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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Source: Top 10 Forward-Thinking Trends for Disciple Makers

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Making Disciples

By Craig Etheredge: “So if I buy into what you are saying, what is going to be different about my ministry six months from now?” It was a good question, coming from a seasoned pastor. As we shared lunch together in a nice restaurant, the topic of conversation was making disciples. This pastor had led his church to become one of the most influential churches in his district, seeing people come to Christ and watching the church expand. However, over the past few years, the church numbers were beginning to sag. Other churches in the area were gaining traction while his ministry was sputtering. He wanted to know more about making disciples because God had put in his heart that the problem was deeper than just the weekend attendance.

Raise Up Stronger, More Committed Believers

He was convinced that he needed to raise up stronger, more committed believers, but he was unclear what that would look like or how to do it. Around that table, we talked about Jesus as the model for making disciples and the definition of a disciple. I briefly explained that Jesus had a simple four-step strategy for producing disciples and disciple-makers. Then he dropped the question. “What’s going to be different six months from now if I course-correct and head this direction?” You may be wondering the same thing. Up until now, you probably agree with most of what you’ve read. But does disciple-making really make a difference in a church?

Disciple-Making Changes Things

The short answer is yes. Disciple-making changes the DNA of your church from being about managing activities to investing in people.

Every man pours his life into something. What are you pouring your life into? If there was ever a time we needed pastors to make disciples and raise up godly men, the time is now. The church needs you. Men need you. If you will follow the example of Jesus and give yourself to making disciples, your influence will live on in the men who come after you, and your impact will remain until He returns.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to give my one and only life to maintaining an organization. However, I would readily give my life to a movement that changes people.

By Craig Etheredge

Used by permission. Originally posted here:

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Source: Move from Religious Activity to Relational Investment

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By: unSeminary

Thanks for listening in to this week’s unSeminary podcast. I’m excited to have Brett Bixby join us from Bridgewater Church – a multisite church with campuses in New York and Pennsylvania.

Founded in 1807, Bridgewater Church plateaued for many years with most of their growth being transfer growth rather than new salvations. But fifteen years ago God began stirring in the hearts of the staff and in 2009 Brett was brought on board as the Outreach Pastor to help develop a focus on reaching adults with the Gospel. Listen in as Brett shares the methods Bridgewater began to implement over the years to become one of the fastest growing churches in the country in a relatively rural area of the northeast.

Change your methods. // As Bridgewater began to shift their focus more to spreading the Gospel, they realized that most people who don’t attend church aren’t necessarily against God, but rather see church as unappealing and have no desire to come. So Bridgewater began to examine their structure and methods for reaching the lost to see what needed to change. The first of these changes was to add a contemporary service and then encourage their people to invite their friends and family. People were so responsive to these invitations that the church had to continue adding services, and eventually transition the traditional service because they needed the room for new families.Invite friends. // Bridgewater made it normal for people to invite everyone they knew to hear about Jesus. The staff wanted to be the first to model the invite culture they were trying to develop and so they went out of their way to get involved in the community. As part of this natural outreach, the lead pastor coached high school soccer and Brett coached junior football and sought to connect with local families. This philosophy and involvement in the community continues to be an important part of Bridgewater’s culture today.Tell God-stories. // Another change Bridgewater made was to focus on stories of life-change within their communities. Week after week they shared stories of what God was doing in the lives of people at their church. When they didn’t have the ability to record videos of these testimonies, they simply asked people to come to the front of the room and share. Bridgewater also celebrates salvations with carnations. Whenever people give their lives to Christ, it’s represented by carnations within the service. At a recent church business meeting, 464 carnations were displayed, each representing the people who were saved at the church in the last year. Realize that God wants to show up this way all of the time in our churches, but we have to be willing to work with Him.Plug people in. // As new families have come to the church, Bridgewater looks to Jesus’ example of how he connected people relationally and invited people to serve. Jesus had his disciples passing out bread and fish and hanging out with each other, and connection can be as simple as that. Brett reminds us that there are several team roles that can be available to anyone, regardless of where they are spiritually. Working as a greeter, serving coffee in the café, or working in the parking lot are all roles new people can step into. And now as churches reopen, cleaning teams will be necessary at each campus as well. Plug people in wherever they fit and get them relationally connected to people who love Jesus in order to help them take steps forward.Explore what’s next. // When the lockdown started, Bridgewater went back to their mission and just looked for different ways to accomplish it. Now as the church reopens, they are exploring new campuses to see where God wants to move them next. Another church has already approached them during this season to explore a possible merger. When planning to launch a new campus, take a look at towns with elementary schools. As Brett notes, any place with a school has enough young families that they need a great church.

