Turning Your Church or Ministry into a Disciplemaking Mission
Purpose
Equip leaders in a mutually supportive and stimulating environment, who intend to turn churches and ministries into communities that fulfill the Great Commission’s imperative of making reproducing disciples of Jesus with particular focus on MicroGroups.
Objectives
- Provide a process whereby a church/ministry can transition from its current model of ministry to become a church that makes reproducing disciples of Christ.
- Successful Journey: Imagine what your church/ministry can become through concrete pictures of actual churches that have been transformed into disciplemaking congregations, particularly through a growing movement of reproducing MicroGroups.
3. Identify the three major components upon which to form the disciplemaking culture in your church/ministry:
A. Relational Environment: Just as Jesus majored in the relational investment in the twelve, so we must adopt Jesus’ approach if we are going form disciples who make disciples. Our particular approach centers on the MicroGroup as the optimum setting for the relational environment.
B. Intentional Leaders: The leader of the MicroGroup is the most important leader in the church. They are on the front line of leading and reproducing the basic disciplemaking unit, the MicroGroup. This implies that the pastors’ role is to empower God’s people for their ministry which in turn builds up the body of Christ.
C. Reproducible Process: Central to making this a simple and reproducible for the average believer, there is a need for a transferable disciplemaking tool that maps out the picture of a mature, reproducing disciple. We suggest that Discipleship Essentials be the tool that you master, though your theological tradition may suggest something else.
4. Change Process: Provide a clear understanding of how change occurs within the culture of a congregation as you are incorporating the above three components.
5. The purpose of this cohort is to raise up an ever-expanding band of leaders who sense the Holy Spirit’s call (professionally and personally) to make a lifetime investment into growing reproducing* disciples and ministries.
6. Aspire through this training to grow model disciple-making churches** or ministries that become replicating training centers.
7. Reflect biblically and theologically on Jesus’ and Paul’s relational model of disciplemaking and apply this model to the way disciples are made.
*“Reproducing” is shorthand for disciples who make disciples.
**See the profile for a model church.
Covenantal Commitments: Expectations of Participants
- Meet online in 17 sessions for 2 hours over a 2-year period with a cohort of ministry leaders in order to begin the transition process to become a church of disciples who make disciples.
- Complete the structured curriculum on a timely basis to move sequentially through the steps necessary to refocus the mission and ministry practice around disciplemaking. The cohort will be facilitated by a trained coach whose role it is ask the penetrating coaching questions as well as create a sense of community among the participants.
- Continue the art of disciplemaking by leading, and replicating a MicroGroup as you continue to grow your network of disciplemakers and lead your church toward becoming a disciplemaking mission.
Program Distinctives
- Keep it small: Groups of 3-4 provide optimum investment (one coach for each group of 3-4).
- Start with the end in mind: From the beginning envision what a disciplemaking church can be.
- Develop a culture/context specific structure and process for transforming your church into a MicroGroup-based disciplemaking mission.
Application
When: New cohorts begin in January of each year. Additional cohorts are formed on an ad hoc basis.
Apply via this link: APPLY HERE
Cost: $100/session prepaid on a monthly basis for a total of $1600 in the USA. Costs may be adjusted for participants from other countries.
Coaches: Greg Ogden, Ralph Rittenhouse, Dan Dominguez
