Train For Disciplemaking

The goal of the Great Commission is not simply to make disciples; it is to make disciplemakers--a pattern of multiplication. In the New Testament, Paul modeled this pattern as ably as anyone. An example is the way he personally discipled Timothy to teach "reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others" (2 Tim. 2:2). But the earnest desire to see churches make disciplemakers is also a driving force behind his definition of the primary role of a church leader, namely, "to prepare God's people for works of service" (Eph. 4:11).

The following are some helpful suggestions for pastors and church leaders who are looking for help in this crucial area.

  1. Be a disciplemaker yourself. A critical requirement for anyone in church leadership is to be a model of fulfilling Jesus' everyday mission in their own life.
  2. Tend to the quality of the community life of your church. Community life is not limited to small groups. But small group ministry is a highly effective means of building an intentional community of disciplemakers.
  3. Know what individuals need and how much they can be stretched. What is your process for getting feedback from the people touched by the ministries of your church? Can they tell you where they are in their spiritual development? Can you tell them a next step to take in continued growth?
  4. Provide an intentional disciplemaking vision for your church and a strategy to make it happen.
  5. List and evaluate all of your church's current ministries and programs in light of the Great Commission. 
  6. Sensitively but continually retool existing ministries and create new ones to fulfill the Great Commission.

Resources:

If you want to attempt steps 3 and 5 on your own, Randall Knutson's appendix in Bill Hull's New Century Disciplemaking is a good resource.  For outside help, connect with one of the church health contacts listed under Resources on the menu on the left side of this page.

The Equipping Church Guidebook, by Sue Mallory and Brad Smith, is a comprehensive guide for step 4.

In addition to these general recommendations, the following are some tested resources especially designed to equip churches and church leaders become increasingly effective in the important task of making disciplemakers.

 

Center for Church Based Training (CCBT)

CCBT provides resources, training, and program consultation for churches who want to develop leaders in the context of their ministries.

Strengths:

  • emphasis on training through the local church
  • Great Commission base
  • associated with the ministry of Gene Getz
  • in use in EFCA districts

 Be aware of:

  • can become content (theory) driven
  • CCBT consultants may not be available in all EFCA districts

For additional information, see the Center for Church Based Training website. Also, contact your EFCA district office to see if CCBT is currently available in your district.


Church Resource Ministries (CRM)

CRM's mission is to develop church leaders to strengthen and start churches. Its primary training event for strengthening churches is a two-year track called Refocusing Systems, which consists of

  1. A focus on personal renewal for pastors (year one). During this year, the pastor attends network meetings but also involves his church leaders in different training times. Pastors work on perspective (where have I been?), focus (where am I going?), and mentoring (who can help me get there?).
  2. A focus on corporate renewal of the church (year two). Through a series of Pastor Network meetings, lay ReFocusing Team Training, and Congregational Summits, church leaders work together to bring focus and renewal to their local churches using a process of assessing (where have we been?), discovering (where are we going?), and implementation of (how are we going to get there?) congregational mission.

Strengths:

  • Great Commission base
  • clear, well-developed format
  • the personal renewal material in year one is excellent and is missing from most other health systems

Be Aware of:

  • access to CRM's training networks is limited
  • many pastors do not want to wait a whole year to start working on corporate issues
  • key elements of the CRM approach are built in to the EFCA Healthy Church Networks (see below)

For additional information, contact ChurchSmart resources.


EFCA's Healthy Church Networks

Healthy Church Networks are an Ephesians 4:11-12 based delivery system designed to equip EFCA pastors to lead their churches more effectively toward achieving and sustaining Great Commission health.

The value of Healthy Church Networks is that they

  • Provide an intentional, focused setting where pastors can openly discuss and gain expertise in addressing tactical issues of church health.
  • Tackle both spiritual development and skill training in a safe, peer-to-peer environment of mutual accountability and support.
  • Create a leadership learning community that encourages and models the sharing and testing of ideas.
  • Produce a unifying vision and increasing momentum for healthy church multiplication.


The process for a Healthy Church Network is flexible, but in general will look like this:

Healthy Church Network Process

1.  Pastors from 3-5 churches meet at a central location for about 4 hours for a minimum of 6 meetings annually-ideally once a month.

