Your Personalized Disciple Making Makeover
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You’re not starting from zero—you’re already investing in people and seeing decision-level change. If you clarify a simple definition and add a lightweight, intentional plan that produces consistent personal application (with small follow-up), you’ll raise your confidence and create the conditions for replication to emerge naturally over time.
Quick Snapshot
You’re actively trying to make disciples and you’re seeing real fruit in people making better decisions, but your process currently depends on Sundays, topical Scripture engagement, and occasional application. With medium confidence and no replication yet, your biggest opportunity is to simplify and strengthen the core pathway so it becomes personal, repeatable, and transferable.
What's Working Well
You’re already engaged in disciple making (not just talking about it), and you have enough traction to notice real-life decision change.
- You’re using Scripture as part of the process (even if mostly topical right now)
- You can point to a concrete outcome you’re seeing: people making better decisions
- You’re being honest about what is and isn’t built into your current approach
What May Be Challenging
Based on what you shared, the main constraints are clarity and consistency: your definition of a disciple is still fuzzy, you don’t have a written plan with next steps, and application is occasional and mostly general rather than personal. Disciple making also isn’t really happening outside Sunday connections, and you said relying on the Holy Spirit isn’t a consistent part of the process.
- Without a simple definition, it’s hard to know what you’re aiming for or how to tell when you’re “winning”
- Without consistent personal application, conversations can stay encouraging but not always transformative
- Without along-the-way follow-up, it’s difficult to build momentum toward replication
Why It Matters
If you can clarify a simple definition and build a repeatable application-focused pathway that extends beyond Sunday, you’ll increase the likelihood of lasting life change and set the conditions for disciples to begin discipling others—without needing a complicated structure or a major ministry overhaul.
— 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 shared that you’re actively trying to make disciples, but you don’t have a written plan, your definition of a disciple feels fuzzy, and most connections happen on Sundays with limited follow-up. The two highest-leverage moves are to clarify what “success” is (a simple definition) and to make disciple making intentionally repeatable (a simple plan with consistent personal application and follow-up). Together, these two strategies create a clear target and a clear path—so you can move from occasional fruit to steady, reproducible outcomes.
Make the Definition Simple and Shared
Based on what you shared, your definition of “a disciple” is still fuzzy, which makes it hard to aim your conversations, measure progress, and help others reproduce what you’re doing. A simple definition doesn’t need to be perfect—it just needs to be clear enough that you and the people you’re discipling know what you’re building toward.
- Write one sentence that defines a disciple in your context (keep it simple and concrete)
- Add 3–4 “signs of progress” that match your one-sentence definition (what you hope to see increasing)
- Use the definition at the start of your disciple-making time so it stays front-and-center
- When someone shares a win, connect it back to the definition (“that’s what growth looks like”)
- If you’re discipling a small group, ask them to repeat the definition in their own words and simplify it together
Build an Intentional Plan that Produces Personal Application
Based on what you shared, you’re seeing some application, but it’s occasional and mostly general, and disciple making doesn’t extend much beyond Sundays because everyone is busy. A simple, intentional plan can keep the process lightweight while still producing consistent, personal next steps and a bit of along-the-way follow-up that builds momentum.
- Choose a simple Bible reading plan approach for your group (even if you start with a short section, make it consistent)
- Each meeting, require one personal application step per person (small, specific, doable)
- End by scheduling one brief follow-up touchpoint (text or quick call) focused on the application step
- Keep a simple written outline for your meeting (Scripture, what God is saying, each person’s application, prayer)
- Identify a starter group of 3–4 people you’ll focus on most intentionally so the approach stays workable
- When ready, add one “reproducible step” each person can try (share Scripture + one application question with someone else)
What Success Looks Like
- You can state a one-sentence definition of a disciple, and the people you’re discipling can repeat it simply.
- People consistently leave with clear personal application steps tied to Scripture.
- You have a lightweight written plan for what you do each time you meet.
- Along-the-way follow-up becomes normal enough that growth doesn’t rely on Sundays alone.
Early Measurable Wins
- Draft your one-sentence definition of a disciple and use it at the start of each meeting.
- Have every person name one specific application step before the meeting ends.
- Start one simple follow-up habit: a single check-in message focused on that application step.
- Agree on a consistent Bible reading plan starting point so Scripture engagement isn’t only spontaneous or topical.
— 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!
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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.
- The Process Relies on the Holy Spirit: build in a brief, intentional moment to listen and respond to what the Spirit is prompting from the passage.
- The Focus is on Individuals: shift one key question from “What do we think?” to “What will you personally do?”
- The Process is Done Along the Way: add one predictable non-Sunday touchpoint that supports application.
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!
