By NewChurches.Com: In Episode 577 of the NewChurches Q&A Podcast, Daniel and Ed discuss why denominations are still important in church planting today.

In This Episode, You’ll Discover:

What some denominations are doing to support church planting
What benefits are gained from joining a denomination

 Shareable Quotes (#NewChurches):

“Denominations can and do have a significant place to play.” – @edstetzer
“Churches associate for the Great Commission and that’s why denominations exist.” – @edstetzer
“What is the most effective way to cooperate for the Great Commission? I think that a denomination is part of that.” – @edstetzer
“Almost every movement starts with a greater centrifugal outward energy.” – @edstetzer
“When denominations are focused on missional purposes they are powerful tools of God’s Word.” – @edstetzer
“People have written off denominations for the 30 years I have been involved in church planting, and denominations still do most of the church planting in the U.S. today.” – @edstetzer
“Associationalism flows out of a commitment to a Great Commission because you can’t do it with one local church. You need others.” – @edstetzer

Recommended Resources:

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Source: Episode 577: The Role of Denominations in Church Planting

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By Bobby Harrington: When it comes to disciple making, how is the North American Church doing?

Every year, around the top of the year, Discipleship.org publishes an article covering the top disciple making trends we see currently happening, based upon the learnings of our team and the thirty plus organizations that work with us. A year ago, just before COVID-19 took center stage, Discipleship.org and Exponential.org published the results of a massive study on the state of disciple making in the American Church (click here to learn more).

That study showed that disciple making was trapped in a sort of tower of Babel, where “disciple,” “discipleship,” and “disciple making” meant everything and anything and nothing to pastors—and less than 5% of churches nationally were focused on reproducing disciples in a meaningful way. Puzzlement, bewilderment, and perplexity reigned in churches.

That was before COVID-19.

Since then, we have seen massive calls for discipleship and disciple making. Everyone now seems to realize that Sunday mornings, whether attended in person or online, are simply not enough. It is clear that God’s people are starving for guidance, for relationships … and for substance.

Non-discipleship is now the elephant in The Church.

So, we are tweaking our top ten trends this year. Our list this year focuses on the top ten trends we urge disciples, disciple makers, and church leaders to adopt. Based upon everything we have learned and the needs we see, we are taking a prescriptive posture this time rather than the descriptive one we typically issue.

You might call this list our top ten list of exhortations going into this year:

1. Make It Clear

We need clarity about disciple making today. Two areas in particular scream for elucidation.

Clarify definitions. Provide precise definitions for the key words you use like “disciple,” “discipleship,” “disciple making,” “church,” and “disciple making movement.” Until you are clear on the definitions of what you seek to create and how you will go about creating them, you will lack effectiveness. See here our list of recommended definitions (click here).

Make disciple making the core mission of our churches. If you make disciple making just one of the activities your local church does, you will not be very effective at that mission. Make disciple making the core mission of your church, as the New Testament shows us.[i] Until church leaders start evaluating everything they do through the lens of how it helps or detracts from disciple making as their core mission, they are destined for ineffectiveness.

2. Uphold the Shema

The Shema is the great commission before the Great Commission. God’s first plan for disciple making was in the home. God gave Deuteronomy 6:4–9 over one thousand years before Jesus gave the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18–20.

It is a profound section of Scripture, yet it is still one of the most practically significant of all.

Deuteronomy 6 is a key Scripture in what is famously called the Shema.

Shema means “heed,” “listen,” and “do.”

It was the operational mandate from the time the Israelites took possession of the land of Israel under Moses to this day. And the Jews in Jesus day recited it daily. Notice that it starts with parents truly loving God.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:4–5).

God’s commandment to pass on the faith to the next generation was so critical to Israel’s flourishing future that he called parents to intentionally and sacrificially spend relational time discipling and helping children learn to know, love, and follow him:

“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates” (Deut. 6:6–9).

God’s commands were not just to be on the hearts of parents; they were to impress them on their children. God and his commands were to be the topic of conversations around the house, when they got up, when they sat at home, when they traveled along the road, and when they would lie down together at night.

We know this one fact: the most effective and lasting discipling is that which is done by parents in the home. Statistically, nothing comes close. Sociologists call it the 4-14 window: majority of people who become Christians do so between four and fourteen years of age.[ii]

Let us state it this way: a church can get an A+ for discipling adults, but if it does not get parents to disciple their children, that church will get a failing grade.

Remember to keep a focus on the home.

3. Make It Relational

The Word of God does not teach an educationally focused model. It teaches a relationally focused model.

Note again, how the original commission to parents in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 emphasized relationship. Disciple making was all about sitting at home, walking along the road, when families were lying down and when they were getting up.

Jesus doubled down on a relational focus when he entered into Jewish life a millennia later discipled the twelve.