2.  Each meeting includes

  • personal development-using recommended reading material, workbooks, group discussion, etc.
  • skill training--using the Ten Leading Indicators Toolkit developed by EFCA National Ministries
  • in addition, at each meeting several pastors are encouraged to develop a topic that interests them and come prepared to share it with the group at the next meeting

3.  Between meetings, pastors work on assignments.

4.  Groups can move through the material at their own speed and do not need to complete either the personal development or skill training section in 6 months-or even at the same time. The agenda is designed to be flexible.  Because one size does not fit all, networks are encouraged to modify and adapt sessions and introduce supplemental material as required to meet the needs of the group.

5.  The end product is a prayerfully thought out, peer-tested Ministry Action Plan for introducing and implementing strategies and actions that address tactical issues of church health.

Strengths:

  • Great Commission/Great Commandment emphasis
  • implementation of EFCA values
  • incorporates some of the best elements of other training methods and approaches

Be Aware of:

  • not yet available in all EFCA districts

For additional information, contact your EFCA district office, or EFCA National Ministries.


Purpose Driven Church

Churches that are looking for help in fleshing out the philosophy Rick Warren describes in his book The Purpose Driven Church can find help in these key training events:

Purpose Driven Church Seminar -- a five session seminar presented over one or two days at various locations. The seminar covers crucial areas of building a purpose driven church.

Purpose Driven Church Conference -- broadens the scope of the Purpose Driven Church Seminar to better drive home the theme of being purpose driven and help church leaders understand the different levels of spiritual maturity they need to address: community, crowd, congregation, committed, and core.

Transitioning Seminar -- outlines principles of personal and organizational change for church leaders.

Strengths:

  • focus on being church "on purpose"
  • emphasis on outreach
  • clear presentation of the process of moving a person to spiritual maturity

Be Aware of:

  • seminar format
  • talks process but delivers program
  • tends to be "model" driven

For additional information, see the Purpose Driven Church website and read the folder named, "What is PD?"


T-NET (Training Network for Disciplemaking Churches)

T-NET is a coaching process for teams of church leaders.

  1. In this process, 3 to 30 churches each bring teams of 3 to 50 leaders to a T-NET center to be coached. These T-NET centers usually meet in a local church or in a seminary.
  2. The church teams come to eight meetings at the center. These meetings are held approximately every four months, so the entire process is a little over two years long. Meeting one lasts 3 days (Thursday night -Saturday). Meetings two through eight are held on Saturdays from 9:00-5:30.
  3. In each meeting, the T-NET trainer-usually a pastor who has successfully implemented the process in his church, or a T-NET staff member-teaches the leaders principles which they can uniquely tailor and apply in their church to become more effective and intentional in disciplemaking. Then the trainer coaches these leaders to overcome barriers to applying the principles from past meetings as well as coaching them to make effective plans to carry out the new principles they have just learned. In addition, the trainer coaches the pastors at least twice between meetings.

Strengths:

  • Great Commission base
  • proven track record
  • is a training process--it has assignments, accountability, and coaching
    links church structure and activities to vision and mission

Be Aware of:

  • so much material, so little time: can result in overload and paralysis
  • the sequencing of meetings does not work for every church
  • functional coaching networks have limited availability

For additional information, visit the T-NET website.


Willow Creek Association (WCA)

Since 1992, Willow Creek Association, a ministry of the Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, has worked to equip churches and church leaders to build "prevailing" churches.  In addition to a growing number of training resources available online (see the website listed below for current resources and information), key training events include:

Prevailing Church Conference.  This is the place to begin.  It is Willow Creek's core conference.  It provides foundational training for staff and volunteers to build a prevailing church.  "After you've seen the big picture here," WCA advises, "use our other training opportunities to strengthen specific ministry areas."

Leadership Summit.  For men and women with ministry leadership responsibilities and gifts.  "Features top experts and cutting edge principles."

Contagious Evangelism Conference.  Encouragement and training for churches and leaders who want to be "evangelistically contagious"; undergirds the core mission of any Acts 2 church-"to reach those who are still far from Christ."

Small Groups Conference.  Designed to help churches develop small groups that foster authentic community and create safe places for mutual care and spiritual growth.

Strengths:

  • high quality conferences; WCA models excellence in everything it does
  • strong emphasis on reaching the lost
  • proven track record
  • motivational

Be Aware of:

  • seminar based presentations
  • very much a niche driven ministry for spiritual seekers-works well in a church plant or newer church where values and tradition are not established
  • tends to be "model" driven

For additional information, visit the Willow Creek Association website.

(Updated 9/07)

  

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