By Ken Adams: My ministry friend, Brian Dodd, says that, “Success is a daily agenda.” I agree with Brian, but I’ve found that my life revolves around a weekly agenda more than a daily agenda. Granted, days make weeks and weeks make months and years, so ultimately the idea is to stick with things until they become true of your entire life.

Progress Requires Consistent Efforts

The point behind the concept is that if you want to be successful at something, you keep on doing it with great regularity. For example, if your goal is to be an effective messenger or witness, then look for an opportunity to share Christ every week of your life. Over time, that will give you success as a messenger. If you want success in spiritual growth and maturity, then stick with a growth plan consistently for years and you will be surprised how much progress you make.

Whether you do an activity every day, every week, or every month, the consistency factor is what you are aiming for. Maybe you have heard the phrase, “We are what we repeatedly do…” (Will Durant) There is a great deal of truth to that statement. If I consistently workout, it will pay big dividends for my physical fitness. I will become a good steward of my body if I exercise daily or several times a week. Yes, success really is a daily (or weekly) agenda.

I think the first think you need to do to achieve success is to figure out what you want to be successful in. You can’t make an agenda out of something that you have not identified as a priority, discipline, or habit. If your agenda is constantly changing, you will not likely be successful at much of anything.

Let Christ Set the Agenda

Personally, I like to let Christ set my agenda. I want to be successful in walking the way Jesus walked. I want the same things that were true of Jesus to be true for my life. Jesus made a daily agenda of withdrawing to spend time with the Father. I want that, too. Jesus made a weekly agenda of worshipping in the synagogue. I want public worship to be a part of my weekly agenda, too. Jesus looked for opportunities to serve people on a daily basis. I want to be a servant, too. Jesus spent years developing a handful of disciples that He would mobilize to reach the world. I want to invest my life in making fully trained disciples, too.

My goal is to make the character and conduct of Christ my weekly agenda. I want to focus on becoming more like Christ in “who” He was and in “what” He did week in and week out. I like to refer to the conduct of Christ as the M-7 Lifestyle. It means being a member, magnifier, maturing, ministering, managing, a messenger, and a multiplier. If I develop these outward marks of a disciple in my life, I will become more like Christ, and that helps me become a fully trained disciple.

If you need help identifying the weekly agenda Christ has for your life, let me encourage you to check out our latest resources, the Impact Series, in our online store. Impact Two and Impact Three are both uniquely designed to help you grow into the image of Christ. You can learn more at impactdisciples.com.

Originally posted here.  Used by permission.

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Source: Success Is a Weekly Agenda

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by unSeminary: Welcome to this week’s unSeminary podcast. I’m excited to have David Putnam with us today. David spent many years as a church planter and executive pastor and today consults with churches as a lead navigator with Auxano. David has also founded the organization Planting the Gospel which helps transition churches from a weekend-only disciple-making culture.

David is with us to share simple tools that will help your church make disciple-making organic and accessible to everyone.

What kind of disciples are we making? // We are all making disciples, but what kind? Much of the time, without realizing it, churches make organizational disciples rather than gospel-centered disciples who in turn make more disciples. Covid has revealed to us that when our programming changes, our organizational disciples can vanish. How can we equip people so that even when there are unforeseen changes in the church, our disciples are still fully plugged into Christ and able to follow Him, doing the work of the great commission?What is a disciple? // We’ve allowed religion to take over the gospel and make it more complex than it needs to be. We need to take it back to a place of simplicity as found in scripture. There are three fundamental questions that David suggests we take a look at: What is the gospel? What is a disciple? And what is the church? David defines a disciple as a follower of Jesus who’s learning to live out the realities and implications of the gospel by living like Jesus, loving like Jesus, leaving what Jesus left behind. What did Jesus leave behind? Disciples!Living on mission. // Churches that are focused on making disciples have practical tools in place for their people. This includes life on life, life in community, life on mission. Many churches might have life on life and life in community built into their rhythms, but they neglect the life on mission aspect. How can we maximize our impact by releasing people instead of simply gathering people? We need to be equipping our people to enter the “mission field” right where they are, teaching them to be missionaries where they live, work and play.Disciple-making is evangelism. // David identifies five types of disciples: pre-disciples, new disciples, growing disciples, multiplying disciples, and catalytic disciples. An unbeliever is a pre-disciple. We need to equip people in our churches to engage pre-disciples in disciple-making by providing tools so that they can tell their story, and tell God’s story.The Gospel Disciple Life. // David has created a free resource called The Gospel Disciple Life: A Quick Start Guide for a Micro-Group Strategy for Making Disciples that Makes Disciples that will help you introduce disciple-making to your church. Consisting of simple Bible reading and meeting in micro-groups, this practical tool uses an organic method which is accessible to everyone. Who is the next person you will invite into a disciple relationship?

