Your Personalized Disciple Making Makeover

You’re not starting from zero—you’re already active, you have a method, and you’re seeing real life change. By clarifying what you mean by “disciple” and putting a simple written plan around a small group of people, you’ll gain confidence, create clearer next steps, and set the conditions for replication to begin in a grounded, sustainable way.

Quick Snapshot

Overall Disciple-Making Strength
0 / 35 · Early
You’re actively trying to make disciples and you already have a clear, repeatable method, but the core outcomes are inconsistent because application is only occasional, the definition of “disciple” is still fuzzy, and most of what happens stays in the group discussion setting. Right now, you’re looking for “lives change” as the main sign of progress, but you don’t yet have replication, clear measures, or much disciple making happening outside the meeting.

What's Working Well

You have real traction because you’re engaged in disciple making (not just talking about it), and you can articulate a method that feels clear to you. – You’re using Scripture through a consistent Bible reading plan moving through selected books of the Bible. – You’ve noticed meaningful life change, which shows God is at work even without a fully defined pathway. – Your approach is repeatable in the sense that it’s not random—you can describe what you do.

What May Be Challenging

The biggest constraints are that application isn’t consistently pulled out for each person, the aim is unclear because your disciple definition is fuzzy, and disciple making is mostly confined to group discussion rather than continuing between meetings. – No written plan or specific people in mind makes it hard to be intentional and to build toward replication. – Individual focus is low, so people can participate without leaving with a personal, concrete application step. – Making space to listen for and respond to the Holy Spirit is not a consistent part of your process, which can quietly turn disciple making into a human-led discussion rather than Spirit-led transformation.

Why It Matters

When disciple making is mostly a meeting-centered discussion with occasional application and an unclear end definition, it’s harder for people to mature in a repeatable way—and harder still for them to begin discipling others. Clarifying the target and tightening the application focus will help you move from “good conversations” toward steady transformation that can reproduce, while your Bible reading plan provides the content base to sustain growth 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 and . 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’re already active in disciple making and you have a method that feels clear, but right now the results are limited because there isn’t a defined target (what a disciple is) and there isn’t an intentional plan that names people and measurable next steps. These two strategies are highest leverage because they turn your clear method into a clear pathway: you’ll know what you’re building toward and you’ll know what you’re doing on purpose. When a simple definition and intentional plan work together, application becomes easier to aim, progress becomes easier to see, and replication becomes far more likely. The goal is a simple, steady next step you can implement immediately in your current group discussion setting.

Make the end definition simple and shared

Based on what you shared, your disciple making is held back most by the fact that your definition of “disciple” feels fuzzy—so even when good discussion happens, it’s hard to consistently aim for the same outcomes or know if you’re getting there. Practical helps: – Write one sentence that defines a disciple in your words (simple enough to repeat from memory). – Add 3–5 “markers” that make the definition observable (for example: patterns of life, relational posture, and response to Scripture). – Decide what “mature” means for your context so you can recognize growth beyond “it feels like lives are changing.” – Share the definition at the start of your next few meetings so the group knows what you’re building toward. – At the end of each meeting, ask: “Which part of our disciple definition does today’s Scripture strengthen, and what is one personal application step that matches it?”

Build an intentional, written plan with people and measures

Based on what you shared, you don’t currently have a written plan, specific people in mind, or clear indicators beyond general life change—so it’s difficult to focus your effort and nearly impossible to move toward replication. Practical helps: – Identify a small starter group of 3–4 people you will focus on intentionally (people who are available and willing to grow). – Write a simple plan for what you will do in each meeting: Bible reading plan check-in, one key insight, and one clear application step per person. – Add one measurable indicator you will track that connects to your disciple definition (not just participation). – Decide how you will invite each person to begin discipling someone else when they are ready (a simple next step, not a program). – Keep your plan lightweight: one page, clear next steps, reviewed briefly at the start and end of each meeting.

What Success Looks Like

– Everyone can clearly repeat a shared, simple definition of what a disciple is. – Each meeting ends with a clear personal application step tied to Scripture, not just general discussion. – You have a written plan with specific people in mind and at least one clear indicator you review regularly. – At least one person begins taking simple steps toward discipling someone else.

Early Measurable Wins

– Draft your one-sentence disciple definition and share it with your group. – Have each person state one personal application step before leaving, and follow up once to see if it happened. – Identify 3–4 people you will focus on and write them into a one-page plan. – Add one simple indicator you will track (connected to your definition), and review it briefly at the end of each meeting.

— 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. 

– Make “listen for and respond to the Holy Spirit” a normal part of your meeting flow, not an occasional add-on. – Increase individual focus by briefly helping each person apply Scripture to their real decisions. – Add one “along-the-way” touchpoint between meetings (a conversation or check-in that reinforces 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!

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!