First, Jesus started discipling his disciples by asking them to “Come,” and spend the day with him (John 1:39). For three and one half years he literally lived with them, discipling them in the everyday stuff of life, as they walked along the road and made regular trips where they would “lie down” and “get up” in their journeys. Jesus adopted a relational foundation that utilized an assortment of tools, including an emphasis on education, but also one that included coaching, imitation, mentoring, questions, trial and error, etc…

Second, the heart of Jesus’ disciple making method was not just relationship, it was love. Jesus’ love can be defined as cross-shaped actions.[iii] Here is what we mean: Jesus was constantly picking up his cross and putting the best interests of his disciples first. Then, at the end of his life, Jesus went to the cross and died, not just for his disciples, but for the entire world (Luke 19:10).

This focus is clear in Jesus’ NEW command (John 13:34-35). “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another,” he said. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Cross shaped actions are the motive behind the disciple making mission and the foundation on which everything was built.

You cannot disciple people in the Way of Jesus without this same foundation of love.

4. Focus Beyond Sunday

Preaching on Sundays is good – but it is nowhere near enough. It is like throwing food to the children once a week and expecting that alone to nourish and feed them. It doesn’t work.

It never did.

As late as 2009, 50% of Americans claimed to be practicing Christians.[iv] Then the number started to drop … to 25% in 2018 and it is likely going down further as COVID-19 continues to disrupt the way we have been doing church. The previous big numbers were the result of centuries where parents, communities, schools, and even the government helped uphold many of the values found in the Bible. Churches could often get by with a shallow discipleship model – focused on Sundays – because there was so much support for disciples in the homes and other parts of life in America.

That world no longer exists.

To all the pastors, preachers and leaders out there, let us say it clearly – stop focusing on Sundays thinking it alone will make disciples.

Again, Sundays are not enough.

You must create a 7 day-a-week system of intentional, relational disciple making. You can include public meetings on Sunday, but it must also be “house to house,” (Acts 5:42) and include daily encouragement as long as it is called “today” (Hebrews 3:12-14).

5. Disciple the Mind

One of the most important books written recently is JT English’s Deep Discipleship. He makes the convincing case that we need more discipling in scripture and doctrine, not less. For too many years, those focused upon Jesus-style disciple making resisted what we call educational discipleship. We resisted an over-emphasis which held that disciple making was just about studying the Bible. As we said in point #2, that was NOT Jesus’ method.

But Jesus’ method included a strong emphasis on studying the Word of God.

We must reclaim that emphasis while also emphasizing relational disciple making. Most churches, including many disciple making churches, do not give enough emphasis to learning the Bible and doctrine. That is why we focus on the language of “disciple making” – which includes close personal relationship, studying scripture, coaching, imitation, mentoring, questions, trial and error, etc…

Read the following words by my friend David Young (about the future) and ask yourself about how important discipling people in the Word of God will need to be for disciples of Jesus to thrive?

Many Christians will have to learn to conduct themselves under the radar, avoiding social media statements and the like. Christians are already hiding many of their beliefs at work; it will only get worse. In many ways, I believe our affluence will work against us as the U.S. becomes more aggressively anti-Christian. We will want to play ball with secularism because we have so much to lose financially. And we will avoid building strong counter-cultural institutions because we won’t have to–we have enough wealth to weather the storm for a long time without changing our routines very much. Expect cultural Marxism, a continued erosion of any sense of personal virtue and vice, and a shocking hypocrisy from those on the left.

Young is not pessimistic about the future because he knows the power of disciple making. He describes a future hope that he envisions.

But, there will be faithful Christians who shine, who make up strong Christian homes, and who survive through their unwillingness to say that which is obviously false. They will become more attractive to others committed to Jesus, while Christians on the left fall away in increasing numbers.

6. Master Phygital

Some people say we must go back to in-person groups for disciple making. Others tell us that the future belongs to online disciple making.

They are both right.

Phygital combines the two and it is here to stay. Phygital is the concept of using technology to bridge the physical world and combine it with the digital world. Here is the basic idea: disciple-making groups that combine regular in-person gatherings with regular digital gatherings (through Zoom, Google Hangouts, etc.).

Here is one model to make what we are describing clear.

A group of 3 to 5 people form. This is a specific group size, ideal for the phygital environment. A same-gender group is best. I (Bobby) and Alex Absalom wrote Discipleship That Fits to explain the different sizes of groups and why this size is a good one.

Meet weekly online. The regularity of the meeting is important (for relationships and spiritual formation) and, if you are careful to keep it to one hour, it is not too difficult. My recent men’s group met every Tuesday night. The men helped get their kids in bed and then easily joined the group without the loss of work and travel time during the day.

Meet monthly in person. As a part of our holistic model, we also meet in person. In the monthly meeting, it was just the 4-5 of us. We tried to follow a rhythm where we would serve the needy, have a meal together or observe the sabbath together. Jason Dukes wrote a helpful book called, Inviting Along, which explains the seven rhythms of a “with Jesus lifestyle” and this model can be built around those rhythms.