You can get help with disciple-making at your church by visiting www.plantingthegospel.com.

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!

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Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: Chemistry Staffing

Great things happen when the right leadership is in place in a local church… lives are changed and churches thrive.

With all the craziness that has gone on in 2020, we know that many churches are beginning to ask hard questions about what their current team looks like and how ready they are to lead into our new reality. Download Chemistry Staffing’s Restructuring Playbook to develop clarity around where you need to be focusing your time, resources, and team.

Source: A Simple & Scalable Way to Reproduce Christians with David Putnam

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Source: Never Stop Going Deeper

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by Bobby Harrington:

Discipleship-first friends,

One of the things we champion at Discipleship.org is an emphasis on disciple making. We value the use of the expression “discipleship”—enough to name our whole ministry after it!—but we also appreciate the clarity that comes from a focus on disciple-making.

With permission, I am republishing a short article on this point by Sonlife’s Josh Yates that makes a good point about the expression “disciple making” … I hope you find it helpful:

You’ve probably seen one of these humorous grammatical sayings:

Let’s eat grandma!
Let’s eat, grandma!

Punctuation saves lives! These are two different meanings separated by the proper use of grammar.

A small comma can make a significant difference—a distinction that changes everything. As it is with discipleship and disciple making. One is a root word, disciple, with significant differences and outcomes. This is where the road divides—your definition on these two drastically different words will change the trajectory of your church. We don’t want to split hairs on issues that are not mission critical—but this one is.

How would you define the term “discipleship”? Try it out with some friends. Ask them to define discipleship and find a common theme. Here’s what has commonly been communicated to us from friends and colleagues about the word “discipleship.” It means to them:

The growth and maturity of the Christian to follow Jesus
A deeper study and growth group
It is a process of becoming equipped to overcome trials or temptations
Daily pursuit of spiritual disciplines
Assisting and helping others grow in their walk with God
Helping learn and implement tools for evangelism

What about disciple making? How would you define this term? Does it matter?

The definition of “disciple making” is rooted in a verb found in the New Testament Greek: mathetuo, which means to make disciples. Acts 14:21, “When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.” In this verse, making disciples is connected to evangelism.

Matthew 28:19-20 defines making disciples as the whole process of conversion, baptism, and obeying the commandments of Jesus. Matthew 28 holds a command to “make disciples who can make disciples.” The process is intended to be repeated and ongoing. It is a lifetime of followership to the ways of Jesus, mimicking his pattern and priorities to make disciples in ordinary rhythms of life. “Disciple” becomes an action, a way of life.

What is interesting is that the word “discipleship” isn’t used in the Bible. I don’t blame people for using the term. It is a concept that I readily used, until recently. I have close friends and trusted ministry leaders who use the word discipleship as a holistic process from evangelism to maturity, but they are the few. Discipleship has largely become a term related solely to our growth as believers.

Jesus didn’t command us just to go deeper and have a “discipleship study” to mature. He asks us to make a disciple and teach them to follow Jesus. Many of us (myself included) often get stuck in traditional discipleship methodologies without actually first making disciples. Disciple making encompasses both evangelism and teaching to obey. Like two wings on the plane, both of these are equally important. Growth comes through reproduction … reproduction that continues to multiply.

