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Disciple-Making Leaders Advanced Track

2012 European Disciple-Making Leaders Network: Advanced Track

The aim of the Disciple-Making Leaders Network: Advanced Track is for each participant to build upon the biblical convictions about leadership and disciple-making with which they engaged at the Forum in the Disciple-Making Leaders Network: Foundational Track. They will also be able to reflect on their personal practice of these convictions.

A key component of this Network will be interacting with various senior leaders in discipleship issues to help deepen participants’ learning. This will be complemented by discussion of pre-Forum reading, lectures on key biblical material, and discussion of practical examples through case studies. Participants will be encouraged to develop practical strategies for becoming more effective in disciple-making.

Applicants should be those involved in Christian leadership (at any level) who desire to develop maturity in the members of the body of Christ and are willing to grapple honestly with their responsibility to make disciples. The 2012 Disciple-Making Leaders Network: Advanced Track will be led by Jerram Barrs and Tom Streeter. Speaking in the Network will be Wayne Grudem, John Musselman, Jamie Rasmussen, and Jerry Root. Prior preparation will be set for all participants.

NETWORK LEADER

Jerram Barrs is Professor of Christian Studies and Contemporary Culture at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis and also Resident Scholar at the Francis Schaeffer Institute. Professor Barrs joined the Covenant Seminary faculty in 1989 after 18 years with L'Abri Fellowship in England, where he also pastored the International Presbyterian Church.  His field of expertise is cultural apologetics. He has recently been seeking to develop a more biblical approach to evangelism by studying Jesus' conversations with unbelievers; and also reflecting on the different kinds of testimony that the Holy Spirit uses to draw people to faith. Other interests include the arts and literature. He has written several books, including Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity and the Arts, Through God’s Eyes: God’s Perspective on Women in the Bible, Learning from Jesus the Greatest Evangelist, Being Human, Shepherds and Sheep, Who Are the Peacemakers?, The Great Rescue, The Heart of Evangelism, The Heart of Prayer, as well as the video series Building up Bridges, Breaking Down Walls.

Tom Streeter is the teaching elder of the church he began in Zionsville, Indiana, in 1981. Having planted churches in Illinois and Indiana, his 45 years of pastoral ministry have been characterised by a devotion to developing disciples within the context of the church. Whether training believers in participatory worship, meaningful relationships, cultural engagement, or a vigorous life of the mind, he has a passion for right thinking and authentic living. His lifelong study in theology, the church, and history has included leading several Reformation tours in Europe along with his wife, Judy.

 

NETWORK SPEAKERS

Wayne Grudem is Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studies at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona. He previously taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for 20 years. He has served as the president of the Evangelical Theological Society (1999), as a member of the Translation Oversight Committee for the English Standard Version of the Bible, and was the General Editor for the ESV Study Bible (2008). He has written more than 100 articles for both popular and academic journals, and 17 books, including Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today, The First Epistle of Peter, and Business for the Glory of God. He has also edited Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? Four Views.

John Musselman is the President of the Jackson Institute, a leadership development organization whose mission is to contribute to the cultural, intellectual, and spiritual formation of individuals who are on a passionate quest to be welcomed, received, and acknowledged by God. He studied at the University of Alabama (Honors BS in Mathematics), Reformed Theological Seminary (MDiv), and Fuller Theological Seminary (DMin). After serving on the staffs of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and Perimeter Church in Atlanta, he founded the Jackson Institute in 1991. John has trained leaders in disciplemaking in India, Romania, Poland, Australia, Mexico, Tanzania, Kenya, Belize, Spain, and the U.S.A. He has edited John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, A.B. Bruce’s classic work, The Training of the Twelve, and Thomas Watson’s Man’s Chief End: God’s Glory. In addition, he has written Classic Discipleship, a manual for equipping leaders in Christian discipleship, and The Holy Spirit and His Gifts.

Jamie Rasmussen is Senior Pastor of Scottsdale Bible Church in Arizona, and teaches with a unique combination of well-reasoned research, life experience and authentic application. Having a driving passion for the local church, his leadership style is both visionary and strategic. He has been an ordained pastor for 20 years and has led growing churches in Michigan, Canada and Ohio. He serves on the Board of Directors for St. Mary’s Food Bank, the second-largest food bank in the US. He travels extensively to Mexico, China, Tanzania, Egypt, Jordon, and Israel to take a pulse of needs and engage his congregation in meeting them. Jamie and his wife Kim have three teenage children.

