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The Vision...

A Biblical Small Group Within Walking Distance of Every Person on the Planet.


01.31.2013

The Two Types of Disciple Making Churches

 
 
Each church must determine if she is going to be a church OF Disciple-making or a church WITH Disciple-making groups. (The term OF or WITH was first put in writing by Bill Donahue.)
 
Churches OF Disciple-making
Churches WITH Disciple-making Groups
 
Characterized by:
 
 
Is not program driven. I most instances these churches do worship, groups, children’s ministry, youth ministry only.
 
 
Every small group is a disciple-making group
 
 
 
 
 
Passionate about individual transformation and missional evangelism.
 
 
 
 
All leaders, both clergy and lay are disciple-makers
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Characterized
by:
 
Many programs… a discipleship group is one option among many options
 
 
 

Groups of many kinds and various ministry opportunities are available to church attenders. Discipleship Groups are one option amongst many.
 
 
Passionate about growing a larger church through evangelism and many ministry options.
 
 
 
A few people with a passion for disciple-making striving to be disciple-makers in a program driven environment disciple a ew people who choose to be discipled.
 
 
 
 
Once you have determined which of these disciple-making churches you are going to be, you will need to know and understand the needs of the disciple-making church/groups you’re creating.
 
Tomorrow’s blog will tell you what are the needs of each. 
Disciple, Making, Church
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01.30.2013

The Vision, The Goal, The Strategy of a Disciple Making Church

 
 
Before a church or ministry will be motivated to be a disciple-making church or ministry she must first realize and accept that making disciples is the ultimate responsibility of the church. At that point, the point person for the disciple-making small group ministry will begin to get a vision for the work.
 
·      The VISION of a disciple-making church is to, “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19b – 20)
 
 
In order for the vision to become a reality, a goal must be in mind.
 
·      The GOAL of a disciple-making church is to make disciples who make disciples. “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”
(2 Timothy 2:2)
 
 
In order for the goal to become a reality there must be a workable strategy in place.
 
·      The STRATEGY utilized in disciple-making will vary according to the church type. A church will either be a church OF Disciple-Making or a church WITH Disciple-Making. Tomorrow I’ll show you the difference between the two.  



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When Leaders Lead
Why Become a Disciple Making Small Group Church?
The Three Keys to Disciple Making



 
Strategy, Vision, Leadership
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01.29.2013

The Three Keys to Disciple Making

 
The term “disciple” simply means, “learner.” A disciple is someone who learns principles from someone else, sees those principles lived out by the discipler and chooses to embrace those principles and live out the discipler’s practices. Those principles and practices are then passed on to others. If a church is to be a disciple-making church, making disciples that make disciples, she must first embrace the following three ideals.
 
1. Disciple-making is relational. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other. (John 15:9 – 16)
 
Disciples are made as a disciple-maker befriends and mentors a disciple.
 
2. Disciple-making is a stage-by-stage process. “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:11 – 14)
 
Disciples experience the following stages of spiritual growth; The Spiritually Dead, The Spiritual Infant, The Spiritual Child, The Spiritual Young Adult, The Spiritual Parent. (These categories of spiritual maturation are outlined in the Real Life Discipleship Training Manual)
 
3. Disciple-making is generational. “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” (2 Timothy 2:2)
 
Small Group Disciple-making, Discipleship
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01.28.2013

Why Become a Disciple Making Small Group Church?


If you follow this blog on an ongoing basis, you know that this blogger is on a journey to understand what it truly means to be a disciple maker and a disciple making church. For a number of days yet to be determined, I’m going to share my learnings/thoughts. Here goes… Churches across the globe have begun to realize the importance of the biblical mandate to make disciples (Matt. 28:19 – 20) and are imagining the transformation of lives and the culture where their church exists. Church leaders are dreaming of a congregation and community saturated with mature followers of Christ willing to do whatever it takes to further God’s Kingdom.
 