You can connect with Bridgewater Church at www.bridgewater.church.  

Thank You for Tuning In!

There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I’m grateful for that. If you enjoyed today’s show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they’re extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally!

Lastly, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live!

Source: Turning Up the Volume on Reaching Unchurched People with Brett Bixby

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by Bobby Harrington:

First – Learn from Disciple Making Leader: Steve McCoy, the leader of Small Circle

Steve is one of our trusted disciple-making partners. Here’s what he told us about his ministry during our interview with him:

Tell us about the name of your ministry.

Our organization is called Small Circle because of our focus on this “circle” of church environments. We can think of these in terms of “circles”: Big Circle is our worship gatherings, Mid Circle is group dynamic, Small Circle is a one-to-one relational approach to disciple making.

What is your unique disciple-making emphasis?

When you think of Jesus-style discipleship, he taught crowds (his Big Circle), he gathered his core (his Mid Circle), but he also had another dimension beyond the crowd and the group (his Small Circle). On special missions, he called out Peter, James, and John; he sent his disciples out in pairs; he had a great number of one-to-one interactions (Nicodemus, Martha, Thomas, Peter, and so on).

Every relational circle has a distinctive value and effectiveness. There’s an irreplaceable dynamic when we collectively gather for worship and the preaching of the Word of God. On the other hand, the closer connectivity that is experienced in a Mid Circle (home groups) cannot be replicated in most worship services.

As with the uniqueness of Big and Mid Circles, there’s a beautifully designed experience that ignites in Small Circle. There is no question that the conversations that Jesus must have had with John on a one-to-one level were different than what happened within the group setting. Transparency, vulnerability, safeness—all reach unparalleled depths in the distinctiveness of the Small Circle.

You’ll see that Jesus masterfully interweaves between all of these relational Circles. Being the Creator of our human design, Christ understood that we need the relational revenue that each circle engenders.

Pick up from the blog . . .

How do you help everyday disciples who aspire to be disciple makers?

Without intentionality and strategy, these relational circles will not permeate our church cultures. Without a doubt, there is a significant amount of premeditated planning for our worship services on many layers – worship, preaching, children’s ministry, follow-up, hospitality, and so on. And most every church has a strategy for small groups and Bible studies.

But when it comes to the Small Circle, this valued relational layer is often left to chance with a palpable absence of strategy. The result of this void of intentionality is hazardous with a flood of troublesome repercussions.

In order to create a culture of a Small Circle experience and not just a pocket of this relational tier, we need to equip our people and not merely advocate a concept. This is the very heartbeat of Small Circle. We have provided tools that are being used throughout the US and around the world to foster a Small Circle culture in local churches. The results have been phenomenal. The key that is critical: Provide tools for the everyday person in our church to catalyze a Small Circle movement. The culture of disciple making is possible and the outcomes are powerful.

Who are the key leaders in your network?

As God continues to expand 360 in the US and around the world, our key leaders are expanding. We now have trainers across the US and on 4 continents. Our primary navigator at the home base is Steve McCoy and Clay Barnett. Steve is the Lead Pastor at the 360 Church and Clay is the smallcircle navigator.

How can people connect with you?

