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Downstream

Thoughts on disciple making, life transformation, and environments of grace and trust. . . .
Executive Vice President of NavPress


05.06.2013

Assessment, Vision, Strategy

How do you know what direction to go if you don’t know where you are?  In order to get to a future state, understanding current reality is a must.  For the next few moments lets consider three important factors to becoming a disciple-making church.
 
Assessing the Present Reality (Evaluation)
 
Many churches believe they are making disciples who make disciples when, in actuality, they are merely adding people to their membership and placing them in groups, groups that are about gathering more than disciple-making.
 
In order for a church to conclude whether or not the church is making disciples who make disciples they simply need to ask themselves the following questions.
 
1. Do we have a reproducible disciple-making process in place?
 
2. Are those who consider themselves disciple-makers doing life alongside those they are discipling or are they simply leading a Bible study or hosting a small group?
 
3. Are those who have been discipled exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control), engaged daily in the spiritual disciplines, as well as being witnesses for Christ?
                                                                                     
4. Are those who have been discipled leaving the discipleship experience spiritually mature enough to disciple someone themselves?
 
5. Are those who have been discipled choosing to disciple someone else or are they still focused on themselves?
 
 
Envisioning the Future Reality (Vision)
 
Until a leader sees in his/her minds eye what the future reality will be, that leader will continue to hold on to the present reality. The vision a disciple-making church leader imagines is a church made up of groups gathering to become more like Christ. These groups are led by spiritual parents who nurture and challenge those in their group toward greater levels of spiritual maturity.
 
 
Utilizing a Strategy to Make the Future Reality a Present Reality
 
A vision without a strategy is only a dream. In order for a vision to become a reality, there must be a strategy in place and that strategy must be carried out aggressively and persistently.
The first step is to determine if the church is going to be a church OF Disciple-making or WITH Disciple-making. We will talk next week about a strategy that might serve you well.   
 
See you downstream . . . . .
 
disciple, Disciple-making, discipleship, leadership, strategy, church
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04.15.2013

Types of Disciple-making Churches

The following descriptions given in this blog article are not meant to be critical, but rather give some characteristics to differentiate between churches OF disciple-making or churches WITH disciple-making groups.
Each church must determine if she is going to be a church OF Disciple-making or a church WITH Disciple-making groups.

Churches OF Disciple-making Churches WITH Disciple-making Groups

Characterized by:

Is not program driven. In 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

 

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


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. We will discuss those needs next week.

See you downstream . . . . .


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03.26.2013

Why Become a Disciple-Making Church?

We are thrilled that you have decided to join the discipleship revolution. Churches across the globe have begun to realize the importance of this biblical mandate (Matt. 28:19–20) and are imagining the transformation of lives and the culture where their church exists. Church leaders like you 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. Jesus expected it. 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 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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19–20)

2. 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 and eternal relationship with Christ. Mature disciples intuitively tell others about the Jesus who has transformed their own lives.

3. 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.

4. It 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.

5. It 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.

6. Disciple making allows the congregation to take ownership and empowers the laity to care for one another. 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 six why’s of a disciple-making will make your 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 you to give your time to study of God’s Word, prayer, and leadership.

See you downstream . . . . . .
Disciple-making, Discipleship, Church
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03.12.2013

IGNITE - A Student Revolution

This week marks the release of Ignite, the student edition of Lead Like Jesus. The quality of content and video for this project is second to none. This week was also a slam-dunk for me. I had the privilege of interviewing one of my leadership heroes, Ken Blanchard. His passion for leadership is stronger than ever. And his urgency to see students embrace a biblical model for leadership is contagious. I will be sharing that interview with you on this blog in the coming days.

I also had the opportunity to visit with Phyllis Hendry, President and CEO of the Lead Like Jesus organization. Their staff of leaders continues to lead multiple certification training opportunities. As we talked, I was convinced the following principles that under pinned the training would be of interest to you. The following is a part of the conversation I had with Phyllis.

