Your Personalized Disciple Making Makeover
Doug Burrier
You’re closer than you feel: you already have Scripture in the mix and you already have a method you can describe—now you’re just tightening the target and making the output consistent. If you clarify the definition and make application the non-negotiable takeaway, disciple making will become simpler to lead, easier for busy people to live out between church gatherings, and far more likely to multiply over time.
Quick Snapshot
You’re already taking informal steps to invest in people, but you feel low confidence that your current approach is consistently producing mature disciples. Scripture is present through a Bible reading plan in selected books, yet the definition of “disciple” still feels fuzzy and follow-through outside church is limited by busy schedules.
What's Working Well
You have real desire to see life change, and you already have a workable method you can describe clearly—those are strong building blocks to strengthen.
- You’re engaging Scripture through a consistent Bible reading plan moving through selected books of the Bible.
- You’re paying attention to whether people’s lives are changing, not just whether meetings happen.
- You have an identifiable approach (even if you’re not fully confident in it yet).
What May Be Challenging
Based on what you shared, the biggest constraints are clarity and transfer: the definition of a disciple is fuzzy, application isn’t a consistent takeaway, and disciple making rarely extends beyond church gatherings, which makes replication unlikely right now.
- No clear, shared “finish line” for what you’re trying to produce (disciple definition is fuzzy).
- Application is not yet a consistent, specific next step from Scripture.
- “Along the way” disciple making is low because you mostly see each other at church and everyone is busy.
Why It Matters
When the definition is clear and each meeting drives toward specific application, people can actually practice following Jesus between gatherings—then growth becomes more visible, your confidence rises, and replication becomes far more natural.
— SEVEN SUCCESS STRATEGIES —
WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE?
Contrary to popular belief, the best measure of success is not multiplication because if you multiply immature disciples no one wins. The best measure of success is life change (transformation)—which oddly enough always results in healthy, big multiplication.
Making disciples is a “get to” not a “have to” or “should do.” It’s a natural result of being a mature believer. It’s the BE comes before DO principle. Healthy people do healthy things. Here’s your best measure of disciple-making success,
The disciple does the right things for the right reasons, navigates the unknowns of life, and makes disciples long after your influence fades.
The quickest pathway to success is to stop making makers and focus on making individual healthy followers. Jesus did not come to make makers, he helped individuals follow and then called them to make. And the most efficient way to do that is to implement the Seven Success Strategies!
You + The Seven
Every successful disciple making effort leverages three or more of seven success strategies. Highly successful disciple making systems leverage five to seven of the strategies. The more you implement, the greater your success—which means the disciples succeed! Your top success factors are The Fuel is God’s Word and The Goal is Application. Based on our conversation, you can see (in red) your depth of implementation alongside each of the seven strategies.
The Fuel is God's Word
Disciples read the entire Bible, cover-to-cover being exposed to all scripture which is useful to guide, correct, direct and prepare them for good works.
The Definition is Simple
Disciple makers know exactly what it means to make a disciple, what the end product should be, and how to know when they have succeeded in making a well-made disciple.
The Process Relies on the Holy Spirit
Disciple makers embrace the truth that it is the Holy Spirit that sanctifies, renews, and transforms making space and helping disciples hear from Him.
The Focus is on Individuals
The process is focused on leading disciples individually even in groups helping them find and apply immediately useful, relevant truths that transform their lives.
The Goal is Application
Disciples makers embrace Jesus’ call to help disciples obey (apply) God’s truths to their decisions focusing on transformation not education.
The Process is Done Along the Way
Disciple makers model following Christ and make disciples inside and outside weekly meetings over the course of several years giving disciples time to fully mature.
Making Disciples is Done Intentionally
Disciple makers embrace disciple making as the primary work to reconcile the world, have a plan to make disciples, and set specific, measurable disciple making goals.
— ONE BITE AT A TIME —
HOW DOES STRATEGY BECOME SUCCESS?
Strategies are big objectives, big concepts, and the key to implementing them is to align what you “do” with the seven strategies. Your “dos” are your methods.
If you’re just getting started or are ready to try something new, you can implement all seven strategies right from the start. Just build your disciple making plan to incorporate them or adopt some proven methods that achieve the seven strategies.
But when you are already making disciples, implementing all seven strategies can feel overwhelming. In a church setting, moving too quickly can feel a bit too disruptive. Your leadership might not even be open to a total overhaul! So what do you do?
You figure out which two strategies could use the most makeover and focus your work on them.
As those two strategies become consistently present in your disciple making, then you pick another strategy to work on. Before you know it, you’ll see even more success than ever before!
You’ll find your top two makeover strategies (with some practical steps and “how tos”) below.
And we’ll help you pick your next next
strategies in the last section.
Your First Makeover Strategies
You’re already informally investing in people, but you’re doing it with low confidence and without a clear definition of the end product. The two highest-leverage moves for you are to clarify a simple definition of a disciple and to make application the consistent outcome of your time in Scripture. Together, these give you a clear target and a repeatable next step—so disciple making can move from “good conversations at church” to “practiced following Jesus between meetings,” which is where growth becomes visible.
Clarify a simple definition and finish line
Based on what you shared, the main gap is that your definition of “disciple” is still fuzzy, which makes it hard to aim your process, know what to emphasize, or tell if you’re succeeding.
- Write a one-sentence definition you can actually use in conversation (simple enough to repeat without notes).