With advances in technology, we will soon have new ways to disciple people. For example, Facebook plans to open virtual reality rooms next year. Soon using virtual reality and augmented reality for discipling relationships will be as common as meeting on Zoom meetings was in 2020.

Virtual and online meetings are also a big part of the reason we are upgrading The Discipleship.org Collective. We can now have ongoing trainings, conversations, and coaching online in ways that were not envisioned even a year ago.

7. Fast and Pray (a lot)

Here are two annoying questions. What gave power to Jesus’ disciple making efforts? God. How did Jesus access God’s power? He started his ministry with forty days of fasting and prayer (Matthew 4:1-2), he regularly withdrew to pray throughout his ministry (Mark 1:35), he prayed all night before picking the twelve (Luke 6:12-16) and he asked his three closest disciples to withdraw from the world to pray with him, and then he prayed so hard that sweat, like drops of blood, fell from his forehead just before the cross (Luke 22:39-46).

He was the Son of God and he utilized fasting and praying to be effective.

Why do we think we can be effective without relying on God’s power the way Jesus did?

Let me state this point positively. We have observed that fasting and prayer is a key component behind international disciple making movements. When people ask why we are not seeing these disciple making movements in North America, we point to our belief that a lack of fasting and prayer may be one of the key reasons.

We are not saying that Fasting and Prayer is like magic – human actions that make God give us what we ask for. God may have reasons that God alone knows why he will or he will not grant our requests. But, at the same time, he teaches us to pray and that we do not have things because we do not ask God (James 4:2). Fasting and prayer are key tools in our earnest efforts as we look to God to unleash his power. God’s Word teaches us to “Come near to God and he will come near to you” (James 4:8).

Church historians tell us that prayer is a precursor to revival and the great movements of God’s Spirit.[v]

This focus is true for those who emphasize free will and those who emphasize God’s sovereignty. It shows that both points of emphasis are needed. The Calvinist scholar Roger Nicole put it this way:[vi]It is in keeping with Reformed thought that revival should be grounded in prayer, because in prayer we acknowledge God’s sovereignty. God alone is the One who can dispense revival. So, revival is not something that is within the reach of human beings; it is something God alone can provide.

8. Develop a Simple, Effective, and Reproducible System

Those three words describe the personal disciple-making model every person and every church needs.

Several years ago, we brought on a staff minister from Jim Putman’s church in Idaho at the church where I serve as lead pastor. It was the early days of our focus in shifting to a disciple making culture. Our staff worked hard together to adapt to the differences between the Nashville area (where we are located) in comparison to North Idaho area (where our new staff minister came from). He loved basketball. So, one day he compared the disciple making system that we were developing to the way the Harvard University basketball team played basketball.

“It is pretty complicated,” he said. “But it might work.”

I soon realized the problem. Effective disciple making must focus on everyday disciples, not experts. We didn’t need a Harvard system.

If it is too complicated for the average, everyday person to adopt it, then it will not be easily reproducible and it will not multiply. And the local church or ministry needs just one system, not two or three (even though you may have variations).

So, when you are working on a team and you are seeking to create a disciple-making system, remember these three words.

Simple – it must be simple to understand, participate in and lead others in the personal disciple-making system you adopt. It can be a mission group model or small group model (designed for disciple making) or it can be a smaller transparent space model or even a one-on-one system. Just make sure it is simple, make it easy.

Effective – some of the best personal disciple making models I have tried sound great in theory, but they were ineffective in practice. Some models work with certain groups but not with other groups. Some models work well in one part of the country, but not in another. Many worked for others, but not for us. I jokingly tell my co-workers that over 90% of the ideas that I have tried do not work.

We have learned to underrate the wooden adoption of disciple making models. Let me share a good example.

Lots of people around North America have been trying to utilize Discovery Bible Study, but we are not currently seeing the effectiveness with this method in North America that others are seeing around the world. Is it because we do not have a culture where obedience is natural? Is it because we do not want to be accountable to share our faith with lost people? Is it because we are not providing the foundation of fasting and prayer? These are good questions that our team is investigating. The key point is that we want to make sure that we adopt effective models before we get the whole church to follow us. We each need our own effective model.

Reproducible – we want to raise up disciples who make disciples. That means that we also want our personal disciple-making model to be easy for people who have been discipled by us to repeat the same process with others. Sometimes people describe what we are talking about here as portable – people can take our model of disciple making and use it with men or women, students or adults, blue collar or white collar.

In short, when we utilize a personal disciple-making model, we want one for everyday people. We want a personal model for our ministry and/or church that creates disciples who make disciples, who make disciples, who make even more disciples …

9. Create Disciple-Making Culture, Not Strategies

Strategies are great. But the culture of a church or ministry is much more important.

