Your Personalized Disciple Making Makeover

First Church of Whoville

Created for Doug Burrier
You already have meaningful building blocks—Scripture engagement through a Bible reading plan, some replication, and at least some openness to the Holy Spirit. The next step isn’t disruption; it’s clarity and alignment: a simple shared definition, a repeatable method, and a few intentional aims that ministries can rally around. As that becomes consistent, your church’s confidence will grow because disciple making will feel less accidental and more dependable.

Quick Snapshot

Overall Disciple-Making Strength
0 / 35 · Early
Your church has some informal disciple making happening, and you even see replication at times, but it isn’t yet built on a clear, shared process. Scripture is present through a consistent Bible reading plan that moves through selected books, yet many groups lean discussion-heavy with mixed follow-through into application. With senior-leader modeling limited and priorities mixed, it’s understandable that your confidence in current outcomes is low.

What's Working Well

You have several important ingredients already in play that you can build on without “blowing up” what’s currently working. – A consistent Bible reading plan through selected books of the Bible – Some replication is already happening – Openness to the Holy Spirit is present at least sometimes in how leaders guide people

What May Be Challenging

The biggest drag on momentum is that people don’t share one clear disciple-making method and target, so discussion can replace a repeatable pathway that consistently leads to application. – Senior-leader modeling is limited and leadership priorities are mixed (your senior pastor isn’t focused on actual disciple making) – “Making a disciple” is only partially defined, and there isn’t a clear method leaders can replicate – Disciple making mostly stays in meetings rather than continuing along the way in everyday life

Why It Matters

When a church doesn’t have a simple, shared process, disciple making tends to depend on individual leaders’ personalities and group dynamics—so results feel unpredictable and confidence stays low. The good news is you don’t need a disruptive overhaul to strengthen outcomes; you need a unified, simple pathway that clarifies what you’re aiming for and helps leaders consistently guide people from Scripture to application in real life. That kind of clarity also reduces fear of disruption because it gives ministries a common “spine” while letting them keep their distinct strengths.

— 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 Process Relies on the Holy Spirit. 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

Strong Alignment

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

Not A Consistent Focus

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

Partially Implemented

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

Partially Implemented

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

Partially Implemented

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

Partially Implemented

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 seeing informal disciple making and even some replication, but leaders don’t share a clear method or a simple definition of what “success” looks like, and groups often default to discussion with mixed application. That combination naturally produces low confidence because outcomes feel hit-or-miss. The highest-leverage move is to define a simple, shared disciple-making pathway and then make it intentional with clear aims that leaders can actually execute. Together, these two shifts turn what you already have (Bible reading plan + willing leaders) into a reliable, repeatable process that can spread across ministries without unnecessary disruption.

Clarify a simple, shared disciple-making definition and method

Based on what you shared, the lack of a clear method (and only partial clarity on what a “disciple” looks like) is a primary reason discussion replaces consistent, measurable growth. A simple shared method gives leaders something they can confidently lead, reproduce, and align around—even when senior-leader modeling is limited. – Draft a one-sentence definition of a “well-made disciple” that your leaders can repeat consistently. – Create a simple, leader-led meeting flow that always includes: Bible reading plan check-in, a key Scripture insight, a clear application decision, and a brief prayer for Spirit-led help. – Write a one-page “leader guide” that explains the method in plain language (no jargon, no long training manual). – Standardize one application question leaders ask every time (for example: “What will you apply before we meet again?”). – Add a simple way to capture outcomes (one sentence per person: Scripture, application, and next step) without turning it into an accountability-report loop.

Make disciple making intentional with clear, shared aims

Based on what you shared, leadership priorities are mixed and there isn’t one unified pathway, which makes disciple making optional rather than central and consistent. Intentionality doesn’t require a disruptive replacement of ministries; it provides a shared aim and a small set of measurable targets that ministries can align to. – Identify a small pilot group of 3–4 leaders who will model the pathway first and refine it before broader rollout. – Set one simple near-term aim everyone can agree on (for example: “Every group will end with a specific application step tied to the Bible reading plan”). – Define 2–3 measurable indicators that reflect disciple making (not attendance), such as: application steps taken, along-the-way conversations happening, and new leaders starting the process. – Create a lightweight alignment moment with ministry leaders to explain the pathway as a “spine” that supports what’s already working. – Reduce disruption fear by naming what will not change (ministries can keep their strengths) while clarifying what will unify (definition, method, and aims).

What Success Looks Like

– Leaders across ministries can clearly explain what a disciple is and can lead the same simple process without confusion. – Groups consistently move from the Bible reading plan to specific application decisions rather than staying at general discussion. – Disciple making increasingly happens along the way through brief follow-up and real-life encouragement, not only in meetings. – Confidence rises because outcomes are clearer, more measurable, and less dependent on which leader or group someone joins.

Early Measurable Wins

– Pilot leaders use the same 1-page method guide in every gathering and report whether they followed each step. – Each participant identifies one specific application step connected to the Scripture they’re reading in the Bible reading plan. – Each leader has at least one short along-the-way follow-up conversation with a participant between meetings. – You capture 2–3 simple indicators from the pilot (application taken, follow-up happening, and whether anyone is ready to lead the method).

— 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 “Along the Way” by normalizing short check-ins between meetings (encouragement, prayer, and next application). – Strengthen “Individual Focus” by ensuring leaders ask for personal application from each person, not only group-level takeaways. – Protect “The Fuel is God’s Word” by keeping the Bible reading plan central as the common thread across ministries.

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!