Discipleship: Best Practices

"The only way to make disciples is to get involved intimately in the lives of the people you are trying to influence."� Greg Ogden, Discipleship Essentials

It's tempting to look at the websites of some of the large, high profile churches in America and�start to build your own�discipleship programs.� Clearly, these are "best practices" that have been proven over time.� Keep in mind, however, that these are large churches with resources beyond your limits.��As such, the variety of ethnicities, socio-economic classes, and other variables found within their congregations forces their programs to be much more generic than you may need for your small, new church with a much narrower demographic context.� And trying to "look like" a large "model" church can be extremely harmful to your sense of community.� It won't make you look like a church, it will make you look like a church trying to copy�another model.

Stay true to your context.� And the important context is not your planned or hoped-for context but your actual, present context.
Remember that Discipleship follows Community.� Don't over-program Discipleship�so much�that people feel like spectators or consumers.� People will seek to be discipled only if they trust.��For the most part, we�place our trust in individual people, not in programs.� And where does trust come from?� In most cases it comes from the relationships established�in a warm, loving community.
Plan for evolution.� Many if not most of your years 1 and 2 offerings will have a limited life, at least in their original form.� That is not to say there will be no continuity.� For example, a brief, intense New Members class may be replaced in year 3 with a broader, longer class that is based on the same concepts and values as the original.� The evolution should be largely organic.
Keep consistent with your stated Values (see Mission Vision Values).� If you have defined your church to be a "high expectation" church, this value should be�evident in your Discipleship programs and should be communicated as such.
Consider all styles of learning and growing.� A Discipleship program that is 100% classroom/lecture based will not work.� We do not "learn" to be a Disciple and then become one so much as we learn about being a Disciple and then try it out.� An experiential dimension is necessary, e.g. Mercy Ministries, retreats, evangelism, etc.� Some of the best "evangelists" are new (immature) believers who have a substantial network of other non-believers who they can invite into the community.
Disciples need encouragement.� We don't like to�discuss it but Suffering is�necessary to spiritual development.� Paul described suffering as beginning a chain of growth through endurance and character to hope (Romans 5: 3 - 5).� This is where Experiential�Discipleship (leading to failure, rejection and loss)�connects with a�Mentoring dimension as we seek to�encourage suffering disciples.� God has a personal plan for Discipleship for each of us, and encouragement is an ingredient common to them all.
Discipleship includes Leadership Development.� In a Christian context Leadership means serving and giving.� This includes assessing gifts and leadership training/experience.� See the topics under Leadership.
Pray.� Remember that while Evangelism brings people to Christ, Discipleship turns them into Christians.� We will need God's guidance in our programs, as there are many decisions to�make.� And we will need to pray for the hearts of those whom God�sends�us out to meet.�

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Last Modified 5/4/05 11:24 AM

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