Discipleship Training

 

What Is Discipleship Training?

At Uptown Christ Covenant we are convinced that one of the central purposes of the church is to train its members to minister effectively to one another, to their communities, and ultimately to the world. Thus, Discipleship Training at Uptown Church can be defined as "Equipping the saints for the work of the ministry."

 

The biblical basis for this training can be found in Ephesians 4:11-13:

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

 

This passage reveals a divine pattern for the church to follow: 1) God has established leaders; 2) Leaders "prepare" God's people; 3) God's people do "works of service"; 4) The body of Christ is built up. Discipleship Training is designed to fulfill this pattern by equipping God's people for the good works he has prepared in advance for them to do (Eph 2:10).

 

How Does Discipleship Training Work at Uptown?

Structure Of Discipleship Training?
What are we doing at Uptown Church to prepare the saints for works of service? There are a number of different resources that are available that members of Uptown can utilize in order to promote their spiritual development. These include things like Sunday School, Life Groups, strategic training seminars, retreats, and many others. At the center of all these resources is a relationship with a spiritual mentor that can help guide the member through the various resources at his disposal. This concept of mentor-based training is foundational to the entire process and accomplishes two critical tasks: (i) It allows Discipleship Training to happen within the contexts of loving relationships, (ii) It allows Discipleship Training to be specialized and focused upon the specific needs of each person, rather than occurring in a "one size fits all" manner.

 

The purpose of this manual is to help members of Uptown Church learn how to begin this program of Discipleship Training. It will proceed step by step through entire process and will reference several charts and forms that will appear in the appendices at the end of this manual. Please note that allcharts, forms and training modules are available for on-line viewing or to download for printing purposes

 

So, let us proceed to examine the various steps in the Discipleship Training program. All of these steps in this manual are documented on the flow chart, Chart 1, Finding Your Bearings: Discipleship Training Process, which is found in Appendix I. This flow chart is a helpful overall guide to the Discipleship Training process and should be referred to regularly.

 

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