What will it take to refocus your ministry on discipleship?

Discipleship and evangelism veterans help church re-think how they fulfill the “Great Commission.”

 Grand Rapids, Mich., March, 2013 – Over the last thirty years, many influential church leaders and church planters in America have adopted various models for reaching unchurched people. An “attractional” model will seek to attract people to a local church. Younger leaders may advocate a more “missional” approach, in which believers live and work among unchurched people and intentionally seek to serve like Christ. While each of these approaches have merit, something is still missing, something even more fundamental to the mission of the church: discipleship.

Making disciples—helping people to trust and follow Jesus—is the church’s God-given mandate. Devoted disciples attract people outside the church because of the change others see in their Christ-like lives. And discipleship empowers Christians to be more like Christ as they intentionally develop relationship with non-believers.

Two pioneers of modern discipleship ministry – Jim Putman & Bobby Harrington – along with a veteran evangelism expert – Robert E. Coleman – walk you through five key “shifts” that churches must make to refocus on the biblical mission of discipleship. These intentional changes will attract the world and empower your church members to be salt and light in their communities.

Question:  Vince, you’re new book is called “Renegade: Your Faith Isn’t Meant To Be Safe.”  What is a renegade?

Vince:  A renegade is a person who rejects conventional behavior, who refuses to do what others are doing, and who realizes there’s a different beat they can dance to—and it’s better. Renegades realize “normal” isn’t working for anyone else, nor is it working for them. So they abandon normal to find right.

Question: What is the theme of Renegade?

Vince:  How to have true intimacy with Jesus so you can have true influence in the world.  You know, we all like to play it safe, and so we fall into living normal lives. But I believe God calls us to play it dangerous. In this book I’m challenging people to go against the norm and take the risks faith requires. I also provide some very practical ideas to help overcome our fears.

Question:  One of the more controversial things you say in the book is that growth is not the point. What do you mean by that?

Vince:  Yeah, we think our relationship with God is all about growth, don’t we? That’s what everyone talks about. “Are you growing spiritually?” “I want to find a church that can help me grow.” But the question is not “How do I grow?” When you think about it, that’s actually a self-indulgent question, and God’s plan for our lives has never been about self-indulgence. It’s not about growth, it’s about love. Jesus said the two greatest things are loving God and loving people. The surprise is that loving God and loving people happen to be what cause us to grow. But growth isn’t the point—love is.

Question:  You’ve started two churches, Forefront in Virginia Beach and now Verve in the heart of Las Vegas. How did your life as a church planter come into play in this new book?

Vince:  Well, this book is all about risk-taking, and church planting is all about risk-taking. And there are a bunch of stories in the book of lives that have been radically changed in our church plant. In fact, the book opens with a story about an angry atheist who tried to destroy our new church in Vegas. And this book is really a call to radical discipleship, which is something I think all church planters want to see happen in their churches.

Question:  Where can people get Renegade?

Vince: You can purchase it on Amazon. And we’ve created a Renegade church campaign, with all the resources available for free at www.vinceantonucci.com. You can also get cases of the book at 50% off for a church campaign!

A couple of weeks ago, church planter and author, Sean Benesh, reached out to me with his new book, The Bikeable Church.  The book explores the world of cycling in Portland and what it would be like to plant pedal powered churches.  The idea is intriguing and in align with much of the activity around planting missional churches.  It takes my attempts at evangelism one step further and looks at planting a church in the context of what you share in common.  I’d say the approach is very incarnational.  I haven’t read it yet, but I thought the idea was so good, I wanted to share it.  Here is an summary that Sean sent. At only $2.99 on Amazon, it’s certainly worth a try.

The Bikeable Church: A Bicyclist’s Guide to Church Planting is an off-the-cuff look and exploration into the bicycling world in Portland. More than that, it pokes and prods church planting in the urban petri dish to discover what it’d be like to plant pedal-powered churches. Chalked full of stories, antics, and slightly questionable research, The Bikeable Church spins forward the church planting revolution in light of the changing transportation infrastructure in cities like Portland, and asks whether we can truly start churches where the primary vehicle of use is the bicycle. This book is for the everyday bicyclist and ordinary church planter. You’ll be happy to hear that no spandex was worn for the writing of this book.

