened to, Steve Viars, senior pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, Ind., presented the idea of a discipleship funnel. The idea is that whether you have 2,000 people in a room or 2, discipleship is taking place.
The funnel looks something like this:
Large group gatherings: Sunday morning worship, evening worship
Bible Fellowship Groups/Children’s Sunday School
Wednesday evening Bible study
Small groups
1-on-1
(or team counseling)
The smaller the group, the more specific and pointed the discussions. This is where iron sharpening iron really comes into play.
Key point: there are many other informal gatherings/interactions of Christians that are a part of the discipleship funnel. Most of these gatherings/interactions are closer to the bottom of the funnel. Examples: working on car, playing golf, talking after church, talking at dinner, etc.
Some churches won’t have all of the official ministries I put in the funnel, but the church leaders will instead encourage its members to gather together often informally. These informal interactions are key to discipleship and living the Christian life together with other people in your own local church and others near you.
Evangelism — the first step in discipleship: evangelism is about making disciples, not merely converts — can also take place through such informal gatherings. The Gospel should also mark each formal ministry in a local church, so that (1) non-believers present know what they must do to be saved and so that (2) believers’ daily lives are based on that same Gospel.
Whatever formal ministries your church has, they should each compliment one another. If ministries are conflicting with one another, they should be re-worked to fit together.
The end goals are (1) for each member of your church to be growing in Christ-likeness and (2) for the local church as a whole to be a display of God’s glory. Ministering the Word is central to both of these goals and a discipleship funnel helps people minister the Word - or Wield the Sword - most effectively.
[1] Steve Viars, pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, Ind., gave a presentation at the 2002 NANC conference titled “Does your Church have a Counseling Ministry of is your Church a Counseling Ministry?”