The Process of Making Disciples
John 8:31
Discipleship is not a carnival ride in which we sit and do nothing while we are whisked through various spiritual sensations. Somehow we have to make disciples instead of inspiration junkies.
Clarify the Mission: What Is a Disciple?
Jesus made the mission simple: follow me (be a disciple) and make disciples (be a disciple-maker).
"‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matt. 22:37-40).
His Yoke:
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matt. 11:28-30).
The Process of Making Disciples:
Evangelism - Invest and Invite
Edifying - Worship
Equipping - Small Groups
Employ - Ministry
We desperately need to develop a simple process to ensure that everything the church does fits together to produce life change.
Movement: How do we move people toward spiritual maturity.
To be effective at disciple-making we need to design a simple process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth.
Movement is how someone is handed off from one level of commitment to a greater level of commitment.
Assimilation to the next level of spiritual maturity is the goal. Programs are the tools along the process.
The first step in the process is to love God.
The second step is to love others. This process helps people connect relationally.
The third step in the process is to serve Christ in team ministry.
The goal is to partner with God to move people through the stages of spiritual growth.
Changed lives are the bottom line
Alignment: Getting every ministry of the church using the same process of making disciples.
Focus on the end results - fully mature disciples.