Pause and think about the values and definitions used in your ministry.

Steps to embrace a disciple making culture in your church:

Use the language. Who is your disciple? Name them and pray for them.
Ask several key ministry friends to define “discipleship” and listen to what they say.
Check your heart, attitude, and actions toward making disciples.
Start equipping your people to reproduce … not just to “grow” but to “make.”

Click Here for more from Josh Yates

For King Jesus,

Bobby Harrington, Lead Servant, Discipleship.org

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Source: Discipleship vs. Disciple Making

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by Jim Putman: Small Group Leaders play a vital role in accomplishing the mission and vision of your church. They help create and develop environments in which members can connect with God and each other for the purpose of discipleship. They present an example and model of what being a disciple of Jesus looks like in action. Because of the influence they have, there are a few crucial qualities that they need to be walking out in their life. Small Group leaders do not have to perfect – God uses imperfect people because that is all he has to work with!

When we first started Real Life Ministries our need for small groups grew at a faster rate than we were able to raise up leaders.  Because of this, we had to place people in leadership positions before they were completely confident in leading. God blessed us and brought growth even in our deficiencies, as he always does. Going through this forced us to quickly put some criteria together for identifying and raising up small group leaders. We found that as we looked at the members that had been able to go on to lead and facilitate groups effectively, there were a few qualities that they had all started with.

This was originally posted on Jim Putman’s blog here. Used with permission.

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Source: 4 Crucial Qualities of a Small Group Leader

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by Carey Nieuwhof: One of the frequent criticisms I hear of churches that are trying to reach people who don’t attend church is that they fail to produce ‘disciples’.

Honestly, this is a criticism that, off and on, has been levied at our ministry for years. And it bothers me.

On a recent speaking tour, I heard it again and again from church leaders. (Almost always, by the way, from leaders whose churches weren’t growing.)

I know it’s a criticism that has followed many church leaders.

So…how do you engage it? Better yet how do you respond to it?

For a while I wasn’t sure how to answer back.

Over the years we’ve worked hard on our discipleship process, engaging people in groups, serving, giving and inviting non-Christians to explore Christianity. It’s not perfect, but it’s getting better all the time.

And yet any process begs the question: how do you know if you’re producing spiritually mature disciples or not? How do you measure?

Finally a few years ago I stumbled on a test that for me, at least, answers the question as well as I’ve heard it answered. I’m hoping it clarifies things for you and your team as well.

First, A False Test

I’ve written about how the church today is getting discipleship wrong in this post and again here.

If you listened to many in the church these days, you’d think knowledge equals maturity. The more you know, the more mature you are.

Scripture suggests that’s a false test. After all, as Paul points out, knowledge puffs up; love builds up.

Knowledge makes you arrogant. Love makes you humble.

Knowledge is not spiritual maturity. Knowledge makes you arrogant. Love makes you humble.Click To Tweet

This sheds light on one of the greatest puzzles of the church today: why is it that the Christians who claim to be the most spiritually mature are often the most:

Smug

Arrogant

Judgmental

Bitter

Divisive

And even angry?

When did an arrogant and judgmental heart become evidence of Christian maturity?

It’s not.

And it never was.

In fact, as I argue here, many things Christians think are signs of spiritual maturity actually aren’t.

When did an arrogant and judgemental heart become evidence of Christian maturity?Click To Tweet

A Much Better Way to Tell

So how do you know whether your discipleship strategy is effective—whether it’s producing followers of Jesus who are maturing?

Enter Jesus. He summed up the proof of discipleship as succinctly as anyone.

I was reading through this passage again a few years ago that I finally realized Jesus gave us the test that defines discipleship exceptionally well.

He simply said: “By their fruit you’ll recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?”

In other words, look at someone’s life for the evidence.

What evidence? Evidence that the Holy Spirit is transforming someone, or as the ancients used to say, evidence that someone is being sanctified.

Is someone being discipled? Just look at their lives for the evidence. Click To Tweet

That sounds great, but what does that look like?