Small Circle tools can be found at smallcircle.com. For the mobile app, search smallcircle on Google and Apple stores (free download). For the web app, smallcircle.io. All of our tools can be printed at no cost. Text the word disciple to 941-300-1371.

Second – Come learn from our partners at the National Disciple Making Forum in November!

Over the last several weeks we have been introducing you to our partners. Each of our partners that we have introduced will be leading track sessions at our National Disciple Making Forum in November.

Take advantage of our current ticket price of $169 today!
Groups of 5 or more are only $120 per ticket – Bring your Team!
This Friday night ticket prices will increase, so register now!

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

“The Wow! of Discipleship”

by Radical Mentoring

READ THE BLOG

“Recognize a Mature Disciple by Looking for These 5 Character Traits”

by Jim Putman

READ THE BLOG

“Discipleship and Money Management”

by Impact Discipleship Ministries

READ THE BLOG

New Podcast Episodes

LISTEN NOW

S6 Episode 47: Viewpoints: Stories of Life Change (Regi Campbell and Kevin Harris)

S6 Episode 46: Breaking the “Cycle of Same” (Regi Campbell and Kevin Harris)

S6 Episode 45: Measuring Disciple Making Results (Regi Campbell and Kevin Harris)

The post Two Things to Know for Back-to-School Time appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: Two Things to Know for Back-to-School Time

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by Bobby Harrington: Each of our disciple-making guides carries with them a unique perspective on Jesus’ style of discipleship. As you know, our goal is to help you find the best guides out there, so you can become a more effective disciple maker.

This week we want to introduce The Relational Discipleship Network and their Director and co-founder Luke Yetter.

During our interview with Luke about their ministry he shared about how they focus on the importance of relational discipleship.

Tell us about the name of your ministry.

The Relational Discipleship Network is a collaboration of like-minded churches that help ministry leaders to connect into authentic disciple-making relationships through coaching, training, and equipping.

What is your unique disciple-making emphasis?

We believe biblical discipleship is the core mission of the Church. That is, Jesus’ method of discipleship is the best method for fulfilling the mission of the Church.

Our network is committed to Jesus’ method of discipleship, which is based upon relationships and intentionality: “intentional relational discipleship.” We help leaders to grow as disciples and be more effective disciple makers of Jesus in their environments.

Picking up from the email . . .

How do you help everyday disciples who aspire to be disciple makers?

Discipleshift1 event: If you haven’t experienced a Discipleshift1 (DS1), this is your first step.

During this 2-day event you will get to experience Jesus’ method and model for relational discipleship. Led by leaders within the network who are currently making disciples in their local contexts, all in a modeling environment, not a classroom.

You’ll benefit from the experience of disciple makers from around the world, all unified and on mission with Jesus. This in depth 2-day journey will reshape the way you make disciples wherever you are.

Hear first-hand how Discipleshift1 has made a kingdom impact for this Pastor:

Coaching Group: If you have attended a Discipleshift1, this would be your next step.

Coaching groups are done via a live interactive web conference with a group size of 4-6 like-minded leaders with a desire to be coached in the same direction; Relational Disciple Making.

Do you want to shift your culture to one that makes disciples of Jesus?
Do you want to be used by God in a more meaningful way?
Do you want to see more lives transformed?
Do you want to make a bigger kingdom difference?

If so, then a Coaching group is for you.

Who are the key leaders in your network?

The Relational Discipleship Network’s board members are comprised from different, but like-minded, churches all across the country. Led by our network Director and Board Member Luke Yetter, with Jim Putman (Real Life Ministries – Post Falls, ID), Brandon Guindon (Real Life Ministries Texas – Houston, TX), Bobby Harrington (Harpeth Christian Church – Franklin, TN) and Bob Reed (CyLife Church – Cypress, TX) along with all off our amazing Mentor Coaching Churches (MCC’s).

How can people connect with you?

Check out our website rdn1.com to learn more about the Relational Discipleship Network and find out how we can partner with you in your disciple-making journey.

