{"id":9060,"date":"2025-11-03T16:47:44","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T16:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=9060"},"modified":"2025-11-03T16:47:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T16:47:44","slug":"wea-panel-urges-return-to-family-centered-disciple-making","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=9060","title":{"rendered":"WEA panel urges return to family-centered disciple making"},"content":{"rendered":"


By Christian Daily InternationalFriday, October 31, 2025Alan Charter, facilitator of the Global Children\u2019s Forum, speaks during the panel on \u201cCelebrating the Gospel in Disciple Making\u201d on the final day of the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 31, 2025. <\/span> | Hudson Tsuei\/Christian Daily International <\/span><\/p>\n

SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) concluded its morning program on the fourth and final day of the 2025 General Assembly with a compelling call for a global return to family-centered disciple-making \u2014 challenging pastors, parents and national church leaders to bridge the growing gap between pulpit and home.<\/p>\n

Held on the morning of Oct. 31 under the theme \u201cCelebrating the Gospel in Disciple Making,\u201d the panel brought together four veteran leaders of global discipleship and family ministry: Gwen De Rozario, executive director of the Family & Children Commission of the Asia Evangelical Alliance; David Kornfield, lead for Discipling and Pastoring of Pastors within the WEA; P.C. Mathew, global director of the WEA Family Challenge; and Alan Charter, facilitator of the Global Children\u2019s Forum.<\/p>\n

The moderator introduced the discussion as the culmination of the Assembly\u2019s week-long reflections on mission and renewal.<\/p>\n

A four-level vision for disciple making<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opening the conversation, David Kornfield outlined what he described as the four interdependent levels of disciple-making movements \u2014 a framework he said is critical if the Church is to withstand cultural shifts and generational decline.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first level, without which all the other levels will fail, is small-group, personal disciple making,\u201d Kornfield said. \u201cWhen you go back to your church, I challenge you to ask three questions: Ask people to raise their hands if they are disciples. Then ask them to raise their hands if they have a discipler \u2014 and you\u2019ll see the numbers drop. Then ask how many are Christians. Why are the numbers so different?\u201d<\/p>\n

Without personal, relational discipleship, he said, even vibrant churches will falter. The second level is therefore a healthy disciple-making church, which fosters this culture collectively. The third level is a movement of disciple-making churches that can resist what he called \u201cthe tide of culture that is sweeping us away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, Kornfield said, the fourth level \u2014 national disciple-making movements \u2014 depends on the leadership of national Evangelical alliances. Calling alliance leaders in the room to stand, he told them, \u201cIf we do not get national movements of healthy disciple-making churches going, all the other levels will fail. That is where we, as leaders, are absolutely critical.\u201d<\/p>\n

He warned that declining church membership is a global reality. Referring to\u00a0The Great Dechurching<\/em>, a book documenting the loss of 40 million church members in the United States over 25 years, he estimated that \u201cin Latin America, through COVID alone, we lost 39 million members in just two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWake up, O sleeper,\u201d he said, quoting\u00a0Ephesians 5:14. \u201cWe as national alliances need to wake up and be building at all four of these levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Family as the first mission field<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mathew followed with a strong appeal for restoring discipleship to its biblical starting point: the family. \u201cFrom the very beginning, God\u2019s plan to fill the world with his people was disrupted by the fall of the first family,\u201d he said. \u201cYet in his mercy, God began a redemptive journey that culminated in the coming of Christ to give hope to the families of this world. Every family touched by his grace is called to reflect that missional family of the Godhead.\u201d<\/p>\n

He warned that the Church often measures spiritual success by public ministry, while neglecting spiritual formation at home. \u201cMany are strong disciples in their ministry outside, yet weak in their ministry inside their own homes,\u201d he said. \u201cSundays are sacred. Monday to Saturday is secret. This dichotomy has damaged the witness of the church and has caused generations to walk away from Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

He emphasized that strong families are the foundation of strong churches, describing today\u2019s global crisis in family life as a spiritual emergency. \u201cDiscipling the families is the need of the hour,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mathew presented a three-phase plan for what he calls the Family Revival Movement, which begins with prayer in the home: families praying together for seven minutes a day, for seven days a week, over seven weeks. On the 50th day, families gather at church to celebrate what God has done.<\/p>\n

