Using redemptive discipleship to change a culture that fosters legalistic growth into a culture that fosters transformational growth in the apostolic church

2011·101 MB·English

by  KWABENA DAUTEY AKUFO

USING REDEMPTIVE DISCIPLESHIP TO CHANGE
A CULTURE THAT FOSTERS LEGALISTIC GROWTH INTO
A CULTURE THAT FOSTERS TRANSFORMATIONAL GROWTH
IN THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH
A THESIS
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF
GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY
BY
KWABENA DAUTEY AKUFO
MAY 2011
Copyright © 2011 by Kwabena Dautey Akufo. All Rights Reserved.
To my life partner — Peggy Zipporah
“A wife of noble character who can find?” (Proverbs 31:10)
“A woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” (Proverbs 31:30)
To Teiko, Padikuor, and Dautey
“Children are a reward from God.” (Psalm 127:3)
The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly,
along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
—I Timothy 1:14
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
—2 Corinthians 9:15
Soli Deo Gloria
CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES vi
GLOSSARY vil
ABSTRACT viii
CHAPTER 1 - THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING 1
The Issue of Legalistic Discipleship in The Apostolic Church 2
Redemptive Discipleship as the Biblical Alternative to Legalistic Discipleship 12
Research for Theological Framework Section of Thesis 19
Thesis Project 20
Summary 25
CHAPTER 2 - THEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 27
Introduction 27
Pharisaism as Legalistic Discipleship 27
Jesus’ Redemptive Discipleship of Peter 37
Paul’s Redemptive Discipleship 46
Using Contextualization to Avoid Legalistic Discipleship and Promote Redemptive
Discipleship 51
Summary and Conclusion 59
CHAPTER 3 - LITERATURE REVIEW 63
Discipleship 63
Legalistic Discipleship 65
Redemptive Discipleship 95
Summary and Conclusion 128
CHAPTER 4 - PROJECT DESIGN 135
Overview 135
Purpose of Survey Questions 137
Curriculum 139
Evaluation Methodology 140
CHAPTER 5 - OUTCOMES 142
Introduction 142
Results and Analysis 146
Conclusions and Recommendations 148
Recommendations for Further Research 151
APPENDIX | ~ REDEMPTIVE DISCIPLESHIP CLASS QUESTIONNAIRE 152
APPENDIX 2 - CHURCH OF PENTECOST COMMUNIQUE CANCELLING
CERTAIN LEGALISTIC PRACTICES 158
iv
APPENDIX 3 — REDEMPTIVE DISCIPLESHIP TRAINING CLASS MATERIAL 160
BIBLIOGRAPHY 170
VITA 174
TABLES
Table 1 - Transformational Versus Conforming Environment 14
Table 2 - Comparison of Legalistic Discipleship and Redemptive Discipleship 133
Table 3 - Redemptive Discipleship Class Outline 140
Table 4 - Legalistic Tendency Percent Reduction Matrix 147
vi
GLOSSARY
Antinomianism — A belief that says that the moral laws are not binding on the believer
because of Grace.
Disciple — A person who follows, learns from, and is committed to a significant master.
Discipleship — The process of making someone into a disciple.
Discipleship Classification — The stage that a person is in at a given time in their
Christian journey after salvation.
Legalism — Focus on external performances as a basis of right-standing with God and
attaining eternal life.
Legalistic Discipleship — A discipleship process based on Legalism, in which the disciple-
maker supplements sound scriptural teaching and practices with man-made rules.
Legalistic Growth — A type of growth where the believer’s progress is measured by
adherence to rules and traditions of the church and less by inner transformation.
Redemptive Discipleship — A process that takes place through a human catalyst following
the redemption act to bring Transformational Growth to another.
Redemptive Discipline — A type of discipline that is restorative instead of retributive or
punitive.
Transformational Growth — A progressive change, which comes from the renewal of the
mind, induced by the Word and the Holy Spirit, such that the object of the
transformation becomes more and more like Jesus.
Vii
ABSTRACT
Legalistic Discipleship is a discipleship process based on Legalism and in which
the disciple-maker supplements sound scriptural teaching and practices with man-made
rules. Legalistic Discipleship produces Legalistic Growth in which the disciple’s
progress is measured by external performance and adherence to rules and traditions of the
church and less by inner transformation.
Redemptive Discipleship revolves around grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and his
redemptive mission to earth, and hence Jesus is the ultimate disciple-maker. The human
disciple-maker pours himself into the disciple to produce Transformational Growth by
using contextual ways to build up the disciple into becoming more and more like Christ,
as the mutual indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the human spirit is intensified and raised
to new levels. Though revolving around grace, Redemptive Discipleship eschews
Antinomianism, which says that the moral laws are not binding on the believer because
of Grace. In fact, Redemptive Discipleship cultivates the attitude that grace does not
permit what the law prohibits but rather the justified disciple views Jesus as Lord and
obeys his Lord out of gratitude and as an outgrowth of his sanctification, and not as a
basis for being justified.
Results of the Redemptive Discipleship class taught at the Bethsaida Christian
Center of The Apostolic Church proves the hypothesis of this thesis as the class had an
impact on the study group in moving their culture that fosters Legalistic Growth in the
direction of a culture that fosters Transformational Growth.
vill
CHAPTER 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING
The National Youth Movement Convention of The Apostolic Church held in
Philadelphia in 2005 was well attended by youth from all the churches in the USA and
Canada. Some of the young people came to the convention in Philadelphia for sight-
seeing in the city of brotherly love. Therefore, the convention drew youth, from the
churches, who appeared not to fit the mold of an Apostolic youth. During the Friday
night church service one boy was spotted wearing earrings. Several people including
both adults and young people chastised him for “improper clothing.” He refused to
remove his earrings and wore them again during the Saturday morning service. Once
again several people gave him a hard time for his “improper clothing.” After the church
service my wife and I, who were completely unaware of what was happening to this boy,
had a chance meeting with him in the lobby of the hotel. We started talking to him about
how he was faring at the convention. He opened up to us wanting to know why everyone
was giving him a hard time about his earrings. We told him that we saw nothing
Biblically wrong with him wearing earrings and that his relationship with Christ was
what mattered. We then proceeded te explain to him the cultural dynamics at play that
may be the root cause of the admonitions about the earrings. In Ghana, and not in other
parts of Africa, earrings are worn only by females and it is one of the outward identifying
marks of a female as opposed to a male. In the USA the primary outward identification
of a baby as a boy is blue-colored clothing and as a girl is pink-colored clothing. In
Ghana, however, the outward identification of a baby as a boy is the absence of earrings
and as a girl is the presence of earrings. By the time she leaves the hospital a newborn