Back to Paul. He actually defines what it’s like to be transformed by the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5.

He begins by listing the fruit of people who are NOT being transformed by the Holy Spirit.

Paul says people who are not under the direction of the Holy Spirit have lives characterized by, among other things:

Hatred

Discord

Sexual immorality

Jealousy

Impurity and debauchery

Fits of rage

Dissension

Factions

Envy

Conceit

So…look at the people who are following Christ in your church and ask yourself: is this what their lives look like?

If so, you have some work to do on your discipleship strategy because it’s not producing what the Holy Spirit produces in people’s lives when he’s at work.

So what does the Holy Spirit do in peoples’ lives?

When the Holy Spirit gets a hold of someone, he produces:

Love

Joy

Peace

Patience

Kindness

Goodness

Faithfulness

Gentleness

Self-control

So, (here’s the test again) look at people who follow Jesus in your church and ask “Is this what characterizes their lives more than it did a few years ago?”

If the answer is yes, you have an effective discipleship strategy.

If the answer’s no, you have some work to do.

You can’t set perfection as your standard because we live on this side of heaven.

Will everyone who claims to be following Jesus ‘be there’? No.

Will everyone stick around? Nope, you’ll lose a few. (If you have no back door you’re either running a cult where no one is allowed to leave or you’re really not growing.)

But people SHOULD be more like Christ than they were.

And that’s the point.

Their character and heart are being re-shaped by the Holy Spirit. That’s effective discipleship.

As the ancients knew, sanctification (the process of being made holy) is a life-long process. God isn’t done shaping you until you’re dead. And even then, he has plans for you.

Sanctification is a life-long process. God isn’t done shaping you till you’re dead.Click To Tweet

Bringing This Home

The more I thought about Jesus’ teaching (by their fruit you’ll know them) and Paul’s definition of fruit, the more I realized that maybe despite the critic’s claims, we actually have an effective discipleship strategy.

Why could I say this?

I looked at the people we baptized 3 to 5 years ago and ask where they are now and what they’re like now.

First, most of them are still around. They’re still following Jesus. AND, when I see where they’re at in their lives, they actually are more loving, more patient, more kind. Further, they’re exercising more self-control (sometimes remarkably so) and many would tell you they have far more peace.

They also display less immorality, less envy, less divisiveness, better control of their temper and greater humility.

Guess what?

The scripture tells us that that’s the Holy Spirit at work. They’re being discipled. They’re becoming mature. 

The Irony

The irony I see (and I have to be careful how I say this), is that often the people who slam churches for not producing disciples are the people who display the fewest fruits of the Holy Spirit.

In fact, their accusations are often characterized by anger, hostility, pride and sometimes jealousy (their criticism often targets growing churches). At a minimum, you don’t get the sense that their question is motivated by love.

You see the incongruity, right?

The people who claim to be the most spiritually mature fail the biblical definition of maturity.

And the people who don’t claim to be spiritually mature often pass it.

The people who claim to be spiritually mature often fail the biblical definition of maturity.Click To Tweet

A More Mature You

The challenge for a lot of us is that we intend to do better, but we’re our own worst enemy.

Despite our best efforts, we grow cynical and proud, we compromise our integrity and we end up feeling empty.

What gives?

My new book, Didn’t See It Coming: Overcoming the 7 Greatest Challenges Everyone Experiences But No One Expects, which is available for pre-ordernow, covers all this in detail.

It’s a journey into the soul that I hope will make you a better leader and a better human being and Christ-follower.

Pre-order today and you’ll be the first to read it when it releases.

What Do You Think?

It’s just something to think about the next time someone claims yet again that your church fails to produce disciples.

And it’s a great way to evaluate your own ministry.

Just look for the fruit. You’ll see it. One way or the other, your ministry is producing something in people’s lives.  Wise leaders know what it is.

What are you learning about discipleship in your ministry? Scroll down and leave a comment.

[Tweet “Your ministry is producing SOMETHING in peoples’ lives. Wise leaders know what it is.”

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