There is an organizational and business truism that is often repeated to make this point: culture eats strategy for breakfast. Applying this to a church or a ministry, if you do not change the culture, nothing will really change. Many leaders fail in their strategies because they fail to account for this reality.

Louis Gerstner, the former CEO of IBM, took the adage two steps further: “Organizational culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch and dinner …”

What is a culture? The Harvard Business Review describes it this way: “The values, beliefs and behaviors practiced in an organization formed over time because they are rewarded or punished (i.e. by formal or informal rules, rituals, and behaviors).”

The McKinsey Institute put it more simply: “culture is how we do things around here …”

Strategies are easy because we take something external and try to put it over top of the people and their culture. “If we can just get everyone to follow this path,” we say. “If our people will adopt our strategy, we will get where we want to go.” The problem is that disciple making is not a path and it is not a strategy.

Disciple making is both an identity and a lifestyle.

People first see themselves as disciples. They believe it is the greatest reality on planet earth. This identity represents warmth, hope and joy for a person. They internalize being a disciple as something they want to share with others.

The desire to share what it means to be a disciple grows through challenges, trials, and it overcomes the draw toward lukewarmness over time. But the conviction about the truth of Jesus and the eternal lostness of those who are not disciples prevails.

Being a disciple and making disciples becomes a lifestyle – for individuals, ministries, and churches.

A disciple making culture must be created, nurtured and developed. It will thrive when it becomes deep rooted. As we pointed out in an earlier Discipleship.org blog, in such a culture there is an internal and external congruence throughout the organization based upon common beliefs/values (deep rooted), disciples/habits (practiced daily), and narrative/words (repeated regularly).[vii]

A disciple making culture is a beautiful, almost unstoppable thing.

10. Don’t Seek Easy Solutions

Don’t settle for shortcuts.

Who doesn’t want quick answers to difficult, challenging realities? But that is a big problem if you really want to shift to a disciple-making culture.

As the old saying goes, if it were easy, everyone would do it.

Here are three common ways that church or ministry leaders search for easy.

They send other staff members or other leaders to figure out how to solve their discipleship problem.

They find and easily adopt a popular disciple-making method without doing the deeper work.

They add disciple making on top of everything else they are already doing.

Given what we have said in the points above, it doesn’t take a genius to see that these three typical approaches – and countless more like them – will lead to failure. We have seen many church leaders and many churches make failed attempts at creating a true disciple-making focus.

G.K. Chesterton had a poignant observation about true discipleship: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” The same is true for a disciple-making focus. So, embrace the challenges and difficulties.

We are not bringing up this last point to create discouragement. On the contrary.

The effort is worth it. Disciple making is so important, so vital, and so life changing for people, that we cannot set the bar too low. It is the greatest mission on planet earth. Just think, it was the focus for 65-90% of Jesus ministry.

There is no more worthy focus for our lives, ministries, and churches.

A culture where disciple making thrives is a culture destined to bring abundant glory to God.

We want to give him our best.

[i] Jim Putman and I make the cursory case for disciple making as the core mission of the church in our book DiscipleShift: Five Shifts to Help Your Church Make Disciples Who Make Disciples and Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert make a similar but more elaborate case in their book, What is the Mission of the Church: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission. To help with clarity on this point, in the late spring of 2021 Scott Sager and I will publish a shorter, punchy, and cut-to-the-chase theological argument called, Disciple Making: The Core Mission of the Church (forthcoming by renew.org).

[ii] https://www.nae.net/when-americans-become-christians/

[iii] For more information on this definition see the forthcoming book by Kelvin Teamer, Kingdom Life: Experiencing God’s Reign through Love and Holiness (forthcoming Renew.org).

[iv] https://www.barna.com/research/changing-state-of-the-church/

[v] See Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal (IVP Academic; Expanded Edition, 2020).

[vi] https://www.galaxie.com/article/rar01-3-03

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By Justin Gravitt: Luke 6:46-49, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

Jesus had had enough. For too long His disciples had been listening without acting. They engaged him with a respect that lacked response. They were polite and casual. They were ordinary men with ordinary interests and ordinary engagement.

But Jesus was tired of being the “Lord” yet being treated like an ordinary lecturer. And it was time for Him to say so.

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

If our Scriptures were HD, I’m sure we’d see the sharp glint in His eyes and hear the seriousness in His voice. He hadn’t come to earth to simply make human friends. He didn’t pray overnight to select men who would remain ordinary. His Father had given him a job to do and that work would never succeed on the backs of men who were too casual or cowardly to do the hard work of becoming. Jesus’ goal wasn’t to just impact men, it was to build a foundation that would stand in the face of the coming torrent. His long-term perspective informed this instruction.

He started with the goal, “I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.”

The illustration may have been new to them, but the lesson wasn’t. Jesus was constantly teaching them about becoming. He showed them the fruit of a surrendered life. He urged them to do what He did. His teaching was more imitation than explanation; more “follow me” than “listen to me.”