Some have asked, “Why would I want to lead my church to become a disciple-making church when the people I lead are happy with the status quo?” There are many undeniable and essential reasons.
 
1. The western church is declining due to a lack of disciple making. Only 9
percent of people who call themselves born again believe absolute moral truth exists. (Barna survey, 2009) Biblical illiteracy is at an all time high. Being a witness for Christ has diminished to simply hanging out with someone who is an unbeliever. Spiritual babes are not only the average believer in the average church, because the church has been slow to make disciples, many churches are led by spiritual babes. Making disciples is the only way the church in the post-Christian era is going to be the church Jesus envisioned when He told us to “go and make disciples.” (Matthew 28:19)
 
2. Jesus expected His church to make disciples. Jesus never anticipated that His bride would become a people who simply hosted church events and held weekend worship experiences. He declared that we should, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them inthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19 – 20)
 
3. Mature disciples evangelize. Every biblical church is passionate about making the gospel known to the world allowing those who are in the world to start an eternal relationship with Christ. Mature disciples intuitively tell others about the Jesus who has transformed their own lives.
 
4. A disciple-making church is never void of leaders. One of the most tragic realities in the present day church is that she is void of the leaders necessary to accomplish the vision the senior pastor has been given. A disciple-making church produces leaders who produce leaders.
 
5. Disciple-making transforms the church dynamic. Many churches suffer with a church full of immature followers of Christ. Because of this, the church is constantly dealing with petty arguments and unhappy congregants. At the same time, those who visit the church are hesitant to join as they sense the tension and immaturity of the people who make up the church. A church that makes disciples is full of people who exhibit “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22 – 23) A church made up of people exhibiting these characteristics is a magnet for both believers and unbelievers.
 
6. Disciple-making transforms households. Many families are made up of husbands and wives that are church attenders but have never been discipled. Because they have never grown to maturity spiritually these couples live a life of carnality often leading to divorce. For those who do stay together and raise children, their children are void of parents who nurture them spiritually so, when they reach adulthood, these children often leave the faith for the rest of their lives.
 
7. Disciple-making engages the entire church body in the meeting of one another’s emotional, spiritual, and physical needs. Many pastors are overwhelmed with an unending number of counseling sessions, mediating conversations between those who are at odds with one another, and easing the tensions of immature believers concerned that the church isn’t “meeting my needs.” Over time, a disciple-making church is filled with people who need less counseling as those who have been discipled depend more and more on the power of God and the Holy Spirit, are mature in Christ so they are less conflictual and when conflict does arise they follow biblical directives to singularly clean up the mess that has been made if possible (Matthew 18:15 - 17), and who realize that it isn’t the churches role to meet their needs, rather, it is their role to serve Christ through the church and in so doing, they will be fulfilled.
 
These seven why’s of a disciple-making will make a church a church that makes the gospel known, is a magnet for those far from Christ and believers seeking to be part of a healthy congregation, and makes it possible for a pastor to give his time to study of God’s Word, prayer, and leadership.  


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Disciple Making Small Groups I, Questions I'm Asking
10 Discipleship Confusions Invading the Small Group World





Small Group Disciple-making, Discipleship
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01.25.2013

Sentences That Changed My Life V, "Take it as it comes, one day at a time."

 
 
The last sentence that has changed my life is one that will be with me until the day I die. You see, I’ll need to call on this one on that day.
 
My grandfather was a very wise man. He experienced the poverty of the depression, lost a child who died before she was ten years old, was forced to live on disability for over 30 years, and cared for his dying bed ridden wife for more years than I can even recall. Yet, throughout his lifetime he always seemed to have a sense of peace, enjoyed laughter, and remained consistently a hard working, caring and kind person. Looking back, he never sat any of us down and made this declaration but he instilled this phrase in all of us who called him dad or grandpa. It was often his response to our greeting. We would say, “How ya’ doin’ grandpa?” He most often responded with, “Doing fine. I take it as it comes, one day at a time.”
 
