Stan Rodda: Recently I asked disciple makers on Instagram what their #1 struggle in disciple making was. I wanted to know what people on the front lines are wrestling with when it comes to making disciples. One of the first responses I got was about getting to 4th generation disciples.

“I only have one guy right now,” he said. “I’m looking for that next level type of discipleship.”

For those involved in making disciple makers, getting to multiple generations is a huge prayer and goal. We want the Gospel of Jesus to spread to all people. We crave for it to move well beyond us. This is a worthwhile goal and vision because it is one that Paul shares with us in 2 Timothy 2:2…

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. [HCSB]

At the end of the day there is only one level of discipleship; obedience to King Jesus in all things who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth by God the Father! Focus on that and you will get to reproducing disciples to multiple generations. With that in mind, here are some practical thoughts and ideas to help you get to the next generation of disciple makers.

Press Into Obedience!

Reproducing disciples are born out of obedience to King Jesus. There is no way around it. The more we press into obedience, the more we become like Christ and the more our heart beats in alignment with his. As we seek and desire to see generations of disciples being made in our time, we must never forget the beginning of it is obedience. We must constantly be taking an assessment of how we are doing ourselves in this area.

What areas of your life need to be more fully surrendered in obedience to Jesus?

Is there an area of unconfessed sin?

What is holding you back from doing more of what God asks?

What do I need to repent of and begin to walk in God’s truth?

So much of disciple making can be summed up in modeling the right behaviors. If you aren’t modeling confession and continued obedience, you aren’t going to be able to reproduce that in another disciple. Taken to its logical end; your disciples won’t press into obedience and won’t be able to help others press into obedience either. Once you stop pressing into obedience yourself, you effectively end the possibility of a reproducing movement of disciple makers. As the old adage goes…

You can’t lead anyone else to where you aren’t willing to go!

Be Faithful With the One God Gives You!

Jesus calls this “faithful with little, faithful with much.” When you show yourself to be faithful with the one God has given you, you will naturally receive more. This can often be twisted into earthly blessings, that God is promising more blessings when I’m faithful with some others, but that’s not the reality. The reality is that when I am faithful with those God has given me to disciple, He leads me to more. And here’s what it looks like to be faithful practically.

Think of all the “one another” passages in Scripture. Now be that kind of person for your disciple.

Encourage them

Train them

Love them

Lead them

Bear their burdens

Correct them

Pray for them

If you want life on life discipleship, the kind that Jesus had with His disciples, then you must be faithful with the ones God has given you. In essence, you must view your disciples the way Jesus viewed His. And His view and aim was to be faithful with those God had given Him. And He was.

While I was with them, I was protecting them by Your name that You have given Me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, the one destined for destruction so that the Scripture may be fulfilled. [John 17:12 HCSB]

Focus on a Healthy Disciple First!

A healthy disciple hears God’s voice and obeys. As they take steps of obedience they begin to transform and mature. In their maturity, they are able to reproduce that in someone else and make more disciples.

Early on in the process, it is not like this. Children are immature and unable to reproduce. Only mature adults can reproduce. Spiritual children are the same: immature and unable to reproduce. If you want to get to generations of disciples, focus on a healthy first disciple. A maturing disciple will develop in these key areas:

Daily abiding with Christ through Scripture

Hearing God’s voice in Prayer

Taking immediate steps of obedience when God calls

As they continuously hear God’s voice and take more steps of obedience, they will mature and multiply. But you can’t get to 4th generation disciples without a 1st generation disciple.

Embed Multiplication DNA Immediately!

Your disciple may not be at the level of obedience where they are ready to multiply yet to another person. Sometimes that’s okay and sometimes the root of their disobedience needs to be rooted out. That said, multiplication DNA must be established immediately. Even if they struggle with the ability, they must always know that’s the direction we are headed.

“We will multiply to others…”

“We will share with others…”

“Who is in your life right now that…”

“Who are you praying for right now that…”

You want them to be thinking outward focused right away. To get to generations of disciples, we must move rapidly toward having eyes and a heartbeat for lost people. Your disciple needs a gen map (Oikos Map) immediately. Who are the people that God has already uniquely positioned them to reach. They need to be praying for God to go before them to those people from the start. The more their heart is burdened for lost people, the more likely they are to multiply to another person.

These are four imperatives that come to mind when I think about getting to reproducing disciples. What are some other areas you believe we must focus on to achieve multiplication? What else must we do to see the completion of the Great Commission in our day?

Let’s take Kingdom territory!

Source: 4 Imperatives to Help Reach Multiplication

The post 4 Imperatives to Help Reach Multiplication appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Bobby Harrington: Bill Hull and I have joined together to urge pastors to learn how to focus on truly making disciples.

Let me explain . . .

There is general agreement among pastors that making disciples is central to the church’s mission. It is a curious phenomenon, then, that so few pastors would say they are good at it!

A recent study of church members found that 52 percent of those who have attended church at least once in the past six months believe their church does a good job of helping members grow spiritually. The same study found that only 1 percent of pastors think they are doing a good job at helping their members grow.