Here’s three reasons why foyer space is important in a church plant facility:

1. It’s All About Relationships.  New churches value relationships.  Connecting people is crucial to retaining them.  While many people are beginning to connect to new churches through missional communities and outreach events, the Sunday morning worship gathering is still the primary front door to the church.  Lives are changed not just in the service, but also at the One-on-One relational opportunities in the foyer before and after the service.  Foyers need these One-on-One conversation spots created by groups of two or three chairs and couches, like a bunch of little living rooms spread out around the foyer.
2. To Close the Deal.  This is the place to have direct interaction with guests both before and after the service.  The worship service is one-way communication.  The foyer is your opportunity for two-way communication.  I believe the saying “Have a good week, see you next Sunday!” has a greater impact on someone making a second visit than saying “Hi” before the service.  The foyer is where you close the deal.
3. To Prevent Traffic Jams.  This comes most into play when a church has multiple services, where you have people in a service and people waiting in the foyer, and you have to move people in and out of both areas simultaneously.  These traffic paths can’t exist in the same space as the folks standing around talking between services.  It’s also important to think through placement.  If you have a children’s wing where everyone will be going to check in their kids, don’t put your coffee table in that area.  You’ll create a traffic jam.

So how much foyer space do you need?  I turned to Chris Davenport of Visioneering Studios to get an answer to that question.  Chris suggested that foyer space is calculated at 7-9sf/person.  Basically, it shouldn’t be any smaller than half the size of the auditorium.

In practice, this can be tough for new churches renting facilities as not all facilities are created with foyers in mind.  What have you done to get creative and create relational hang out space when your main foyer is limited?

From my time working with Ron, I always knew he took discipleship very seriously.  So it’s not surprising to me that one of the byproducts of mobilizing volunteers in the community to serve kids is discpling relationship with pre-Christians.  If you are a church planter looking to make an impact in the community, gain credibility through service and establish discipling relationships with pre-Christians, then you need to check out Generosity::Feeds.

The 2013 Exponential conference is underway. This year, Exponential expects more than 5,000 church planting leaders to come together in Orlando, April 22-25. The conference will focus on the theme DiscipleShift—five shifts we can make to become better at making and releasing disciples.

All 15 of the Main Session speakers will explore in-depth what it means to be a disciple and how we can continue to grow and get better at engaging people with the mission of Jesus. Each of the sessions will focus on one of these five shifts. Recently, Exponential released an article tackling each shift in-depth. Based on the insights of Exponential President Dave Ferguson, who also leads NewThing and Community Christian Church, Real Life Ministries and Founder Jim Putman, who in his new book DiscipleShift, has identified these shifts, the Exponential gathering will again be packed with an abundance of “aha” learnings for planters. Check out the shortened version below. (To read the full thing, go here).

5 Crucial Disciples-Making Shifts

Shift 1: From Reaching to Making

The first of these five paradigm shifts moves churches from defining ourselves by what we do to what we actually accomplish, Putman says. “We need to shift our focus from reaching people with the Gospel in an effort to convert them, to making disciples.”

The end goal is not that a person “accepts Christ” or prays a prayer or comes to church but rather that he grows spiritually, becoming more like Christ.

Making this shift requires us to agree on the definition of what a mature disciple is who Ferguson says is “apprenticing in the ways of Jesus.”

“As humans we know what a mature person ends up looking like and doing. What does a mature disciple look like then?” Putman asks, adding that often church leaders don’t define if for their people, which in turn gives each person carte blanch to come up with his or her own definition.

“This is a real problem if we are going to be a team that works together to complete the mission of Christ. We need to ask the question together as a body. If that definition doesn’t end up looking like one who is following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and is committed to the mission of Jesus, then we have a definition with holes in it.”

Shift 2: From Teaching to Modeling

This second shift involves an inward look at how transparency and genuine discipleship is produced and modeled from the top down. This shift calls for leaders to change their focus from preaching/teaching (informing) to modeling and coaching (equipping). Too many church leaders today equate discipleship with imparting knowledge. This shift to coaching emphasizes the ministry of “equipping” (based on Eph. 4:11-13). Instead of primarily viewing themselves as a CEO, or even a teacher, senior pastors view themselves as a player-coach who equips (or coaches) others for ministry to ultimately grow the Kingdom.