I’m guessing, at some point in grandpa’s life he had embraced one of Jesus’ teachings when Jesus said, “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is throw into the fire, will he not much more clothe you O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:28 – 34)
 
I have depended on this statement many times. While planting a church and wondering if we’d make it another week I would remember, “…take it as it comes, one day at a time.” When raising a difficult and wayward teenager I could make it another day if I would, “…take it as it comes, one day at a time.” While struggling to overcome my own addictions I realize I must, “…take it as it comes, one day at a time.”
 
Thanks Grandpa. See you soon in a place where we won’t have to remember that phrase ever again!
wise counsel
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01.24.2013

Sentences That Changed My Life IV, "Break It Down Then You Can Get It Done"


 
There have been times in my life when a sentence was verbalized to me or in my presence that changed my life. These sentences were voiced by someone I had a deep trust in and/or someone I had great admiration for. Some of those sentences have governed my thinking and work style ever since. One of these sentences simply reads, “Break it down then you can get it done.”
 
As mentioned earlier in this blog series, I was less than a disciplined college student. We often tease around my house that I was either on academic probation or trying to get off every semester of my college career. At one point in one of my college courses, an English class, Dr. Kennedy paused from his lecture and said something like, “Let me give you the key to accomplishing anything, no matter what you’re asked to do. If you do what I’m about to tell you you can get the job done no matter how big the job is.” I gotta tell ya’, I was all ears. He went on to say something like this, “If you break any job down into its smallest components then tackle each one one at a time you can accomplish anything.”
 
This is so true. Since that time I’ve been called to do many things that were far beyond my abilities or that seemed impossible to complete. But, when I took the time to break down each major expectation into smaller components and then tackled each of those components one at a time, each time the expectation was completed and, in most instances, would have been considered as having been done well. 
 
Thanks, Dr. Kennedy. Sorry. I don’t remember anything about Shakespeare.  
wise counsel
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01.23.2013

Sentences That Have Changed My Life III, "A Biblically Functioning Community of Believers"

 
 
This is day three of a series titled, “Sentences That Changed My Life.” Today’s blog post is not actually a sentence, it is a phrase, a phrase that has shaped how I read a book, how I pastor, how I lead a small group, and how I consult churches. This phrase was voiced by Bill Hybels at a Willow Creek Leadership Summit. This phrase should be the guiding force behind every church leader.
 
During one of the talks Pastor Hybels was giving he told the audience that the goal of every church should be to become “a biblically functioning community of believers.” The moment he made that statement my ministry was forever changed. If scripture is the ultimate authority on all matters then it most certainly is when it comes to our knowing how to be the bride of Christ, the church. It has been my goal ever since to…
 
1. Study scripture in order to know what a biblically functioning church really is.
2. Consult churches to become biblically functioning churches.
3. Learn what a biblical small group is so that I can lead my own in a biblical fashion as well as help other churches in creating biblical small groups.
4. Ask myself consistently if I am a biblically functioning church member.
5. Filter every statement, principle, and practice in any book I’m reading on how to do church through the Word of God. If an idea contradicts or downgrades any biblical statement, principle, practice, or expectation then it must be discarded. And believe me, many of the perspectives that have been embraced by multitudes of churches because those perspectives have been written in a book by a prominent church leader, even though the concept contradicts what God has to say about doing church, is legion.
 
The statement Pastor Hybels made on that game changing day led me to four paradigm shattering conclusions. If you want to have a church that is a biblically functioning community of believers, 1) you must disciple people to become biblically functioning church members, 2) hire biblically functioning staff members, 3) build an elder body that is more about creating a biblically functioning community than running a business they call a church, and 4) be led by a senior pastor who strives to lead like Christ not like the CEO of a corporation. 
Wise Counsel, Bill Hybels
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01.22.2013

Sentences That Have Changed My Life II, "Just Learn Your Part, Rick."