I began to think about the belief statements that color all of our teaching. We believe that:

1. Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time.
2. Leadership happens anytime you influence the thinking, behavior, or development of another person.
3. Effective leadership begins on the inside with the heart.
4. Servant leadership is the only approach to leadership Jesus ever validated for his followers.

Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time.
As we proclaim Jesus as the greatest leadership role model of all time and encourage people to adopt Jesus as their leadership role model, we are engaging people to live moment to moment in the power and presence of God as Jesus did when He was on earth. We ask two questions, “Whose are you?” and “Who are you?” Scripture in John 13:3 reminds us that Jesus was sure of whose He was. Scripture says “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God.” We are beginning to ask the question, “What would our life look like if we lived in the power and presence of God as Jesus did?”

Leadership happens anytime you influence the thinking, behavior, or development of another person.
As we define leadership, everyone, everywhere is a leader, so every individual is raised up as one who can have influence on others. This belief highlights the impact potential of one person whose heart is transformed and then influences others. This is a huge belief statement that reminds us there is no separation between the secular and sacred roles or life and organizational roles when it comes to leading like Jesus.

Effective leadership begins on the inside with the heart.
Our belief that effective leadership begins on the inside with the heart radically changes every other leadership paradigm. The model of Jesus and the declaration that leadership starts in the heart is radical. A healthy heart is the only way to lead like Jesus and the only way to a healthy heart is by an ongoing connection with the Father. A healthy heart will produce a different kind of leader. The challenge is we can’t produce it.

The only way to have a “healthy heart” is to connect to the Father. His incredible one-way love that while we are still sinners (far away from God), Christ died for us. It is as we grasp that there is nothing that we need that we don’t already have, there is nothing we can do that makes us more lovable that we can surrender. It is done, finished once and for all and once we can accept and abide in it, surrender comes, and we can live in freedom. His love for us grows love in us and then from us! This is not a new app for an old operating system. The message of Lead Like Jesus is dismantling the old operating systems for a new system with a heart that is totally connected to the Father. It is as we soak in His unconditional love, the antidote for our pride and fear, the answer to whose we are and who we are and much more that our hearts become healthy and we find freedom to lead, love, and live boldly in service to others and become the hands and feet of Jesus.

 Servant leadership is the only approach to leadership Jesus ever validated for His followers.
I was asked recently about our reference to servant leadership and the remark was made that so many organizations talk about servant leadership. Does Lead Like Jesus mean something different? My answer is yes. First, leading like Jesus is not just about servant leadership. Certainly, it is an overflow (result) of someone leading like Jesus. Second, we are not simply talking about servant leadership behavior; LLJ is talking about a servant heart.
We are talking about a servant heart who freely serves not to get but to give, not to manipulate but to serve.
Connection to the Father – receiving and surrendering in His unconditional love and grace - equals a healthy heart and produces freedom so that we can Lead Like Jesus.

It’s clear to see why this model and the Ignite student project is a great fit for the Discipleship Revolution.
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03.01.2013

National Discipleship Conference - St Paul, MN

NDC-Web-Header.JPG

Over the last several years church practices have changed and through that process many methods and methodologies have changed as well. Those changes have been subtle and yet significant. Jesus gave us a model to follow. It’s about relationship not religion. It’s about authenticity not activity-based. It’s about intentionality and not options. The reality is living obediently in response to God’s Word does not necessarily mean faithfully participating in a program (even a great program). Living obediently is following Christ. It’s receiving the love that He has for us and in turn loving people well. It’s grace. It’s His Spirit in you.

As believers we have to stop right now and evaluate where we are. There are many of us (leaders included) that have missed this. We have made discipleship more complicated than it was ever intended to be. As a result, we are worn out. We are feeling the pressure in our homes, in our careers, with our friends and the list goes on. We have done everything that we know to do. We have polished up all of our processes, sermons, social media, etc. Yet at the end of the day, the questions still remain: Did I follow Christ today? Did I accept and know God’s love for me? Did I love people well? Do my family, friends, co-workers, and really anyone I come into contact with experience the fruit of God’s Spirit in me?

You see experiencing God’s love and loving people well is what discipleship is all about. It’s walking through life with people in way that honors God. It’s worth it.

