Clarifying Words
Challenging words to help make prepared, confident, and skilled followers of God.
Three Needs Every Disciple Has
There are those “aha” moments when you realize you are on to something big. I had one of those when I read Joël Malm’s book Fully You. Joël put words on something that I knew but didn’t fully realize. Joël explains three needs humans have: safety, connection, and empowerment. It …
One Great Reason to Make Disciples
Mark Crull at Northview Church is leading his team to make 1,000 disciples in 2024. As we were helping with the messaging and marketing, one of his team members asked, “What would you say, in one line, is the reason you should make disciples? I stopped for a moment and …
The best time to start making disciples.
Do you know the best time to start making disciples? The philosophical answer is, “Right now!” The practical answer is often different. There are a crazy number of factors that affect the success of a discipleship group. If you are doing a formal plan (especially the most effective one-year plan), …
Our Role as Guides
Sustainable Discipleship leverages several principles from Scripture when making disciples. We recognized, How do those principles affect how we guide disciples toward a life of following God? When Jesus said, Go unto all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the …
Doug’s First Meeting Template
I have six goals for my first meeting: Establishing Trust Trust comes by knowing that we are in this together. Trust comes with transparency. Trust begins by you trusting the disciples you will make. I begin establishing trust by asking two questions: Even when folks know me, I still ask …
The Power of a Question
The U.S. and internet culture wants quick answers. Just Google it. Just ask. Just tell me what to do. And the church culture isn’t too different. Most everything is designed to deliver quick, “relevant” answers to a crowd. Even Biblical education is designed to provide quick answers in group guides, …
What does 95% success mean?
We get a bit of pushback on the 95% success claim. Some of our early adopters have even said, “It’s so unbelievable you should stop saying it. Even though it is true.” And we hear other comments like: The other day, I talked with Justin Gravitt with Navigators (one of …
Six Thinking Hats
When Chris Barras, the pastor at Area 10 Church, and I talked the other day, he said, “I heard you talk about Six Thinking Hats by DeBono. I read it, but I can’t figure out how to use it in disciple-making?” It was a great question. DeBono’s book is incredible …
Three questions you should always ask disciples.
Whether making one or many disciples in a group, you should ask every disciple at least three important questions. Why? Because every disciple you make is different. They think differently. They react differently. They process information differently. They have different needs and are at different places in their journeys to …
Just Make Six
The big voices in disciple making have been pounding the word “multiplication” for the last several years. And that is a good thing. In fact, the only way we will save the world is by multiplication. Steve Saint says, in his book The Great Omission, that probably the best we …
Three Needs Every Disciple Has
There are those “aha” moments when you realize you are on to something big. I had one of those when I read Joël Malm’s book Fully You. Joël put words on something that I knew but didn’t fully realize. Joël explains three needs humans have: safety, connection, and empowerment. It …
One Great Reason to Make Disciples
Mark Crull at Northview Church is leading his team to make 1,000 disciples in 2024. As we were helping with the messaging and marketing, one of his team members asked, “What would you say, in one line, is the reason you should make disciples? I stopped for a moment and …
The best time to start making disciples.
Do you know the best time to start making disciples? The philosophical answer is, “Right now!” The practical answer is often different. There are a crazy number of factors that affect the success of a discipleship group. If you are doing a formal plan (especially the most effective one-year plan), …
Our Role as Guides
Sustainable Discipleship leverages several principles from Scripture when making disciples. We recognized, How do those principles affect how we guide disciples toward a life of following God? When Jesus said, Go unto all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the …
Doug’s First Meeting Template
I have six goals for my first meeting: Establishing Trust Trust comes by knowing that we are in this together. Trust comes with transparency. Trust begins by you trusting the disciples you will make. I begin establishing trust by asking two questions: Even when folks know me, I still ask …
The Power of a Question
The U.S. and internet culture wants quick answers. Just Google it. Just ask. Just tell me what to do. And the church culture isn’t too different. Most everything is designed to deliver quick, “relevant” answers to a crowd. Even Biblical education is designed to provide quick answers in group guides, …
What does 95% success mean?
We get a bit of pushback on the 95% success claim. Some of our early adopters have even said, “It’s so unbelievable you should stop saying it. Even though it is true.” And we hear other comments like: The other day, I talked with Justin Gravitt with Navigators (one of …
Six Thinking Hats
When Chris Barras, the pastor at Area 10 Church, and I talked the other day, he said, “I heard you talk about Six Thinking Hats by DeBono. I read it, but I can’t figure out how to use it in disciple-making?” It was a great question. DeBono’s book is incredible …
Three questions you should always ask disciples.
Whether making one or many disciples in a group, you should ask every disciple at least three important questions. Why? Because every disciple you make is different. They think differently. They react differently. They process information differently. They have different needs and are at different places in their journeys to …
Just Make Six
The big voices in disciple making have been pounding the word “multiplication” for the last several years. And that is a good thing. In fact, the only way we will save the world is by multiplication. Steve Saint says, in his book The Great Omission, that probably the best we …
Challenging words to help make prepared, confident, and skilled followers of God.