Your Personalized Disciple Making Makeover
Doug Burrier
You’re not starting from nothing—you already have Scripture engagement through a Bible reading plan and a method you can explain, which is a meaningful foundation. If you focus on personal application and a simple, shared definition of a disciple, you’ll likely feel your confidence rise quickly because progress will become clearer and more repeatable.
Quick Snapshot
You’re currently making disciples informally, with Scripture present through a consistent Bible reading plan moving through selected books of the Bible, but you feel low confidence that the approach is producing mature disciples. You have a method you can explain, yet application is not a consistent focus and most connection outside meetings is casual.
What's Working Well
You already have several foundational pieces in place: you’re engaging Scripture, you’re actually meeting with people (even informally), and you can describe a method rather than starting from zero.
- You’re anchored to Scripture through a consistent Bible reading plan focused on selected books.
- You have enough process clarity to explain what you do.
- You’re watching for life change, which shows you care about transformation, not just information.
What May Be Challenging
Based on what you shared, the biggest constraints right now are that application tends to stay general (so change is harder to translate into daily decisions) and the definition/finish line is only partially clear (so it’s hard to aim everyone at the same outcomes). You also described no written plan with specific people and next steps, no replication yet, mostly casual contact outside meetings, and that reliance on the Holy Spirit is not a consistent part of your process.
- Without a clear “this is what we’re forming,” progress can feel like “their lives change?” rather than a repeatable pathway.
- Without consistent personal application, meetings can feel helpful but not catalytic.
- Without an “along-the-way” pattern, disciple making can get limited to scheduled time together.
Why It Matters
When disciple making stays informal and mostly meeting-centered, it’s easy for momentum to depend on personality and good intentions rather than a simple, repeatable pathway. Clarifying the definition and moving from general discussion to specific application will raise your confidence, make outcomes easier to recognize, and create conditions where replication can eventually emerge.
— 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 Making Disciples is Done Intentionally. 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 disciple making is happening, but it’s informal, mostly general in application, and you’re not confident it’s producing mature disciples yet. The two highest-leverage next moves are to (1) make application specific and personal, and (2) clarify a simple definition of a disciple so you know what you’re aiming to form and can recognize progress. Together, these two changes turn good conversations into life-shaping decisions and give you a clear finish line that makes disciple making easier to repeat and eventually multiply.
Make Application Specific and Personal
Based on what you shared, you already have Scripture in the mix through a Bible reading plan, but application is low and discussion/application tends to remain general, which makes lasting change harder to translate into real decisions.
- End every meeting with one specific application step per person that is doable before you meet again.
- Ask, “What would it look like to apply this in your relationships, schedule, money, or thought life this week?”
- Keep it personal: one person, one situation, one next step.
- Begin your next meeting by letting each person briefly share what they tried and what happened (no shaming, just learning).
- If you’re in a group setting, take 5 minutes for each person to name their own application rather than agreeing on one group application.
Clarify a Simple Definition of a Disciple (and the Finish Line)
Based on what you shared, you do have a method you can explain, but your definition of a disciple is not clear yet, which makes it difficult to know what “success” is beyond noticing general life change.
- Write a one-sentence definition of a disciple you’ll use consistently (clear enough to repeat from memory).
- List 4–6 observable indicators that would make you say, “This person is maturing” (keep them practical and relational, not academic).
- Connect each indicator to a Scripture anchor you’re already reading through in your selected books.
- Choose 3–4 people you’ll focus on first, and write the next two meeting goals for each person.
- Use those indicators to shape what you pray for and what you ask about, so progress becomes easier to recognize.
What Success Looks Like
- Each person leaves with a clear, personal application step tied to Scripture, not just a good discussion.
- You can state a one-sentence definition of a disciple and use it to guide your meetings.
- You can describe simple indicators of growth beyond “their lives change?” and see them increasing.
- Over time, at least one person begins taking first steps toward discipling someone else.
Early Measurable Wins
- A written one-sentence disciple definition and 4–6 growth indicators you actually use.
- Every meeting ends with one personal application step per participant that is concrete and time-bound.
- You start focusing on a small starter group of 3–4 people with clearly stated next steps.
- You capture a simple “before/after” story of application from at least one person (what they applied and what changed).
— 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.
- Build in a simple, consistent moment where you intentionally ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and help people respond.
- Add one planned touchpoint outside the meeting (a short check-in conversation) to move from casual contact to along-the-way disciple making.
- Tighten success measurement by reviewing your 4–6 indicators occasionally and noting what’s actually increasing.
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!