 If you follow this blog daily you know I’m in a short series of blog posts describing sentences that changed my life. These are sentences that a friend or family member I had a deep trust in or someone I had great admiration for voiced to me at some key moment in my life. The second of these sentences came from my dear friend and mentor, Tom Smoot.
 
Tom was gracious enough to place this very insecure, undisciplined eighteen year old college student on his summer missions team, The Son Share Players. The group was a small Christian drama troupe that traveled throughout Kentucky leading youth camps and performing Christian theater in churches, state parks, and in any other venue Tom where could get us a booking.
 
Each of us received our scripts long before arriving at Camp Cedarmore in Bagdad, Kentucky for the two weeks of intense training. We were to come with scripts memorized. As you might imagine, I came unprepared. Tom was very patient with me. I think he knew when he chose me that I would be more than a team member, that I would also be a project. At one point, in his frustration but with great restraint he said, “Just learn your part, Rick.”
 
I don’t know why but that sentence has been with me ever since. And what was my takeaway? Rick, you have a part in this world and you simply need to learn and live the part God has given you. If you know and do your part the whole drama of life will come together for you.
 
I’ve done that ever since. In each of the roles I’ve been given I’ve done my best to learn and live my part as a father, as a husband, as a friend, as a Campus Minister, as a church staff member, as a church planter, as a pastor, as an author, and as a church consultant. And you know what, every time, ultimately, learning and playing out my part has been enough for me to know some level of peace, find fulfillment, and I pray  to glorify God. 


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Dedicated and Indebted to... Dan Flanagan, Tom Smoot, and Mel Doughty
Characteristics of a Great Leader... In Honor of Dr. Scott Kilgore
Five Principles Small Group Leaders Can Learn from Tim Tebow
4 Leadership Principles I've Learned from My Current Boss, Barry Sneed
10 Things I Learned from My Dad Every Small Group Leader Needs to Know


 

Wise Counsel
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01.21.2013

Sentences That Have Changed My Life I, "Plan your work and work your plan."

 I don’t know about you, but there have been times in my life when a sentence was verbalized to me or in my presence that changed my life. These sentences were voiced by someone I had a deep trust in and/or someone I had great admiration for. Some of those sentences have governed my thinking and work style ever since. The first of these simply reads, “Plan your work and work your plan.”
 
My dear friend and one of my mentors, Dan Flanagan, voiced this to me at a point in my life when I was struggling to accomplish the work that was before me. I was a 20 year old college student having just returned from eloping. My beautiful wife, who was just 19 at the time, was a studious and well respected college student. She was well on her way to graduating with honors. I, on the other hand, had flunked out of one university and was well on my way to doing the same at my new school, Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Kentucky. Dan, who at this point was my Campus Minister assured me I could graduate from college if I was willing to do the work. He then announced, “You’re going to need to plan your work and work your plan,” then explained to me what that meant.
 
Wise Counsel
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01.18.2013

A Question I'm Asking Myself... Small Groups, Discipleship, and Dogmatism

 


If you follow this blog you are fully aware that I am on a journey to conclude what biblical disciple-making really looks like. I am trying with all my might to set aside all that I have learned and written, read and believed so that I can, without preconceived notions, climb into God’s Word to see what Jesus said about disciple-making, said to those who would be His disciples, and what He did when making disciples. Sometimes when I read a blog post I posted days after its posting I say to myself, “You sound downright dogmatic.” Might I confess something to you? This journey is forcing me to ask this question… “Is there a certain level of dogmatism necessary if someone is going to become a mature disciple of Jesus and live a disciple’s lifestyle?”
 
The statements of Jesus below are forcing me to ask this question.
 
25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:25 - 33
 
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matt. 10:34 – 37)
 
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8:18 – 22)
 
16 Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” the man inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’[d] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’[e]”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:16 – 23)
 
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life[c] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34 – 38)
 
What do you think?


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Would You Rather: Connect More People or Make More Disciples? by Mark Howell
 
Disciplemaking
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