Abstract:
The church in Nigeria is grappling with a lot of
challenges in this 21st century. But one of the greatest challenges which the
church is grappling with problem of poor discipleship. This very challenge is
presently taking its roll on the church. The church in Nigeria is no longer
creating/ building disciples. Rather the church is now focusing on creating/
building millionaires. The disciples are the very ones that have the capacity
of propagating/spreading the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If there is a
turmoil or crisis or persecution against the church, it is the disciples that
will stand their ground and defend the church. While the millionaires will
catch the next available flight and leave the country. Thus this paper will
take a critical look at the church in Nigeria.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the Study
The
call to discipleship involves Jesus’ unique invitation to become like Him (Luke
6:40) and to be a full participant in His mission. “Come, follow me, and I will
make you fishers of men” links discipleship with carrying the good news to all
(Mark 1:15,17; Luke 5:10), while the occasions on which Jesus sent the twelve
or the seventy out in two’s (Mark 6:7-13; Luke 10:1-20) show that He expects
disciples to be fully involved in service to others.
Discipleship
is both personal and public. It is comprised of our private daily walk of
prayer, fasting, worship, and studying God’s Word. These are all things that
people don’t see us doing. Then there is the public part of witness, ministry,
and serving. These are things that are visible. Some have called this our
“journey inward” and our “journey outward.” Discipleship is both.
Discipleship
in the church is a very important task of the church. It is the heartbeat of
God and a basic necessity for a successful Christian life. The scripture
revealed that Jesus called the twelve disciples from the beginning of His
ministry. He taught them within a period of three and a half years. After the
training and before the ascension to heaven, He commanded them to go and make
more disciples from all over the world. Before then, He had already told them
as follows: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore,
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father,
of the son, and of the Holy Ghost and teach them to obey everything I have
command you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age” (Matthew28:18-20).
The
great commission is all about making disciple. The command of God is not only
to raise or make coverts of all nations. This is crucial indeed, most
especially for believers who are the disciple today and the disciples of the
youth. It is sad today that many churches are filled with overgrown the youth;
this is why the church in this generation has not been able to make real impact
on the society. No doubt, there are many church auditoriums where people
congregate every with high frenzy and excitement but the number of disciple are
infinitesimal… A successful life is a fulfilled life; a fulfilled life
is a life that pleases the Lord. The one who will please the Lord is one who
has conformed to the image of the son of God (Romans8:29).
The
effect shows the important of discipleship in the life of a Christians “Most
churches grow by transfer”. The system of today is the rotation of the saints.
To carry on with the work of His father, Christ had to commission his
disciples, all believers inclusive. The numbers of real converts to Christ had
to commission his disciples, all believers inclusive. The number of real
converts to Christ by some “great churches is meagre”, instead churches with
strong preaching and music programmes attracts large numbers. Therefore, people
think that the church is great and the workers do the job. In reality, the
church with the restaurants and theatres becomes the mega one because they
entertain.
The
relationship between the clergy and laity has become professional to that of
performers and parishioners and audience, the better the show, the larger the
crowd. All these show that outstanding performance attracts people. It means
little more than that in no way does it faithfully reflect the priorities of
Christ for His church. The lord said, ‘I go to conquer other worlds for my
Father, so do a good job’
The
crucial questions arise again, “who is a disciple”? A disciple is one who
follows Jesus Christ. Being Christians do not make one a disciple, even though
members of His Kingdom.
Following
Christ means acknowledging Him as Lord; it also means serving Him as a slave,
just as unbelievers serve Satan. It also means loving and praising the father.
Perhaps, the biggest problem in the church today is lack of grounded Christian
journey, only a few get plugged in all the way enough to where they mature in
the faith.
Incidentally,
many Christians are easily beguiled with words and in turn they indulge in
philosophy being established in faith and the act of making disciple is a
process of building up preparing and equipping the body of Christ. To advance
His kingdom should be the primary focus of every believer who is a disciple
indeed and wants to be a discipler.
The
twenty-first century church need to live up to expectation, the new converts
must be followed-up and taken through the Bible investigation class (B.I.C) as
well as regular attendance of church service and mid-week activities to be
grounded in faith.
1.2 Statement
of the Problem
Discipleship
has become one of the greatest challenges facing the present day church. The
believers service in today’s church no longer have much effect as expected in
the life of growing Christians and the society. There have also been great
deficiencies in the lives of those who profess to be members of the body of
Christ producing much of unwanted characters and attitudes that makes one doubt
if truly they are born again. This research work is therefore carried out with
a view of examining the present structures of discipleship and its effects on
church growth and makes suggestion as to raising the standard. The question the
researcher needed to investigate and proffer solution to in this research work
are:
- What are benefits of
discipleship as a tool for church growth? - What is the discipleship
strategy in Nigeria? - What are the challenges of
discipleship in Nigeria? - What are the challenges and
activities of members towards the growth of the church?
1.3. Objectives
of The Study
- To examine the importance of
discipleship programme in the growing of churches. - To identify the roles of
church members and leaders in discipleship ministry and growth of the
church. - To seeing our church growing
in quality as it was in the time of our Lord Jesus Christ. - To recommend to the church the
biblical principles of discipleship as demonstrated by biblical leaders of
various era.
1.4. The
Significance of the Study
In
spite of the proliferation of the church, there has been a great neglect of
discipleship ministry of the church because most churches have replaced it with
other activities, yet the church can’t grow properly without discipleship
programmes that are based on the scripture.
- The study will serve as a
source of material for the seminaries and future research into area
related to the subject matter. - This research work will help
the church improve their discipleship programmes in growing mature
believers. - The study will help the church
to embark on using disciple as a tool for church growth.
1.5. Delimitation
of the Study
This
study is limited to discipleship and its impact on church growth. The study
will cover Christ apostolic Church Oke Igbala, Ketu District will be interview.
1.6. Limitation
of the Study
The
limitation of the study involves some shortcomings, which were encountered in
the cause of the research work. The limitation has to do with non- availability
of money, time and difficulty in meeting the respondents during interaction
with the Pastors and members of Christ Apostolic Church, Oke Igbala, Ketu
District.
1.7.
Research Procedure
The
main instruments used in carrying out the study were oral interview; the
researcher conducted a survey of related literatures such as textbooks,
commentaries, concordances, dictionaries, Christian Journals. The survey was
done in the following libraries:
- LIFE Theological Seminary
Library Ikorodu - The researcher’s personal
library and internet
1.8. Definition
of Terms
Discipleship:
It
is a process whereby a converted person learns at the feet of Christ with the
aim of practicing and doing what he learns until his lifestyle and habit
conform to God standard.
Church:
Church
simply means the body of Christ at work in the world where the idea and the
functional meet. Without the “communion of persons” the institution has no
divine power, and without the institution the communion has no means with which
to minister to the finite, historically grounded world of persons.
Growth:
This
refers to the development of the church both numerically and spiritually.
Christ
Apostolic Church:
The
church is distinctly an indigenous African church by its structure belief and
practices; it is an independent Pentecostal church.