But they weren’t getting it. So, being a master teacher he continued by telling them why they needed to put His teaching into practice.

“But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

The words must have rung in their ears, “Its destruction was complete.”

Jesus wasn’t saying that houses couldn’t be built without foundations. They could. They were. They are! But the difference between utter destruction and success wasn’t whether the house was built, but rather what happened to it when the torrent hit. Houses built halfway are destroyed when tough times come. On the other hand, a house with a foundation can withstand a disaster. Foundation work is hard but worth it. It’s the difference between what lasts and what’s a waste.

What’s true for Jesus’ Twelve is also true for Jesus’ Church. We can build houses of worship without doing what Jesus said. We can go through the motions of loving others without really loving them, we can preach theologically astute sermons without living it out in our personal lives, and we can run great programs without putting anything into practice, but to build a church that will stand up to the torrent, we must model our disciple making after Jesus. He showed us how to build a foundation upon which the church will thrive.

The biggest fallacy of the American church is that it can thrive on a foundation other than Jesus-style disciple making. It can’t and COVID is revealing that. So with what foundation is the church designed to thrive?

I tackle this question in my recent eBook, The Foundation of a Disciple Making Culture. Click the title to download for FREE!

Jesus’ foundation was the Twelve. Through those men, He saw the nations and all generations of disciples who would believe through them (John 17:20). They were His CORE team. I unpack CORE as an acronym in my book, but I want to point out three outcomes of Jesus’ CORE team.

1. Each individual became a disciple maker.

Jesus’ goal for each of them was their transformation. To be clear, that transformation was to be in the model of Jesus (Luke 6:40). They were to become fishers of men (Matthew 4:19) and they were to be sent out (Mark 3:14). Jesus kept that reality before them when he talked to them about how to become great in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5) and when He challenged them to surrender to His Lordship (Luke 6:46).

2. Their union was driven by an individual commitment to the mission of being and making disciples.

There’s no doubt the torrent struck Jesus’ disciples. Jesus was brutally executed, the government persecuted and eventually killed most of them, and there was no establishment for them to lean on. In spite of all this, this team stood firm and Jesus’ work wasn’t washed away.

3. Their connection to Jesus and one another made them resilient.

Despite persecution and uncertainty, the disciples were incredibly resilient. Together they faced beatings, death, theological disagreements, and imprisonment without turning on one another or abandoning the faith. Instead, they praised God for the opportunity to face such challenges and lived into the mission they’d been given.

The church is meant to thrive on the foundation of a CORE team of disciple makers. It was the power of Jesus’ movement and it will be the power of the next one. A CORE team allows the broader church to see the life of Jesus lived out in different contexts, but with one mission; Peter to the Gentiles (Acts 15:7-11), John a pillar in the Jerusalem Church (Gal. 2:9), and so on. Today it’s Steve making disciples at his workplace, Dana doing it with other young moms, and Zach doing the same as he volunteers to teach tennis to neighbors. As a team, the volume of their commitment is amplified; as individuals the impact is varied.

The same can happen in your church. A CORE team of disciple makers live out the same mission in different contexts. They use different gifts, but proclaim to all who watch and listen that Jesus is King and His Kingdom is here to stay. Together they display a fullness that springs from following Jesus and announces to everyone that His disciples do work that’s holy, transcendent, and fulfilling.

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By Justin Gravitt. Used with permission.

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By Ken Adams: For most of us, if we don’t have a good reason for why we need to do something that will be challenging, we probably won’t do it. Knowing why is essential in most any endeavor, but especially when it comes to multiplying disciples. If we knew and understood why multiplication is so important, we would be committed to making it happen. With that in mind, let me share with you a few of the reasons why multiplication is essential in carrying out the mission of Jesus.

Multiplication is the fastest way to reach the nations

Jesus called us to make disciples of all nations, and that can be done one of two ways. We can make disciples by addition, or we can make disciples by multiplication. Multiplying disciples is by far the fastest way to accomplish the mission Jesus gave us to do. If we make disciples by addition we will never reach all nations simply because addition can never keep up with the exponential growth of the world’s population. Multiplication starts slowly but it picks up steam quickly, so quickly that the world’s population of nearly eight billion people can be reached in a lifetime if every disciple multiplied more disciples.

Multiplication is the smartest way to reach the nations

If you wanted to provide your child with the best education possible, would you choose a classroom with a teacher student ratio of 1 to 100 or 1 to 10? No one would intentionally choose the larger teacher student ratio if that person wanted to give his or her child a quality classroom experience. This is another reason why multiplication is so much smarter than addition. In movements of addition, groups or classes tend to get larger and larger. In movements of multiplication, the goal is to keep multiplying groups of people so that the church is getting larger and smaller at the same time. In Acts 2, the Church in Jerusalem was over three thousand members strong, but those members stayed small by meeting from house to house. That was a very smart way for the Jerusalem Church to grow.