In June NavPress will host the National Discipleship Conference at Northwestern College in St. Paul, MN. It is our vision, our desire and our focus is to advance the Gospel of Jesus and His Kingdom into all of the nations through a spiritual generation of laborers living and discipling among the lost. Believers are to be and make disciples. Come join us for an opportunity to be engaged, equipped, and empowered to do just that!

See you there.
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02.15.2013

Seven Disciple-Making Imperatives

Continuing from last week’s blog, let's talk about some imperatives to disciple-making.

1. Whether your church is a church WITH small groups or OF small groups, if your church is making disciples who make disciples you are accomplishing the Great Commission.

2. Curriculum is not the key to making disciples, however choosing the right curriculum at the right time is important. Disciples are made as the Holy Spirit works in tandem with a human disciple-maker to move a disciple to be more like Christ. Curriculum is simply an important tool in the disciple-making process.

3. It is vital that the pastor and all staff members of any disciple-making church be the leader of a disciple-making group of or is involved in a disciple-making group. If any of these key leaders choose not to be part of the disciple-making ministry, others will find no need to be involved themselves.

4. The most important promoter of the disciple-making ministry must be the senior pastor.

5. Pray that God would lead you to the right people to be your first disciple-makers. Jesus prayed prior to choosing His, it is vital that we do the same.
 
6. It is vital that the group’s first studies teach the disciple basic spiritual disciplines, doctrines, and practices of a disciple in relation to the church they are members of. While felt-need studies and sermon based discussions have a place in the church, a disciple without a firm foundation to stand on will easily become self-focused and begin to serve themselves rather than focusing on the cross and Jesus’ Kingdom agenda.

7. Utilizing a “reproducible process” is the key to long-term success. It has been proven that disciples who make disciples are much more likely to do so if they utilize the same principles and practices as well as the same curriculum as those who discipled them. It is for this reason that I recommend training every group leader using the Real Life Discipleship Training Manual and that each group do the three studies, Growing Strong in God’s Family, Deepening Your Roots in God’s Family, Bearing Fruit in God’s Family, as their foundational and first studies.

More to come . . . see you downstream!
disciple, discipleship, church
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02.07.2013

A Church OF or a Church WITH...

Is your church a church OF disciple-making or a church WITH disciple-making? 

The question is not meant to offend or criticize, but rather to clarify. The question has been generated from numerous conversations with pastors and discipleship leaders on a daily and weekly basis.  From experience, I know that these conversations are generated from “pain points” of these leaders.  This blog post and the next several to follow will be centered on this subject or question.
 
I’ve borrowed a quote from a good friend of mine that begs consideration.  “When the pain of staying the same is the greater than the pain of change, we will consider change!”  One of the issues I hear from pastors on a consistent basis is dealing with spiritual immaturity in the church.  This begs the question, is the church today doing a better job of teaching people how to be good members or disciples?
 
The term “disciple” simply means, “learner.” A disciple is some one who learns principles from someone else, sees those principles lived out by 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 ideas.
 
1.     Disciple-making is relational – “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Now remain in my love.  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.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.  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.  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.  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)
 
Notice I said stage-by-stage, not stage-to-stage.  The process is cyclical not linear.  Disciples experience the following stages of spiritual growth; spiritually dead, spiritual infant, spiritual child, spiritual young adult, and spiritual parent.  (Note: these stages of spiritual maturation are outlined in Real Life Discipleship)
 
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)
 
Disciples are made, as one person who has been or is being discipled is discipling others.
 
 
More to explore . . . see you downstream!
discipleship, ministry, relationship, disciple
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01.07.2013

Getting to the Root of Discipleship

“He didn’t say the world would know we are Christians because we are theologically right, though we should be. He didn’t say people would know we are Christians because of miracles, though sometimes God uses them. He didn’t say people would know we are believers because we are wealthy and disease-free, though God sometimes blesses His people in these ways. Jesus said we would be known by our love. When the structure of a church supports a relational environment for discipleship (spiritual growth), that church is more likely to be full of people who demonstrate this kind of love Christ talked about.”
- Jim Putman, Senior Pastor at Real Life Ministries, and author of Real Life Discipleship.