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

“Generous Explanations”

by Radical Mentoring

READ THE BLOG

“Mentoring Emerging Leaders – Part 4”

by Replicate Ministries

READ THE BLOG

“God Has a Plan for Your Life”

by Radical Mentoring

READ THE BLOG

New Podcast Episodes

LISTEN NOW

S6 Episode 46: Breaking the “Cycle of Same” (Regi Campbell and Kevin Harris)

S6 Episode 45: Measuring Disciple Making Results (Regi Campbell and Kevin Harris)

S6 Episode 44: Revitalizing Your Church from the Inside Out (Regi Campbell and Kevin Harris)

The post Learn The Importance of Relational Discipleship: Learning from The Relational Discipleship Network appeared first on Discipleship.org.

Source: Learn The Importance of Relational Discipleship: Learning from The Relational Discipleship Network

The post Learn The Importance of Relational Discipleship: Learning from The Relational Discipleship Network appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Ben Sobels: A Navy Seal, a horseshoer, a former drug addict who was homeless a few years ago, and a pastor sit around a table . . .

Sounds like the start of a great joke, doesn’t it? Actually, it’s the make-up of my current discipleship group. We have been meeting for the last four months, reading Mark’s Gospel each week, and putting Jesus’ teaching into practice together. Two of us are married, two of us are single. I’m in my forties, one guy is in his thirties, one is in his fifties, and another is in his sixties.

As I drove away from our discipleship group last week, Acts 4:13 came to my mind. It speaks of Peter and John being “ordinary men.” As I reflected on this, I realized every man in our discipleship group is very ordinary—and it’s good.

They are ordinary in the same way that Peter and John were ordinary. And after being discipled by Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit, God used Peter and John to ignite a movement that “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).

Over the last several years, as our church has been doing the deep work of becoming a disciple making church, we have learned a lot about what God can do through ordinary men and women. Specifically, we have learned that ordinary people make great disciple makers. This has been a break-through insight for us—and I was freshly reminded of it this week with my discipleship group. It reminded me that we have to be ordinary disciples, who make ordinary disciple makers and be disciples whose ordinariness demonstrates Jesus’ extraordinariness.

1. Select Ordinary People to Disciple

There’s such an emphasis in our culture on those who are best, most important, smartest, most talented, most accomplished, and most influential. In this kind of culture, those of us who are ordinary often get overlooked. Sometimes this happens in the church. In the process of disciple making, this can show up as we select people to disciple. Dr. Robert Coleman observed that Jesus chose “a ragged collection of souls.” As you consider who to disciple next, it’s easy to fall into the trap of only thinking about people you know, people you like, or people who are like you. Jesus’ scope of selection wasn’t so limited. He prayed all night about who God wanted him to disciple, and God led him to a ragamuffin group (Lk. 6:12-16). The men he chose were all ordinary and very different.

Just as Jesus prayed about who to disciple, we should too – really pray. “Lord, who would you have me disciple? Please open my eyes to those you want me to share my life with over the next year? Would you show me those who I can pour myself into and who you can use to stretch me?” As you pray these kinds of prayers, don’t be surprised if God leads to you to people who are outside of your regular relational box.

Several weeks ago, as our discipleship group gathered, Kevin exclaimed, “Look at us! Who would put the four of us together?” And Steve chimed in, “Nobody but Jesus!” They were both was right. Honestly, our first month together was a little awkward. What do a Navy Seal in his thirties and a horseshoer in his fifties have in common? But after four months of following Jesus together, we’re gelling and it’s a joy.

2. Design Discipleship for Ordinary People

A number of years ago I heard a lady talking about the discipleship curriculum they use at her church. She said, “Our curriculum is on par with a seminary class.” I looked at it, and sure enough it was! It required a lot of reading, a lot of book work, and it was set at an in-depth, graduate level. After this, I had the opportunity to observe a couple of discipleship groups at that church. What I observed was a lot of talk and very little action. There are two problems with this:

Talking about Jesus’ teaching isn’t the same as obeying it together – and Jesus constantly challenged his disciples to put his teaching in practice.
Does a person need a seminary-level course to be equipped to follow Jesus and make disciples?

