1. Churches don’t make disciples when: Church leaders have been diverted from their primary calling to “equip the saints” to the primary role of pastoral care.
What to do about it: The pastor models and supports disciple making throughout the church. The pastor demonstrates that one of his highest priorities is to disciple and train his staff and key leaders to be disciple makers. If the pastor makes discipleship a priority in his life, it will more likely be a priority in the church. 2. Churches don’t make disciples when: There is no clearly articulated definition of a disciple. What to do about it: Develop a biblical definition for a disciple and communicate it effectively to the congregation. Make a goal that the average church member will clearly understand the biblical definition of a disciple. Regularly engage the congregation with teaching and discussion concerning what it means to be a disciple. Be creative and visual in communicating the biblical definition for a disciple. 3. Churches don’t make disciples when: Programs rather than people are at the center of the disciple making strategy. What to do about it: Equip and release disciple making leaders. Don’t rely on the Small Group Ministry to make disciples. Programs don't make disciples, people make disciples. Employ the Disciple Making Equation: dml (disciple making leader)+re (relational environment)+rp (reproducible process)=discipleship Encourage relational disciple making. 4. Churches don’t make disciples when: The Christian life is thought of primarily in terms of eternal benefits rather than living as a follower of Jesus. What to do about it: Encourage people to live as followers rather than Christians. A Christian believes in Jesus for eternal life. A follower is on a journey to become more like Jesus. 5. Churches don’t make disciples when: Learning and discipleship are thought of as the same thing. What to do about it: Redefine discipleship in terms of who we are becoming rather than what we know or what classes we have taken. Have a curriculum that is based on moving people further along the discipleship path. Avoid the never-ending search for the next discipleship or small group study. 6. Churches don’t make disciples when: There is an inadequate view of community in the church. What to do about it: Encourage the understanding and practice of biblical community. Understand and remove barriers to biblical community. (Busy Schedules, Individualism, Immaturity, Sin) Practice relational integrity. Encourage participation in community building small groups. 7. Churches don’t make disciples when: There is no pathway to maturity. What to do about it: Develop a spiritual growth plan for your congregation and communicate it effectively. Train leaders to help people navigate the plan. Keep track each person’s journey. 8. Churches don’t make disciples when: The metric for success is participation rather than transformation. What to do about it: Help the congregation shift focus from participation to transformation. Develop a method of measuring/self-assessing transformation. Organize church ministries toward transformation rather than participation. Celebrate Transformation 9. Churches don’t make disciples when: There is no plan to get people into God’s word. What to do about it: Encourage daily Bible engagement Have a congregational Bible reading plan. Celebrate what God is doing in the lives of people through daily Bible engagement. Teach basic Bible skills and literacy. Comments are closed.
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Tony HoffmanCampus Pastor at First Baptist Church in Leesburg, FL where his passion is to help people discover and live out their calling in Christ. Tony regularly consults, speaks, and teaches about discipleship and Christian education. Archives
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