How Do Churches Equip Their Disciple-Makers? A Case Study of Four Baptist Churches in Victoria, Australia

Abstract

This article reports the findings of an investigation into the frameworks deployed by Baptist churches to equip their disciple-makers. Australian Baptist churches are declining in equipping their members for work of ministry. To date, investigations into equipping disciplers in local churches are rarely addressed in the literature. Through qualitative case studies, this research investigated equipping frameworks deployed in four Victorian Baptist churches. The data were collected through interviews, nonparticipant observations, and document analysis to explicate pastors' and disciplers' perceptions of their church-based equipping frameworks. Schiro’s (2013) comprehensive classification of curriculum ideologies was deployed to analyse and categorise churches’ equipping frameworks.