As individual believers we must understand our responsibility to love people well. As leaders this also means equipping others to understand that Christlike love is the root of all discipleship. The way we love people is a direct reflection of how we understand the love of God. Scripture is incredibly clear about this.
I am pleased to say that NavPress is hosting a Real Life Discipleship Conference featuring Jim Putman at The Met Church in Houston, TX on January 17, 2013.

If you are serious about making disciples in your church, you have to join us!
Conference, disciple, discipleship, Life, Love, Real, church
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12.18.2012

Opportunity for Disciplemaking Churches

Discipleship for the individual believer is a lifelong journey with Jesus. For the church, this means creating an environmental process for disciplemaking. This environment has to be intentional, just as Jesus was intentional as He modeled disciplemaking in one-on-one relationships and small groups.

The environment, however, is not the end game. The goal is mature disciples who make more mature disciples. But knowing what a mature disciple looks and acts like can be tricky. Many churches have good and even intentional process aimed at getting people connected to their group system. However, in some cases these processes do little more than move individuals through content, assessments, and placement into a role or position. Assimilating someone into a position or through a process does not mean an individual has become a disciple.

The apostle Paul almost always used the language of family when he wrote about discipleship. He was a spiritual parent to so many, and when he wrote to them in his letters, he addressed them as his children in the faith. This is evident in 1 Thessalonians 2:10-12, 1 Timothy 1:1-2, and Philemon 1:8-11.

These verses clearly show Paul as a disciplemaker, intentionally investing in people around him. What about you? Who has God brought into your circle of influence? Who are the people around you needing encouragement, mentoring, and a spiritual parent? What is your church doing to make disciples?

Many churches are doing a pretty good job of getting people in the door and quenching some degree of a spiritual thirst, but most have done a less-than-adequate job actually nurturing and growing these folks in the faith. The dropout trend in churches today is troubling; young adults and older adults are leaving at an alarming rate.

Sadly, many churches today have compromised a biblical model to suggest that adequate disciplemaking can be done in large groups or even crowds. While that element of the spiritual disciplines (corporate worship, for example) is needed, these large gatherings do not and cannot take the place of meaningful and significant relationships that are formed in small groups.
I’m not a researcher by trade, but I contend that one of the biggest issues in the Christian Church is a lack of healthy environments for disciplemaking. Over the last 25 years in particular, disciplemaking church practices have changed drastically with less time and fewer resources committed to this biblical mandate.

I have the privilege of talking weekly with pastors and church staffs, and the issue of disciplemaking is a constant concern and need. They have a good reason to be worried. Consider for example, research showing that more evangelicals affirm the idea of there being more than one way to get to heaven than they did 15 or 20 years ago. How could that be? I believe it is the result of a lack of disciplemaking.

Churches want to discover ways to leverage the Sunday morning experience, to connect people to small groups and discipling relationships, to understand their identity in Christ, and to find their place of missional service in local communities and beyond. To address these trends, the NavPress Church Direct team is serious about providing support, training, mentoring, consulting, and teaching for leaders who are ready to change the scorecard and focus on a different set of expectations and results.

I am thrilled to introduce you to a new opportunity for discipleship training. The Real Life Discipleship Conference will engage you and your team in a biblical foundation and methodology to intentionally create an environment of discipleship in your church. Leaders will be exposed to a transferable, highly relational, proven methodology and biblical content to equip and empower your ministry. This conference is for those who are serious about making disciples.

With God’s grace and discerning leadership, we can address these discipleship needs as we encourage, equip, and engage the future together. Our heritage is rich. Our vision is strong. You’ve heard me say it before: Let’s start a discipleship revolution! God is answering our prayers. It has started!

Join us January 17, 2013 at The Met Church in Houston, TX

Register now at navpress.com

See you downstream…
Discipleship Inside Out, church, Conference, DIO, disciple, discipleship, Life, NavPress, Real, training, Christianity
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