Your Personalized Disciple Making Makeover

You’re not starting from zero—you’re already engaging in disciple making, you have a method, and Scripture is present through a Bible reading plan in selected books. The shift now is to make disciple making more personal, more intentional, and more connected to real life outside the meeting so you can see clearer progress and move toward replication. If you implement just these near-term changes, your confidence should rise because the process will become clearer, simpler to follow, and easier to repeat.

Quick Snapshot

Overall Disciple-Making Strength
0 / 35 · Early
You’re actively trying to make disciples and you do have a clear method, but the way it’s showing up right now is mostly general discussion with low emphasis on personal application. Scripture is present through a Bible reading plan that moves through selected books, yet you’re not seeing replication and most disciple making is staying inside the meeting. Because your definition of “a disciple” still feels fuzzy and you don’t have a written plan with clear next steps, your confidence is low.

What's Working Well

You’ve already taken meaningful initiative by actively engaging in disciple making and by having a method you consider clear rather than starting from scratch. Also, your Scripture engagement is anchored in a Bible reading plan through selected books, which gives you a strong foundation to build on. – You’re already showing up to lead, not just talk about disciple making. – You have a method (and it feels clear to you). – You’re using a Bible reading plan through selected books of the Bible.

What May Be Challenging

Right now the biggest drag on fruitfulness is that your conversations are staying general—so people may leave encouraged, but without a clear personal next step to apply. The lack of a clear definition of “disciple,” combined with no written plan and limited disciple making outside meetings, makes it hard to aim the process and hard to know whether it’s working beyond “lives change.” – Low emphasis on personal application during discussions. – No written plan with clear next steps or specific people in mind. – No replication yet, and little happening outside meetings.

Why It Matters

When disciple making stays mostly inside a meeting and remains mostly general, it’s difficult for people to grow into self-feeding disciples who apply Scripture in real situations and eventually help someone else do the same. Clarifying what you mean by “a disciple” and re-centering your method around personal application will raise your confidence because you’ll be able to see clearer progress—and it will make replication more likely over time.

— 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 Definition is Simple. 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

Partially Implemented

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

Partially Implemented

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

Not A Consistent Focus

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

Not A Consistent Focus

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

Not A Consistent Focus

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

Not A Consistent Focus

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

Not A Consistent Focus

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 actively trying to make disciples and you already have a method that feels clear, but you’re not seeing replication and most of what happens is general discussion with low confidence that it’s producing mature disciples. The highest-leverage shift for you is to move from general conversation to clear, personal application that results in concrete next steps. At the same time, you need a simple written plan that names who you’re investing in and what the next few steps are, so the work doesn’t stay vague or only meeting-based. These two strategies work together: intentionality gives direction, and application gives traction.

Increase personal application (not just discussion)

Based on what you shared, your meetings tend to stay general and application emphasis is low, which makes it hard for people to leave with a clear next step and hard for you to gauge progress beyond “lives change.” The fastest way to strengthen outcomes is to make personal application the normal destination of every Scripture conversation. – End every discussion with one personal application question: “What is one specific step you will take before we meet again?” – Ask for one “why this matters to me” sentence from each person, not just group conclusions. – Keep application specific: who, what, when, where (simple and doable). – Track next steps lightly: write down each person’s one step so you can follow up once. – In the meeting, invite 1–2 people to share how last time’s step went (keep it brief and encouraging, not a reporting loop).

Make disciple making intentional with a simple written plan

Based on what you shared, you don’t have a written plan with clear next steps or specific people in mind, and disciple making isn’t really happening outside meetings—so momentum depends heavily on the weekly meeting. A simple written plan will raise your confidence and create the structure needed for consistency and eventual replication. – Identify a starter group of 3–4 people you will focus on first. – Write one sentence describing the aim of your disciple making in plain language (even if it’s imperfect—make it usable). – Decide the next selected book(s) in your Bible reading plan and how often you’ll discuss what you’re reading. – Add one touchpoint outside the meeting (a short call, coffee, or message) focused on the person’s application step. – Choose one simple milestone you want to see in each person (for example: completing the reading plan section, taking consistent application steps, starting to encourage someone else).

What Success Looks Like

– Discussions consistently land in specific personal application steps for each person. – You have a simple written plan with specific people in mind and clear next steps. – Disciple making begins to extend outside the meeting through brief follow-up connected to application. – Early signs of replication emerge as someone you’re investing in begins helping another person take Scripture-based next steps.

Early Measurable Wins

– Each meeting ends with every person naming one concrete application step they will take before the next meeting. – You write down the names of 3–4 people you’re intentionally focusing on and document your next two meetings’ focus (book/section and application aim). – You do at least one outside-the-meeting follow-up tied to a person’s application step. – You capture one simple indicator of progress beyond “lives change” (for example: number of people taking a specific step, consistency of follow-up, or one person beginning to encourage someone else).

— 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!

print your makeover report

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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 reliance on the Holy Spirit by intentionally making space to listen and respond during your disciple-making conversations. – Clarify what “disciple” means in your context so success is easier to recognize and reproduce. – Keep building consistency in your Bible reading plan so Scripture stays central and shared across your group.

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!

Welcome to your

Disciple Making Makeover

Your Makeover Webpage is permanent. You may want to save a bookmark so you can revisit or share with your staff or fellow disciple makers.

You can also print a version if you want a pdf or actual paper to mark up. There’s a print button in the last section!

If you have questions or encounter a problem, feel free to reach out to us by email. We do our best to answer the same business day!

You're Important to Us!

We’ve trained this model with thousands of tests to do exactly what we do in a live Makeover. We’d love to know…

How helpful was your makeover?

We understand that sometimes things just don’t go as expected. If your makeover didn’t meet your expectations, we’ll meet with you personally. And if we can’t make it right—we’ll refund your investment!