Multiplication is the easiest way to reach the nations: Maybe you have heard someone say, “Work smarter, not harder.” The smarter way to make disciples is also the easiest way to make disciples. Think about your money for a moment. Would simple interest or compound interest be an easier path to building personal wealth? Compound interest is allowing your money to work for you by multiplying it. The same is true for disciple making. Trying to reach the nations by addition is so much harder than reaching the nations by multiplying disciples. For example: if I gave you a penny a day and doubled it every day for thirty days, you would have over $10 million dollars in thirty days. That’s easy money.

I’ve given you three good logical arguments for why you need to multiply disciples, but the real reason we need to multiply disciples is because Jesus told us to. Multiplying disciples is ultimately a matter of obedience to Christ’s commission. You are either making disciples who make more disciples, or you are not.

By Ken Adams

Used by permission. Originally posted here:

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By Ken Adams: I recently spent a week of vacation just outside of Bradenton, Florida in Ana Maria Island. Sunshine, ocean, sand, golf, seafood: it was a great week to relax. It was everything you could ask for in a beach vacation. However, I did have one unexpected highlight—I was able to watch disciples multiply right there on vacation!

My trip to Bradenton was not random. My wife and I have friends who live on Ana Maria Island who invited us to come down and spend some time with them. These friends used to attend the church where I pastor and have been very faithful leaders in our church for years. Trust me when I say they have gotten a very good dose of discipleship training over the last twenty + years.

The really cool thing about this story is that my buddy, Jerry, took what he learned about disciple making in the church and carried it with him to Florida. He wasn’t just making disciples because his former church was committed to it; he continued to make disciples out of obedience to Jesus. He understands the mission of Jesus is to make disciples of all nations.

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One night during our vacation, Jerry invited me to visit his discipleship group. He and six other men meet once a week to grow and challenge each other to become the disciples Jesus called them to be. My time with Jerry’s group was awesome. This is a group of ordinary men who are seeking to become more like Christ. Hearing them share their stories and talk about growing as men of God was worth the trip by itself.

The Mission of Jesus

I sat in this meeting thinking to myself, “What an awesome sight.” Seeing Jerry take disciple making to a location I would probably never go and multiply the mission. Bradenton isn’t necessarily a different nation, but it is another location in the world that needs a movement of multiplication to break out that I don’t have the opportunity myself to reach. But thanks to Jerry’s faithfulness, a movement of multiplication could happen starting with this small group.

As I shared a few thoughts with the group, I challenged them to take what they were learning (and becoming) and share it with others. I challenged them to multiply more disciples and reproduce the life of Christ in others. My challenge to them was to not simply work through the Impact curriculum, but to commit themselves to being disciples and building more disciples. The challenge was to do what Jesus did.

I’m expecting big things to come out of this group, and I am praying for multiple generations of disciples to be the result of a seed that was planted in Jerry. That seed is bearing fruit, and I believe over time it can bear much fruit. I can’t wait to see how God honors one man’s obedience. Keep making disciples, Jerry. It is the mission of Jesus.

By Ken Adams

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Source: Disciple Making in Bradenton

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By Stan Rodda: When it comes to making disciples, one of the areas that can be confusing is the relationship between people. Ultimately walking with others the way Jesus did is messy and personal. It’s all up in your time and business. There is a need for healthy boundaries at the same time, but a lot of questions come with a relationship that personal. Questions like…

How much time do I give?

How much do I let them in to the real me?

Do I have to talk to them everyday?

What do they ultimately look like?

Can a Patriots fan be discipled or are they too far gone?

Paul gives us a picture of what the disciple making relationship should look like in 1 Thessalonians 2. Take some time and read it. Don’t worry, the blog will still be here when you get back. Read it through a disciple making relationship lens. Look for all the phrases Paul uses like, “you, with you, among you, for you,” etc. Also highlight or mark in some way the characteristics of what that relationship looks like. It truly is a beautiful picture.

Go ahead and read that chapter now. We promise we won’t go anywhere.

Now that you’ve read it, here are a few things that stand out to me in a disciple making relationship (DMR).

DMR’s are Rooted in Purity

Every disciple maker must have their own hearts tested by God in this. I will speak for myself; many times in sharing the Gospel I have not trusted the power of God to change lives. So I have tried to convince people with my own words and flattery. I have made promises that God doesn’t make in an effort to win people over. In v. 3 Paul says his appeal for the Gospel does not come from impurity or attempt to deceive. I have had to check my heart on this many times and I would encourage you to do the same.

DMR’s Become Shared Lives

Like a gentle, nursing mother who cares for her children, Paul had a strong affection for the people in the church at Thessalonica. His affection for them was so strong he says he didn’t just want to share the Gospel, but he wanted to share his life with them as well. They were so dear to him he wanted to share his own self with the church. Like a mother who cares that deeply for her children and is that involved in daily life with her kids. There are a lot of practical questions that come along with this.