- Add 3–4 “marks” of a growing disciple that you can notice over time (character, relationships, habits, mission), and keep them plain-language.
- Decide what “mature enough to begin discipling someone” looks like in your context.
- Share the definition at the start of your next gathering and use it to guide what you do, not just as a statement.
Make application the weekly output
Based on what you shared, the main gap is that application from Scripture isn’t a consistent takeaway yet, which makes it difficult for life change to move from hopeful to observable.
- Use one repeatable question every time: “What is one specific step you will apply before we meet again?”
- Keep application concrete: one action, one relationship, one decision, or one conversation.
- Tie the step directly to what you read in Scripture (not a general self-improvement goal).
- End with a brief prayer that asks God for help to apply it, and encourage each person to act on it in the next few days.
- At the next meeting, begin by sharing one way each person attempted their application step (no pressure—just learning and encouragement).
What Success Looks Like
- You can define “disciple” in a simple sentence, and the people you’re helping can repeat it back in their own words.
- Each meeting produces clear, Scripture-based application steps that people attempt between meetings.
- You start seeing more consistent life change you can describe with specific examples, not just a general sense.
- At least one person begins taking first steps toward discipling someone else in a simple, repeatable way.
Early Measurable Wins
- Draft your one-sentence disciple definition and share it with your group to confirm it’s clear.
- End each meeting with one specific application step per person that is tied to the Scripture you read.
- Add one simple “along-the-way” touchpoint between gatherings (a short check-in or a quick conversation after church) that focuses on the application step.
- Identify 3–4 people you can focus on intentionally rather than trying to invest in everyone the same way.
— THE BIG FIVE —
HOW WILL YOU
MEASURE SUCCESS?
Most of the methods we research have one of five focuses and naturally measure success based on that focus. We call them the Big Five.
- Education (Success = Participation and Knowledge)
- Assimilation (Success = They Stay and Look Like Us)
- Behavior Modification (Success = They Fix Their Problems)
- Multiplication (Success = They Get Others Involved)
- Leadership Development (Success = They Lead Something)
The Church has been doing the Big Five for, well, forever. We do them because that is what we know. We do them because they are easy and easy to measure. Done well, they will result in some spiritual growth but normally the Big Five just produces “dos.”
The problem is the Big Five only work for 20% of all believers because all five are actually the outcomes of transformation, not the cause.
Whether you adopt or design an overall plan, your best bet is to pick a method focused on discovering and applying all of the truths in God’s Word that measures effectiveness by transformation. Something like,
The disciple does the right things for the right reasons, navigates the unknowns of life, and makes disciples long after your influence fades.
Don’t settle for anything less because when they get transformed, they will be smart, be a part of the body, fix their stuff, make disciples, and lead! Remember, healthy followers do healthy things—naturally.
The team at Sustainable Discipleship uses the
highly Predictable PathwayTM to measure success.
You can learn more below
Ideas + Resources for You
The ideas and resources on this page have been curated based on your Makeover answers and, like your previous “how to” ideas, are based on the Sustainable Discipleship Method—a model that’s fueling a global disciple-making movement.
Our single-minded goal is to share what God has shared with us. But let’s be clear—there are many ways to make disciples. Whether you are evaluating methods or designing your own, we hope these customized ideas help. But definitely check out the Makeover Meetups!
If you are going to share this with others, you might want to uncheck Print Headers and Footers in the print dialogue to remove your browser’s standard ugly headers!
Future Strategies to Consider
Once you get your first two makeover strategies going, you’re ready to work strengthen the rest. Based on your makeover answers, here a few next steps that will increase each disciple’s transformation.
- Strengthen your Bible reading plan by aiming, over time, toward reading the whole Bible cover-to-cover.
- Build in intentional reliance on the Holy Spirit by regularly pausing for discernment and asking, “What is the Spirit prompting you to do from this?”
- Clarify a simple way to notice progress (a few indicators tied to your disciple definition) so your confidence can be based on visible fruit.
Seven Success Strategies ➞ How To Methods
The Fuel is God’s Word
The Goal is Application
God designed us from creation to understand the Bible. Brain Powered Bible reveals a reading method that will have folks engaged cover-to-cover, getting immediate value working with God’s learning design rather than against it. It’s like Bill Nye the Science guy meets the Bible!
The Definition is Simple
Making Disciples is Done Intentionally
Even if you are designing your own disciple making model, the proven “how tos” in this book may give you ideas that will supercharge your disciple making. The principles and methods have fueled thousands of disciple making efforts for individuals and churches.
Disciple Making Focuses on Individuals
Making Disciples is Done Along the Way
This free ebook introduces the Predictable Pathway. It’s fourteen, highly predictable steps that every believer takes as they mature. The beauty of the pathway is that you can know exactly where someone is and know exactly what to give them to get to the next step. It’s the simplest way to measure success and boost transformation.
Makeover Midday Meetups
Want to talk about your makeover plan? Join us (and others!) for a one-hour Makeover Meetup the first Tuesday of each month at noon.
- Want to go over your makeover report with a team member?
- Want to be greater at the one thing God called you to do?
- Are you an independent maker who needs a tribe?
- Just want to talk disciple making?
- Looking to get tips and tricks before you change things?
- Trying to get leadership buy in for something new?
- Need to avoid disrupting what's already working?
Makeover Meetups are for you! One of our experienced team members will be there to help you with whatever you’re working on—not to pitch you! See you there!