Behind every revival, he said, is prayer. \u201cThe revival needs to start in many of our homes. Families need to be revived globally through repentance and prayer led by the leadership of the church and the power of the Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

In later remarks, he added that the movement\u2019s second phase focuses on seven biblical pillars for family life \u2014 including fatherhood, marriage and forgiveness \u2014 and the third on helping families become \u201cmissional lighthouses\u201d in their communities.<\/p>\n

He illustrated the impact with a story from his home country: \u201cA young man returned from a father-son camp deeply convicted that he had neglected his fatherly role. He asked to speak to his pastor and called for every father in the 600-member church to take up his mission. That conversation sparked repentance, tears, and a wave of family prayer that grew into a revival movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Restoring the home as the center of discipleship<\/strong><\/p>\n

De Rozario of Singapore expanded the discussion, urging churches to become intentional in equipping every believer to disciple their own home. \u201cAs we talk about the Gospel for everyone, this must include everyone in our home,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are advocating for the church to be intentional in equipping every member to disciple their home. Because discipleship pivots on relationship, and God\u2019s original pattern was for this to happen in our homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Rozario, whose Asia Evangelical Alliance Family & Children Commission partners with the global D6 Movement (based on\u00a0Deuteronomy 6), shared testimonies from pastors across Asia who have applied these principles. In one church, after an equipping conference, a pastor said he felt convicted to start praying with his wife; another said he would repent and ask his son for forgiveness.<\/p>\n

In South Korea, she noted, many churches have synchronized sermons, small groups, and home life into a unified theme each week. \u201cThe word no longer stops at the pulpit \u2014 it comes alive at home,\u201d she said. \u201cHomes once marked by tension are now being marked by blessing as fathers learn to bless their families. Parents are moving from being perfectionists to being spiritually consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

She warned that the erosion of biblical values in society \u2014 including the rise of abortion and gender confusion \u2014 is partly the result of a breakdown in family discipleship. \u201cWe wonder why things are changing,\u201d she said. \u201cThe reality is, we are not discipling in our homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calling for a \u201cdiscipleship reawakening\u201d that links church and home, De Rozario urged leaders to \u201cmake families, not programs, the heartbeat of every discipleship effort.\u201d She said seminaries must also begin to train pastors in family discipleship, because \u201cif we trace back many of today\u2019s crises, they often begin with the absence of discipleship at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Children as active participants in mission<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alan Charter, representing the Global Children\u2019s Forum, focused on the role of children in the Great Commission. He lamented that children\u2019s and family ministry are often treated as secondary priorities within churches, despite research showing that a person\u2019s faith is largely shaped before age 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are invited into this incredible generational adventure,\u201d Charter said. \u201cAs the psalmist declares, we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord so that the next generation would know them \u2014 even the children yet to be born.\u201d<\/p>\n

He cited a recent survey by the Patmos Initiative indicating that 71% of respondents \u2014 both Christians and non-Christians \u2014 believe it is good for children to know Bible stories. \u201cThere is still cultural openness,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we are called to a greater thing \u2014 to equip children as participants in mission, not just as recipients of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charter said churches must empower children as \u201cfellow Kingdom builders,\u201d describing how children\u2019s acts of generosity often serve as early expressions of faith. \u201cI know a child who began bringing extra sandwiches to school to share with classmates who didn\u2019t have lunch,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a simple act of generosity, but it became a witness that touched parents and teachers alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shared another story from the United Kingdom, where a teenager named Josh began meeting weekly with 17 of his football teammates to study the Bible. \u201cWe must never underestimate how God is at work through the lives of our children,\u201d Charter said. \u201cGod has no grandchildren \u2014 we are all his children.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was originally published at Christian Daily International\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Christian Daily International provides biblical, factual and personal news, stories and perspectives from every region, focusing on religious freedom, holistic mission and other issues relevant for the global Church today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christian Daily InternationalFriday, October 31, 2025Alan Charter, facilitator of the Global Children\u2019s Forum, speaks during the panel on \u201cCelebrating the Gospel in Disciple Making\u201d on the final day of the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 31, 2025. | Hudson Tsuei\/Christian Daily International SEOUL, South Korea \u2014 The World Evangelical<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[741,740,742,738,739,64,518],"class_list":["post-9060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-christian-living","tag-disciple","tag-familycentered","tag-making","tag-panel","tag-return","tag-urges","tag-wea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}