That is, only 1 percent of pastors believe they’re doing well at making disciples.

What do the pastors know that church members do not? Pastors have more theological knowledge and understanding than most about Christ’s expectation for the disciple making in the church. They know their churches well and can see all the faults. They are experts on their short comings. Most clearly, they understand that distractions, conflicts, and a shortage of well-trained leaders hold their church back from what God desires for them.

Pastors understand that they are to be disciple-making leaders who create a multiplying disciple making movement, beginning with the church they serve. But, unfortunately, if you asked most pastors to raise their hand if they were sure about how to go about it, very few would raise their hand high.

Bill wrote the seminal book on this topic, The Disciple-Making Pastor, over thirty years ago to address this problem. That is why, having sold 150,000 copies, this book is still in print today! In fact, it has never been more needed than right now.

With over forty years of experience, writing more than twenty-five books, and training thousands of pastors to make disciples who actually make disciples, Bill is one of the leading experts on what it takes to be a disciple-making pastor in the world today.

Continue Reading . . .

Join Bill Hull and his special guests—Bobby Harrington, Dave Clayton, David Young, Michelle Eagle, and Ben Sobels (all proven disciple makers)—for this online seminar, “The Disciple Making Pastor.”

This seminar will lead you through an engaging process that will clarify the role of a disciple-making pastor, what disciple-making pastors really believe, the challenges they must be prepared to face today, and the critical practices of disciple-making pastors whom God uses to create disciple-making movements.

Click Here – To Learn More

As a preview, here is what to expect in the five sessions:

Session 1. Why are Disciple Making Pastors Needed?

Pastors are to raise up everyday disciples who become disciple makers who reach the nations (Eph. 4:11-13; Matt. 28:18-20; 2 Tim. 2:2). But if Pastors are unclear on why they are to be leaders of disciple making communities, then confusion will be in control of the church’s activity. The Why is theological in that the gospel we believe will determine the disciples we make.

If for example our gospel is primarily about how the Christian feels, how fulfilled they are, and how the church meets their needs, there is very little chance that a consumer gospel can make any useful disciple.

The wrong kind of gospel just makes matters worse. We create disciples that are of no use to Christ and his mission. This session’s special focus is the nature of the gospel, a gospel that includes discipleship as a natural part of what it means to be saved.

The secondary issues is what is called the “high cost” of non-discipleship. Pastors have wasted much time attempting to talk congregants into upping their spiritual game. At the same time, we have taught them a non-discipleship gospel that has convinced them that discipleship itself is optional. This must be turned around, disciple making pastors are the key.

Session 2. What are Disciple Making Pastors Up against?

Opposition from the outside world against a pastor’s disciple making efforts is fierce and constant. Pastors are up against rigid religious traditions, misconceptions about discipleship, a culture that craves to be entertained, an anti-training bias in the church, a demand for immediate results, superficial knee-jerk decision making, a constant re-interpretation of things, not to mention the full frontal attacks of the spiritual forces of darkness.

All these outside influences work against a pastor. But it’s the struggles inside a pastor that ultimately determine their disciple-making destiny. Being a disciple-making pastor requires a satisfied soul. A satisfied soul empowers a pastor to be patient enough, tough enough, and committed to Jesus and His message and methods long enough for a movement of multiplication to take hold. There is a pathway through this jungle without signage, so a guide is needed

Writer Linda Stone aptly labeled our age one of “continuous partial attention.” That is, you are multitasking your way through the day, continuously devoting only partial attention to each act or person you encounter. It is the malady of modernity. We have gone from the Iron Age to the Industrial Age to the Information Age to the Age of Interruption. The anxiety associated with this addiction to superficiality is a serious threat to the making of disciples.

Cal Newport in his 2016 best seller, Deep Work, says it is rare, it is meaningful, and it is valuable. “’Deep Work’ is defined as Professional activities performed in a state of distraction free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill and are hard to replicate.” Most knowledge workers…have lost their ability to perform deep work. Dallas Willard called pastors and teachers to the nations. From a biblical world-view, spiritual knowledge is the most important kind, and pastors are custodians of that knowledge. The Apostle Paul described Christian leaders as “servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries” (Col. 1:26-27) Since distraction is a major threat to this mission, what can be done?

Session 3. What are the Goals of a Disciple-Making Pastor?

It is alarming how many church leaders, board members, and staff teams are unclear on what a disciple of Jesus actually is. They don’t have a definition of a disciple on the tip of their tongues. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for Christian leaders to gather to define a disciple and for the conversation to go on for hours!

Even more unfortunate is that these discussions often end in either a heated argument or a frustrated stalemate. What is clear is that many church leaders aren’t clear on the goal of disciple making – a Christ-like disciple.

You can’t make Christ-like disciples if you don’t know what a Christ-like disciple is. If there is one person in the church who should be equipped with a clear, biblical, and viral definition of a disciple, it’s the pastor.

