Disciple-Making Training

How are you at making disciples?   What about your church?  Perhaps you have not given this much thought as of late,   But it is a very important question to consider.   That is, if you are a follower of Jesus.   If you are a Christian church.   For Jesus himself told us that this is what we as Christians and churches are to be all about.   Before he ascended into heaven Jesus commanded us to "go and make disciples of all nations...." (Matthew 28:19)   From this command, often called 'the great commission',  it is clear that disciples are not born;  disciples are made.   And you and I as followers of Jesus are called to make disciples.

In my work among CRCA churches it is clear that disciple-making is not a common practice with the majority of church members.  Church members (and church leaders) are faithful in attending worship, giving financially, and helping the hurting.   But there is little perennial thought or activity when it comes to making disciples.   Yet as churches we take the matter of the great commission seriously.   It is one of our core Biblical values in the CRCA.   You might want to check out:  making-disciples.  If Jesus commands disciple-making and we as churches value disciple-making, then we better have a strategy to train for disciple-making.   And we do.

In this series of blogs I have been looking at the nine specific strategies we have adopted of 'how' we will accomplish what God has called us as churches to be and to do.  Each of these strategies is critical to the accomplishment of our mission and vision.  We have already looked at the strategy of coaching for all pastors.   We now are looking at the strategy of training.   Last week we looked at the strategy for evangelism training.   In this blog we will look at how we train strategically for disciple-making using both internal and external resources. 

Within the CRCA we have identified two key tasks that will help us realise our fundamental aim of reaching the lost for Christ.   These two tasks are GROW and TRAIN.  While evangelism naturally falls under GROW, disciple-making falls under TRAIN.   The mandate of TRAIN (in part) is to 'equip our church members to be disciples of Christ.'  To be a disciple of Jesus implies following in his footsteps (1 Peter 2:21), imitating his way of life (I Thessalonians 1:6).   When Jesus tells us to make disciples he is simply telling us to do what he had done during this three years of public ministry.   Jesus made disciples by selecting a few people into whom he poured his life.   We are to do likewise.

To equip our church members to be and make disciples the TRAIN Workgroup developed the Discipleship Matrix. The Discipleship Matrix has been designed as a tool to stimulate growth in disciples. The primary use of the Discipleship Matrix is for self assessment.  As you interact with the questions and interactions outlined in The Matrix, you will be encouraged to move on in your Christian faith and life and to take the next steps toward growth.   You will be challenged to consider what steps God might want you to take to move ahead as you follow him.   If you have not yet checked out this online resource, I encourage you to do so.   You can begin here.

This online tool is an easy step-by-step journey of spiritual growth based on your understanding of where you are in your walk of faith.   Simply choose from Exploring, Believing, Developing, or Multiplying and follow the links.   You will be given suggested Scripture passages and other resources to read, reflect on, and study.   Imagine doing the Discipleship Matrix with another person.   You can use this Matrix to support, encourage, and further challenge others to growth.   If you use this tool for making disciples, simply go to the Mentor-Matrix.   It is just a click away.

In addition to the Discipleship Matrix, as a denomination we are encouraging churches to utilize two excellent external resources.   There is the Way discipleship material developed by the RTC.   A number of churches have already done the foundational course on discipleship.   This foundational course on discipleship is made up of 4 units, dealing with various central issues regarding the Christian life.   It is getting back-to-the-basics but doing it right!    If your church still has not taken your church members through this foundational course, I encourage you to do so.   

The other resource is the Vine Project.  The vision of Vinegrowers is "shaping the ministry culture of churches around disciple-making."   This ministry mind-shift changes everything.  The Vine Project shows how that mind-shift can and must shape every aspect of what you are doing as a congregation of Christ’s people to make disciples of all nations.  A growing number of our churches have used the Vine Project to help embed a culture of disciple-making in the local church.   Perhaps this is something your church needs to consider as well.

Disciple-making is at the heart of the mission that Jesus has given us, captured in the CRCA vision to be a church reforming to reach the lost for Christ.   But we all need training to do this well.   Jesus trained his disciples to be and make disciples.   And we need to do the same.   For this reason the CRCA is committed to train strategically for disciple-making.