5 Lessons for Disciplemakers

[featured_image] I feel compelled to keep on emphasizing this truth: “We don’t start churches to make disciples. We start churches by making disciples.”

I planted a church in 1990 in Southern California and now I train and coach church planters. As I’ve worked with new churches, I’m more convinced that churches need to be started by disciplemakers.

I wrote the book Six-Word Lessons to Discover Missional Living to encourage every believer to align with Jesus’ mission. If you are called to start a church or be part of a church planting team, I want to encourage you to keep the main thing the main thing: the mission and message of Jesus!

Here are five of the 100 lessons from the book which focus on Disciplemaking:

Lesson 5: Discipleship starts with non-disciples, not Christians. Too often people think “discipleship” is for new Christians. When Jesus said, “Go and make disciples,” He didn’t mean to find those who are already followers and help them follow better. He sends us to make disciples of non-disciples.

Lesson 8: Key to multiplying disciples: obedient Christians. Jesus told His disciples to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples who… (Matt 28:19-20). You’re a disciple of Jesus today because of Christians who obeyed Jesus. There’ll be more Christians and more churches when more Christians obey Jesus.

Lesson 9: Making disciples is not an option. Obeying the Great Commission is not optional. Jesus expected His disciples to “make disciples.” And that’s what they did. So how is it that so many Christians treat Christ’s commands as optional? Why is disobedience tolerated in so many churches?

Lesson 11: Jesus’ method was to multiply disciplemakers. Jesus was a disciplemaker. He launched a movement of disciplemakers. Are you part of the movement? Are you a disciplemaker? How are you multiplying disciplemakers?

Lesson 15: Reproduce disciples to the 4th generation. Neil Cole notes, “Don’t call it multiplication until it reaches the fourth generation.” Anything prior to that is addition. Unless those whom you are discipling are actually discipling others who are making disciples, you are not multiplying.