Many churches have a definition of a disciple that is true – but not useful. For example, “a disciple is a follower of Jesus.” Or, “A disciple is someone learning to live and love like Jesus.” Or,” A disciple is a person on mission with Jesus.”

All of these are true, but not useful! They suffer from ambiguity; ambiguity protects us from accountability. You not only can’t measure a disciple with these definitions, you don’t have enough specificity to make a disciple, forget replication of more disciples. The goal of a disciple-making pastor is about the creation of and replication of a certain kind of person who will change their world, a Christ like disciple.

“We now have sunk to such a depth that the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent persons.” George Orwell

Session 4. What is the DNA of a Disciple Making Pastor?

Some discussion has already taken place with respect to a Disciple-Making Pastor having a satisfied soul; being the kind of emotionally stable person needed to lead a disciple making movement.

Bill likes to offer definitions of what he refers to as “the DNA” of a Disciple-Making Pastor. There are at least eight characteristics of this DNA. For example, Bill says that a Disciple-Making Pastor must be convinced that all that are called to salvation are called to discipleship – no exceptions, no excuses.

The characteristics Bill will define – this disciple making DNA – must be consistently cultivated in a pastor’s life, not only for their own spiritual health but also for the fullness of life experienced by those they disciple. After defining the eight characteristics of disciple making DNA, Bill discusses with his guests how to best cultivate them not only in our own lives but also in the lives of those we disciple.

Session 5. What is the Strategy of the Disciple Making Pastor?

If you don’t have a plan, you don’t intend to do it! A pastor’s calendar is filled with many “good” things – preparing sermons, visiting the sick, maintaining and repairing buildings, conducting memorial services, coordinating volunteers, leading staff, etc. One thing that rarely makes it onto a pastor’s calendar is discipleship. They don’t have time for it.

A huge part of the problem is the established church – what it rewards, what it ignores, and what it punishes. But the church needs pastors to make disciples, develop disciple making leaders, and create a comprehensive discipleship strategy for the church. These things take time – a lot of time. If the pastor is not spending time doing these things, you can be sure no one else is.

In this session the panel will discuss practical ways pastors can manage their time, navigate the church’s expectations, and also what pastors need to spend time doing as it relates to creating a disciple making movement among their congregations.

Pastors should be making disciples but they’re not.

The Disciple Making-Pastor Seminar …

Most don’t know how. Many pastors have never grasped why.

For Jesus, making disciples was his passion; it was also his plan for rescuing people and restoring his creation.

Just recently, Bill joined with a group of church leaders to create a fresh and contemporary recording of the disciple making pastor.

If you are a pastor or you care about how pastors can follow Jesus and make disciples, please join us for the Disciple-Making Pastor Seminar.

For King Jesus,

Bobby Harrington, Point Leader, Discipleship.org

Join us at our National Disciple Making Forum!

November 7th- 8th in Nashville, TN

Sign up Today!

New Blogs

““Can I Pray For You?”—Alex Absalom’s Breakthrough Disciple-Making Learning”

by Alex Absalom

READ THE BLOG

“5 Principles of Discipleship from Colossians 1:28-29”

by Downline Ministries

READ THE BLOG

“Family Discipleship Activity: Intentional Faith”

by D6 Family

READ THE BLOG

New Podcast Episodes

LISTEN NOW

S6 Episode 28: The Driver Is the Intentional Leader: Take the Baton and Pass It Forward

S6 Episode 27: The Micro Group Vehicle (3s & 4s): Creating the Hothouse Effect

S6 Episode 26: The Micro Group Vehicle (3s & 4s): Relational Ingredients for Authentic Discipleship

The post What Makes You a Disciple Making Pastor? appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: What Makes You a Disciple Making Pastor?

The post What Makes You a Disciple Making Pastor? appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Bobby Harrington: This is part of a two-part blog series. If you haven’t yet read Part 1, which contains trends 1-5, read it by clicking here.

As I mentioned at the open of the last blog — the first five trends in Part 1 — we’ve seen some great, encouraging, and inspiring trends over the last year among disciple-makers, leaders, and churches. We are grateful to God for each of them.

Now I want to transition from describing current trends to prescribing actions based on the needs that we are observing. We encourage you to consider how you can adopt the following practices. We believe they are foundational to the long-term effectiveness of the discipleship-first tribe.

Download a beautiful PDF with all 10 trends by clicking here (coming soon).

6. Get people into God’s Word

People need God’s Word. The North American church needs to re-iterate her emphasis here. In generations past, this has been the norm, but not any more. In order to be faithful to God, we must maintain a high view of God’s Word — the inspired, reliable, trustworthy, and even infallible (when properly defined) Word of God. His Word is our ultimate and final authority.

God’s Word — spoken and written — changes lives, and it works like nothing else.

…

Source: 10 Top Disciple Making Trends for 2019 (Part 2)

The post 10 Top Disciple Making Trends for 2019 (Part 2) appeared first on Passion for Planting.