How much time do I give?

How do I share my life with them?

What does that look like?

Are they in my house everyday?

Will I never be an empty-nester?

Those are questions for another blog post, but for now some of you may need to pause and wrestle with Paul’s words here. What does it look like for you to be so affectionate toward those you are discipling that you aren’t just giving them a meal to sustain them for the next few days, but you are sharing your life with them?

DMR’s Come With Direction

Paul had to charge those he was discipling by telling them the direction to go or the manner in which they should go. He writes in v. 11, 12 about treating the relationship like a father to his children, exhorting and encouraging. The DMR doesn’t just need a motherly touch (previous point), but sometimes it needs a charge. It needs a mission. It needs guidance. It needs to be pointed in the right direction. Like a father directing his children, so a disciple maker must direct those they are discipling.

What do my kids need from me today?

Where am I noticing they might be a little off?

How can I support them?

How can I encourage and charge them to walk in a manner worth of God today?

These types of questions become practical and helpful in the DMR. There is a balance between the previous two points about being nurturing and encouraging in a certain direction. If both elements are not present, you don’t have a complete DMR. Are you leaning in to one because it’s who you are naturally to the exclusion of the other side of the relationship? In other words – are you too harsh on those you are leading and forgetting to be gentle and share your life? Or are you sharing life so well that no one is on mission because they are enjoying food at your table? Balance the two.

DMR’s Produce Great Joy

Paul couldn’t wait to see them face to face. He was so eager to get back to his people. They brought him so much joy. He does write that Satan hindered them from being face to face sooner. I think this is a prophetic text about COVID and ZOOM. Pretty sure that’s in the original somewhere.

Not only did the relationship result in great joy for Paul, but it was also his boast before Christ. When Christ returns, what would Paul boast about? He would boast about these people. His hope and joy and crown of boasting before Jesus was the disciples.

The more I disciple, the more joy I get out of seeing what my disciples do than what God is doing through me individually. It’s a lot like this in life. I loved sports and got a lot of joy out of being the fastest person in my high school and college. I got a lot of joy out of my accomplishments. But I get even more joy out of my children’s accomplishments. When they do something great I stick my chest out a little bit more, I stand a bit taller, I smile a bit bigger. They are my hope, crown and joy.

And in disciple making, my disciples are the same. Wow! Did you see what God did with them. I’m so proud. Do your disciple making relationships results in that kind of joy?

There is much more to be written on disciple making relationships and I am sure I will write on that in the future. For now, a simple read through 1 Thessalonians 2 gives a strong picture of what a DMR should look like.

As you read, what do you see?

What other characteristics jump out at you?

What do you think God wants you to do differently as a result?

Source: A Snapshot of a Disciple Making Relationship

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by Stan Rodda: After 18 years in ministry, one of the biggest reasons why many followers of Jesus don’t share the Gospel with someone, is simply because they don’t know HOW. The paid professionals have to take a step away from knowing all the answers and how to do all the things. If we are going to see a movement of disciples making disciples, then we must train and equip the everyday believer with tools, then unleash them on their communities.

The “Three Circles” is a great tool to use to train someone HOW to share the Gospel. It gives a simple framework and puts the Gospel into everyday terms. I love this tool and have used it in many ways and in many contexts.

Watch the training below and download the graphic to fill in along the way. Then practice, practice, practice. Once you have the main parts down, you will be able to start customizing and using in a variety of ways.

Let me know how it goes or if you have any questions.

Let’s take Kingdom territory!

Source: How to Share the Gospel

The post How to Share the Gospel appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by discipleship.org: In our second main stage session, we focused on what it means to follow King Jesus in obedience. Here are the five things we noted from the 2nd main stage speaker sessions:

1.  North American’s Have a Problem with Obedience.

We value freedom as a culture, and we have theologies that make obedience optional. These two forces (and others) have created church cultures where we resist an emphasis on obedience.

2. King Jesus Calls for Obedience.

Jesus is humanity’s king (Messiah), and in Matthew 28:18–20, he calls us to make disciples who “obey all of his teachings.” It is a proper response to a King—especially King Jesus—to obey all that he teaches.

3. Obedience Is an Integral Expression of Faith.

The Bible teaches us that we are saved by faith, not works. Yet saving faith is a faithful faith in the Bible. It is empowered by the Holy Spirit and it includes trust, allegiance, and obedience.

4. Obedience Is God’s Love Language.

In John 14:23, Jesus said this: “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

We express not just faith by obedience, we also show our love to God by obedience.

5. Obedience Is a Path to Freedom.

Sean McDowell expressed what the freedom of obedience looks like in a blog that was quoted by David Young—click here to read.