If you look at regions of the world where disciple making movements are breaking out (e.g. Global South), disciple makers are not using seminary-level curriculum. They are using the Bible, and specifically the Gospels. We encounter Jesus himself in the Gospels. His teaching is challenging enough. At my local church, we lead people through Mark’s Gospel chapter-by-chapter, putting one aspect of Jesus’ teaching into practice before the next time we meet. Love your enemies, renounce all you have, forgive everyone who have anything against. These commands challenge all people – lawyers and laborers, professors and plumbers, brand new Christians and people who have walked with the Lord for years. The focus is not more knowledge-based information but obedience-based life transformation.

3. Expect Ordinary People to Make Disciples

D.L. Moody once said, “If this world is going to be reached [with the gospel], I am convinced it must be done by men and women of average talent.” Today, some church leaders (maybe more than we’d like to admit) expect little from men and woman of average talent. People in the pew are expected to attend weekend services and give faithfully, but not much more. This has left a majority the church unmotivated, disillusioned, and spiritually sterile. In stark contrast, Jesus expected a lot from his ordinary disciples. He expected them to proclaim the gospel, heal the sick, serve the poor, cast out demons, and love people deeply. He expected them to do what he did, and “even greater things” (Jn. 12:11). Jesus had a high bar of expectation for his very ordinary disciples. We should too.

Among Jesus’ expectations for his disciples was that they multiply disciple makers (Matt. 28:18-20). The guys in my discipleship group – the Navy Seal, the horseshoer, and the former drug addict who was homeless a few years ago – reached a tipping point in our discipleship process a few weeks ago. Up until then, I had led our group through Mark 1-8. Now, they are taking turns leading the group through Mark 9-16. They knew this was coming. They committed to it upfront – not only to leading our group halfway through but also to leading their own discipleship group once we are done. Tim, who led our group last week, said, “I thought this was going to be easy, but it is a lot more involved than I thought.” We prayed, he led, and he did a great job! But he learned an important lesson – it is a big step-up to go from being discipled to making disciples. It reminded me that I must not expect less of Jesus’ people than he did.

As we have focused on being ordinary people and discipling ordinary people in our local congregation, men and woman of average talent have become the champions of disciple making for our church. Bob, who is a retired salesman in his eighties, is leading four discipleship groups and is constantly recruiting people to join other groups. Mickey, Bob’s wife, discipled Dalila last year, and now Dalilia is on fire leading her own group of ladies this year. Jason, a young husband and dad who works as a carpenter, is discipling two men this year after being discipled himself last year. Their enthusiasm is infectious – and disciple making has begun multiplying in our congregation because of them!

Our church has been learning about the importance of the ordinary over the last few years. And it was a breakthrough moment when the veil was lifted and we realized Jesus discipled ordinary people, we are ordinary people, he is calling us to disciple ordinary people, and ordinary people make great disciple makers. So, how about you? Are you open to discipling people who are different from you? Are you helping people learn to hear Jesus’ voice and obey his teaching in the power of the Holy Spirit? Are you clearly communicating to those you disciple that Christ calls them to be multiplying disciple makers? The beautiful thing about being an ordinary person and making disciples of ordinary people is that Jesus’ extraordinariness shines most brightly through humble ordinariness (2 Cor. 12:9). May God richly bless you as you make disciples of ordinary people.

By Ben Sobels

Ben Sobels is Senior Pastor at Cypress Community Church in Salinas, California. Ben and his wife, Joni, have five children. He graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a Master of Theology degree. Cypress is committed to being a discipleship community who worships Jesus, loves one another, and serves the world.

Photo by Jens Johnsson on Unsplash

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Source: It’s Ordinary People—Ben Sobels on Breakthrough Disciple Making

The post It’s Ordinary People—Ben Sobels on Breakthrough Disciple Making appeared first on Passion for Planting.