Making Disciple in the 21st Century

Abstract

One crisis of the church in the twenty-first century is that its growth is focused mainly on quantitativeand not qualitative growth, especially in the face of many challenges. The consequences are that the church lacks its strength and cannot bear its influence on the world. This academic article aims to study the meaning of disciple, the process of disciple-making and its goal. The study is accomplished by  nalyzing disciple-making processes of Apostle Paul including various relevant contemporary literatures. This study found that disciple-making means coaching one to live in Christ-likeness through the relationship between the discipler and the believer using the new paradigm of intentional and relational disciple-making; the most appropriate principle in this age is the multiplication of disciple; major challenges of  disciple-making in this erainclude the postmodern practice of biblical criticism and the  secular humanism; and the strategies of disciple-making are seeking the lost, nurture believers, grow disciples, and  train disciple makers. This   article aims to motivate the church today to move to the new paradigm and new strategies of disciple-making. This will result in  a sustainable church growth both quantitatively and qualitatively.