Jerry Root is Associate Director of the Institute of Strategic Evangelism at Wheaton College, Illinois, where he is also Associate Professor of Christian Formation and Ministry and Evangelism and Leadership. He has served on the Adjunct Faculty at Biola University since 1991, teaching courses on C.S. Lewis. Jerry’s lecture tours have taken him to over 31 countries on three continents, and he has pastured three different churches over twenty-three years.  He has published several books, their subjects ranging from friendship evangelism to examinations of confessional literature in the medieval world. His most noteworthy work continues to be The Quotable Lewis. Jerry holds the PhD from British Open University and the MDiv from Talbot Graduate School of Theology.

 

NETWORK PROGRAMME

Day 1

Genuine, Humble Servanthood As Christian Leadership
Jerram Barrs

There can be no Christian leadership that is faithful to Christ and to his Gospel, unless it is servant leadership. Christ himself was vulnerable and willing to share his own sorrows and needs with those disciples who were close to him. He urges us to be meek, like him, a quality which is very rare in leadership in our time, but is essential for us to seek. He calls us to humble ourselves, both before the Lord and before each other. And, he calls us to be servants of those in need. We might be great preachers, or great leaders in other ways, but if we do not have the qualities which Christ modeled and which he demands that we model in turn, then no true discipleship, and no genuine Christian leadership is actually taking place.

Disciple-Making That Results in Evangelism
Jamie Rasmussen

One of the most difficult and debatable dilemmas in church work is should we prioritise “discipleship” or should we prioritise “evangelism?” Should we “deepen the saints” or should we “evangelise the lost?”  And though most biblically-oriented churches would respond by saying, “both,” the reality is that the vast majority of churches tend to emphasise either discipleship to the exclusion of evangelism; or evangelism to the exclusion of discipleship. Very few churches find a balance through effectively discipling AND evangelising. Even more to the point, many churches struggle to COMBINE discipleship and evangelism in such a way that they work in tandem with each other and feed off one another. This seminar will explore the relevant interplay between discipleship and evangelism.  With an emphasis on the life of Jesus, as well as the practices of the New Testament Church, we will lay a solid foundation upon which to be the kind of prevailing church that is successful at BOTH discipleship and evangelism.

Day 2

Disciple-Making in the Local Church: What Is Required to be a Biblical Leader? 1 Timothy 3—A  Study in Character
Tom Streeter

Discipleship is central to the life of the mature Christian. One cannot take salvation seriously, nor one’s purpose in the world, without embracing this concept embedded in biblical teaching. Established by Jesus as his plan, discipleship is not an “add-on” to the individual’s life or a “programme” added to the schedule of the local church. Rather, it is a serious and intentional response to how we live and conduct our lives in answer to the call of Jesus to “come and follow Me.” Each local church is intended to be a disciple-making body, and each Christian is called to discipleship as a way of life. This calls for a particular kind of leadership to nurture a “discipling consciousness” and establish local churches that have disciple-making at the heart of their ministry.

Case Study Discussion

Small-group interaction is a key component of growth in learning how to disciple others. Thus, during two Network sessions participants will break into four groups, each led by a different Network speaker. The time will be dedicated to discussions of anonymous case studies of specific problems encountered in disciple-making.

Day 3

The Importance of Content in Disciple-Making
John Musselman

Discipleship involves the transformation of the mind as well as of the heart and will. What we think about forms the raw materials from which our lives are lived under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. During this session, we will consider the importance of defining the content we intend to use in the discipling process and how establishing growth objectives sets the tone for the spiritual formation of the individual or group members. Additionally, related issues such as discipleship cycles, group duration (time), corporate vs. personal discipleship, and content limitation will be discussed with a view to promoting curriculum development as a vital task for effective disciplemaking.

Case Study Discussion

Small-group interaction is a key component of growth in learning how to disciple others. Thus, during two Network sessions participants will break into four groups, each led by a different Network speaker. The time will be dedicated to discussions of anonymous case studies of specific problems encountered in disciple-making.

Day 4

The Importance of Truth: Why and When Leaders Need to Confront False Teaching and Practice
Wayne Grudem

New members are continually joining Christian organisations, bringing with them new ideas. Why are doctrinal and moral boundaries an important factor in keeping our organisations from going astray? How can these boundaries be used in such a way that they will promote doctrinal, moral, and spiritual maturity among believers? This session will propose some general principles to consider along with some specific recent examples.

Relationships Built on Authenticity and Humility
Jerry Root

Christians believe that all proper understanding of authentic relationships must be based on the doctrine of the Trinity. It is an ontological fact that God is love. It is in light of God’s love that an idea of what it means to be an authentic person begins to merge. We use the word authenticity unthinkingly, almost as if having said the word we have the quality. Only one person who ever walked this earth could truly say he was an authentic person. So the real question for each of us is, “How does an inauthentic person begin to approximate authenticity?” Certainly humility and honesty must be part of the equation. This seminar is about the cultivation of that form authenticity that is displayed in humility and honesty and cultivated in the love of God. 

 

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