Your Personalized Disciple Making Makeover

You’ve already done something significant: you’re actively making disciples and you’ve built a clear method. By tightening your definition over time, shifting your meeting from general discussion to consistent personal application, and adding a simple written plan with specific people in mind, you’ll be able to see progress more clearly—and you’ll feel your confidence grow because the fruit will become easier to recognize and reproduce.

Quick Snapshot

Overall Disciple-Making Strength
0 / 35 · Early
You’re actively trying to make disciples and you do have a clear, repeatable method, but right now most of the momentum is happening inside a discussion-based meeting. With application only happening occasionally, a fuzzy definition of “disciple,” and little follow-up outside the meeting, it makes sense that your confidence level feels low even though you’re seeing some life change.

What's Working Well

You’re not starting from scratch—you’ve already taken ownership of disciple making in an active way, and you’ve built a method that feels clear to you. That foundation matters because it gives you something you can now simplify, aim, and strengthen. – You’re actively engaged rather than waiting for a perfect setup. – You’re using a consistent Bible reading plan moving through selected books of the Bible. – You’ve already developed a method you can explain.

What May Be Challenging

Right now the biggest drag on fruitfulness is that the meeting is mostly general discussion, which makes it hard for each person to leave with clear application and for you to know what “success” looks like. On top of that, you shared that replication hasn’t happened yet, there isn’t follow-up outside the meeting, and Holy Spirit reliance is low—so the process can easily become meeting-centered and leader-dependent. – “Disciple” still feels fuzzy, which makes the end goal hard to aim at. – Application is occasional, so change can remain vague instead of specific. – No written plan or measurable indicators makes progress hard to track and reproduce.

Why It Matters

When disciple making stays mostly inside a weekly discussion and isn’t consistently tied to personal application and real-life follow-up, it becomes difficult for people to grow into disciple makers themselves. Clarifying the definition and shifting toward specific application with simple next steps will help you see clearer progress than “lives change,” and it will raise your confidence because you’ll be able to recognize maturity and multiplication as they 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 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

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

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 making disciples and you have a clear method, but the outcomes feel inconsistent because the process is still mostly meeting-centered and discussion-heavy, with only occasional application. The two highest-leverage upgrades for you are to strengthen The Goal is Application and Making Disciples is Done Intentionally, because these will turn general conversation into clear next steps and give you a simple way to aim your efforts at specific people. Together, they create forward motion: intentionality decides “who and where we’re going,” and application decides “what we do with God’s Word right now.” As you put these in place, you should start seeing clearer progress and growing confidence.

The Goal is Application

Based on what you shared, your meetings are mostly general discussion and application only happens occasionally, so it’s easy for people to leave encouraged but unchanged in specific ways. Shifting to consistent, personal application will move you from “good conversation” toward recognizable maturity. – End every meeting with one specific application decision per person (small, concrete, doable). – Ask one simple question that forces specificity, like “What will you do differently in the next 48 hours?” – Tie application directly to the Scripture from your selected-book Bible reading plan, not to general life advice. – Keep application individualized: “What does this mean for you?” rather than “What should we all do?” – Start the next meeting by asking, “How did your application go?” but keep it encouragement-focused, not a reporting system.

Making Disciples is Done Intentionally

Based on what you shared, you don’t currently have a written plan with specific people and next steps, which makes it hard to focus your energy and hard to see progress beyond “lives change.” A simple, written plan will give your clear method a clearer target and make disciple making easier to repeat. – Write down the names of 3–4 people you will invest in first (a small starter group). – Define the next steps for those people in one line each (for example: “meet weekly, read the same passages, end with one application step”). – Set two measurable indicators you’ll look for that fit your context (simple and observable). – Decide what “win” looks like for your next few meetings (so you can build momentum quickly). – Put your plan on one page so it stays usable and shareable.

What Success Looks Like

– Each person consistently leaves with a clear, personal application step connected to Scripture. – You have a simple written plan with specific people in mind and clear next steps. – Your confidence rises because you can name and observe growth indicators beyond a general sense of “life change.” – Early signs of replication begin to appear as people start taking ownership of applying Scripture and helping others do the same.

Early Measurable Wins

– End each meeting with one specific application step per person and capture it briefly (one sentence each). – Identify and write down your initial 3–4 people and schedule the next meeting(s) with them. – Add one “start here” maturity indicator you will watch for (for example: consistent application follow-through). – Replace one general discussion segment with a focused “What does this mean for you this week?” moment for each person.

— 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. 

– Increase individual focus by briefly tailoring application to each person rather than aiming for one group-level takeaway. – Strengthen “along the way” disciple making by adding lightweight follow-up outside the meeting (a short check-in tied to application). – Increase Holy Spirit reliance by intentionally making space for discernment and listening in how you choose application and next steps.

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!