There would be no sexually transmitted diseases. No abortions. No brokenness from divorce. Every child would have a mother and a father and experience the love and acceptance each parent uniquely offers. There would be no rape, no sex abuse, no sex trafficking, no pornography, and no need for a #MeToo campaign. There would be no sexual exploitation, no sexual abuse, no AIDS, chlamydia, herpes, HPV, or syphilis, no unwanted pregnancies, no pain from divorce, no deadbeat dads, no men who leave their wives for other women. No child would have to grow up in a home where a mom or dad abandoned them in order to do it their own way.

When we leave our own way of doing things and submit to the perfect ways of God, we’ll find true freedom!

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Source: 2nd Main Stage Session Recap: Surrendering to Obedience-Based Disciple Making

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Source: Winston Churchill, Discipleship, & Being Wartime Leaders

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Justin Gravitt: How do you know when you’ve made a disciple?

It’s an important question, after all Jesus’ last words were for us make disciples as we go. It wasn’t a new mission, but rather one that He’d invited his disciples into very early in His ministry (Matthew 4:19). The task of making mature disciples is affirmed in both Colossians 1:29 and 2 Timothy 2:2. As we roll up our sleeves in the lives of others, this question matters because when we’ve made a disciple it affirms what’s happened in that discipling relationship and propels us outward to go and make more. So, what’s the reliable litmus test a disciple maker can use to identify when a mature disciple has been made?

A few years ago a pastor said to me, “I’ve had no trouble making disciples, the trouble I have is getting them to go and make disciples.”

I told him, “I have no trouble making chairs, the trouble I have is they always break when someone sits on them.”

Ok, I really didn’t say that, but I wish I would have! But what would you think if someone claimed to make chairs that didn’t support anyone?! I heard the pastor saying a similar thing to me. A disciple who doesn’t go out to make other disciples is not a mature disciple.

So why do so many American Christians believe they can follow Jesus without making other disciples?

I believe there are at least two reasons. First, many have never been taught how to make a disciple. They grew up as spiritual orphans under institutional care and that’s all they’ve ever known.

Second, many disciples lose their vision for disciple making. Ok, yes, make disciples, but what exactly is the goal here? Often, even those who start with clarity lose sight of the goal.

Chair makers don’t have that problem. The goal is clear- make something strong enough that someone can sit on. If a chair can’t support a person’s weight we don’t call it a chair, or at least not a finished chair. When referring to that yet-to-be chair, we say, “it’s going to be a chair” not “it is a chair.” More work is required. In other words, the proof of a finished chair is it’s ability to support a person sitting on it. What’s the proof of a finished disciple?

How do you judge spiritual maturity?

Yes, of course, you’re right that a disciple is never finished this side of heaven, but for our purposes a disciple is “finished” when he’s mature. The best way to identify a disciple’s maturity is through reproduction, or the emergence of the third generation.

Spiritual generations are the surest indication that a disciple’s life with Christ is vibrant enough to spread to another. The disciple maker is the first generation; she has the relational skills and intentionality to invite another into a disciple making relationship. The one she disciples is the second generation. That disciple’s maturity is clearly seen in reproduction, in making another disciple. However, we must understand that she hasn’t made a disciple until the one she disciples makes a disciple, so the emergence of the third generation means that a fourth is also emerging.

In the third generation the disciple maker clearly sees what’s been passed on. He may believe that he’s passed on a heart for the lost, but if the third generation is apathetic towards those who don’t know the lost, then clearly it didn’t get passed on. What shows up in the third generation is most often a mix of encouraging and discouraging things. Such a window into our effectiveness should drive us back to the cross and motivate us to grow more and more so that we can be as effective as possible.

Justin Gravitt, author of this blog, is with Navigator’s Church Ministries. They have made available to you, “The Start Small Grow Slow Strategy,” which you can download for free here.

Discipling with the third generation in mind means that we aren’t just discipling the person across from us, we’re discipling that person and all those she’ll disciple in the future. This sobering reality should drives us to prayerful dependence, unwavering intentionality, and a sincere relationship.

The third generation test also helps us see the difference between mentoring (direct impact) and disciple making (generational impact). Direct impact is comparatively easy. Consider how you and others have been impacted by a sermon, but never met the speaker, or by a book, but never met the author. On the other hand, consider the way a friend or family member has influenced you simply by sharing their life with you.

Generational impact is apparent in the third and fourth generations. And it’s the type of impact that Jesus expected when He said, “…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” If you teach someone that, they will teach another the same thing, and so will they.

So the emergence of the third generation is trustworthy proof of making a disciple. It helps young disciple makers keep the goal in focus. As a disciple maker, you aren’t done if the one you’re discipling isn’t going on to disciple others. It might take longer than you expected, but persevere! Growth is seldom linear or predictable!

Written by Justin Gravitt

Justin Gravitt is the Dayton (Ohio) Area Director for Navigator Church Ministries. Read more from Justin at his blog, “One Disciple to Another,” where this article first appeared.

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Source: How Do You Know When You’ve Made a Disciple?

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