Designing a Comprehensive Discipleship Strategy
1. The first step is creating a description of a discipled person. These are characteristics that Jesus named as critical for being one of His disciples. Taken together these characteristics define what it means to walk as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6) with changed minds, hearts and behavior.
Ü Believe Christ’s teaching on who God is and who we are in Christ. John 8:31
Ü Obedience to Christ’s commands. Matthew 28:19-20
Ü Loving others inside the church as well as those outside the church. John 13:35; Mark 12:28-31
Ü Bearing fruit. John 15:8
Ø Through worshipping God. Hebrews 13:15
Ø Through sharing the gospel in example and words. Ephesians 5:8-11; Colossians 1:6
Ø Through living the Fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23
Ø Through giving our time in ministry. Colossians 1:10-12
Ü Compassion for the hurting. Matthew 10:42; Matthew 25:34-40
Ü Dying to self to put God first in everything. Luke 14:26-27
Ü Managing our resources wisely so we may give to God’s work. Luke 14:33
2. Jesus also showed us how to “make disciples.” As we see in the Bible, minds are changed through study of God’s Word, hearts are changed through experiences and behavior is changed through encouragement and accountability. For each of the characteristics above there are four areas to define:
Ü Jesus said what we believe is demonstrated through our behavior. When you look at your developing disciples, what clues can help you know a person is growing in each of these areas?
Ü How will we help people know what these characteristics mean (changed mind)? There needs to be a systematic approach to studying each of these characteristics in a variety of formats.
Ü What experiences can we create that will engage our people and help to capture their hearts (changed heart)? Examples of experiences are praying for lost people, getting involved in acts of compassion in the community, hearing testimonies of how God is working in the lives of people, writing encouragement cards to others, inviting neighbors and church people out for coffee, etc.
Ü How will we help people live these characteristics and hold them accountable (changed lifestyle)?
3. The third step is introducing this to the congregation and leaders of Sunday school classes, small groups and other ministries of the church. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this: brochures, handouts, PowerPoint slides, bulletin inserts, newsletters, informational meetings, etc. This will help people realize you are serious about discipleship and give them a big picture of where Christ wants to take us in our journey with Him.
4. Now its time to make this happen in your church. A good way to start is defining minimum expectations for those in the body of Christ. For believers to grow you want them involved in at least five activities:
Ü Every believer in worship
Ü Every believer in a discipleship group
Ü Every believer in a ministry
Ü Every believer practicing personal spiritual disciplines (study, prayer, giving, etc.)
Ü Every believer equipped to share their faith and investing time with pre-Christians
Be careful here. These activities do not define a believer. They simply help create the environment in which God can work on peoples’ minds, hearts and behavior and help them become what Jesus described as a disciple. They help people draw near to God as God draws near to them (James 4:8). For each of these activities we want to provide support for our people. In worship we want to help our people understand what worship is and how to worship personally and with their families. For discipleship we want to provide small groups that will provide the study, experiences and accountability for our people to grow in their walk with God. For a ministry, we want to provide ways for people to discover the ministry God has for them through learning of their spiritual gifts and personality. For the spiritual disciplines we want to provide ways people can learn how to do this: Bible reading guides, prayer guides, stewardship training, etc. For sharing their faith we want to provide training on how to do this.
5. A critical area to address in designing a comprehensive strategy is the “programming” aspect of discipleship. While being a disciple is highly individualistic with everyone in a different place in their walk with God, our role is to create the environment to help people with this journey. It is helpful to realize that in a growing, healthy church, we will have five groups of people and each requires a different type of programming as well as a “handoff” to the next level:
Ü Pre-Christians. They need discovery types of groups where they can explore the Christian faith in a safe environment. The handoff is when they accept Christ and enter your “new Christians” ministry.
Ü New Christians. Two areas need addressed: the first few weeks of their new birth and support for their first few months as a new believer. The first few weeks of a new believers life is best cared for through a personal mentor that will guide them in a simple weekly Bible study that helps them understand what they did when they accepted Christ and what it means for their future. The ongoing support can be handled in a “Foundations” type group where the basics of the Christian life are explored: how to study the Bible, how to pray, how to share their faith, how to live in the power of the Spirit, how to overcome temptations, etc. The handoff is when your new Christians join a small group to continue their spiritual journey.
Ü Growing Believers. There are at two areas to cover when programming for growing believers: spiritual growth through living out your description of a discipled person and marriage and family topics. This is where your church’s small group ministry fits in as well as specialty type classes directed towards some of these areas. The handoff is when your believers go through a ministry discovery class and find a meaningful ministry.
Ü Workers. These are the people involved in your ministries. The first step is discovering their servant profile (spiritual gifts, personality, passion). This can be done in your small groups or having a specialty class. Once in a ministry, your workers need ongoing training to be effective in dealing with people and doing their task. They also need continual reminders of the mission, vision and core values of your church so they can connect what they are doing with the overall direction of the church. The handoff is when a worker accepts a leadership position to oversee a particular area of ministry.
Ü Leaders. In addition to what the workers need, leaders also need development in the core leadership skills necessary to move a church forward. They need assistance in how to be effective models, mentors, and coaches to those aspiring to leadership in the church. While there is no direct handoff at this level, a leader has become a “multiplier” when those they are mentoring enter a leadership position and begin to mentor others.
6. The final areas to address are when these various programming elements will be offered and who will lead them? A lot of the programming elements for marriage and family topics, training for workers, spiritual gifts discovery and leadership development topics can be done in short-term elective type groups. These could be offered on Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, Saturday’s, during the Sunday school time or other times in the week. Offering options when topics are covered will provide the best possibility for touching most of our people.