Putman points out that Jesus discipled people in relationship, not in preaching to thousands of people. ‘I used to be a teacher and coach,” he says. “Teachers know that the larger the classroom, the more you’re forced to lecture and the less learning. Why is it that every good teacher would hate what every pastor thinks they want?”

Ferguson agrees, adding that the job of leadership is not to just get up on Sunday and talk about following Jesus. “I have to be apprenticed in the ways of Jesus and bring people alongside me and apprentice them in the same way. That’s how you get people who are on mission.”

Shift 3: From Attending to Participating

This third shift challenges leaders to shift their mindset from discipleship as a program in their church that people attend to discipleship as the center and purpose of everything the church is and does, Putman explains, adding that leaders must let people know that discipleship is dependent on participating in the endless process of following Christ.

Ferguson simplifies things: “We start to transition our thinking from discipleship as a class or program we attend on the weekend or one night a week, to something every believer actively participates in Monday through Sunday.”

Shift 4: From Connecting to Transforming

This shift is a call for churches to move their paradigms from activity-based to relationship-based. Beyond just classes and sermons, discipleship must be based on friendship and time together. To cultivate the kind of disciples Jesus did, we have to shift our paradigm from activity and surface connections to deep, accountable relationships.

Putman also refers to this shift as the “alignment” piece: Everything in a church must be shifted to divert the focus from activity and align it with relationships (for discipleship). A church’s primary mission is always discipleship, cultivated in a relationship-driven environment. The end goal of this shift, he says, is to create relational spaces, like Jesus did, where people help each other to trust and follow Him.

Ferguson adds, “It’s not enough to be in a holy huddle. I’ve had long conversations about the fact that it’s not enough to get people into a small group. A small group community was designed to also implement and live out the mission of Jesus.”

Shift 5: From Attracting to Deploying

The final shift helps churches define, articulate and implement a new scorecard for success that celebrates and places more emphasis on the release of an army of ministers and priests into a lost and hurting world than on how many people we attract.

Putman offers a list of telling questions for church leaders:

What is success to me?

What is success to our leaders?

How did they learn that definition?

What are we celebrating?

What do people in our churches aspire to?

“If we’re honest, we know we’re celebrating many of the wrong things,” he says. “Or we’re celebrating just some of the right things so our people are aspiring to, especially our young leaders, a church with thousands of people. I’m all for numbers of converts, but those aren’t the right numbers alone. We should be counting and asking the question, how many disciples have I made who can make disciples without me?

“I love how Rob Wegner [pastor of life mission for Granger Community Church] talks about mission for Granger,” Ferguson says. “They want to be seen as an airport. Nobody goes to an airport to hang out there; you come to an airport because you’re going someplace. That’s how our churches should be, too. We’re not just attracting people to hold you here. We’re sending you somewhere because God’s on the move and He’s sending you somewhere.”

Missional people + Multiplying churches = Missional movement

The collective impact of each of these paradigm shifts leads to developing people who are on mission, a key factor in the church as movement, say both leaders. Ferguson explains why discipleship is integral to a reproducing movement of disciples by offering a simple equation: Missional people + Multiplying churches = Missional movement.

How church leaders get every person engaged with and excited about living out Jesus’ mission is at the crux of the discipleship conversation that Exponential is championing and helping to shape.

“Biblically, discipleship is a non-negotiable part of Christ’s mission,” Putman asserts. “In Christ’s teaching, as well as throughout the epistles, we are consistently instructed to proclaim, baptize and teach—all toward the end of making lifelong, die-hard disciples of Jesus Christ who obey His commands. This type of discipleship needs to become the filter for everything we do in church.

This year, Exponential is April 22-25. If you’re thinking about or planning to attend the conference, the deadline is coming up to get the best rate possible–$99 registrant/$49 spouse. After Sept. 7, the rate goes up. So you might want to register in the next week or so. To register, go here.

I believe though that the most effective way of imprinting these values in the DNA of the church is through sharing stories of people living these values out.  I’ve had the honor in the last two years of working with two planters who really understand this and effectively shape their church through story.  More than any sermon preached, more than any finely crafted statements, values are best shared through story.  The average person may not understand what the value of multiplication means for their everyday life, but shared through story they will see it lived out and have a tangible example of what it means.

Here’s a great example of what I’m talking from Lakepoint Church in Muskego, WI.

Super Soaker Sunday – Lakepoint Church

The book was written more than 20 years ago but was updated and released again in the Spring of 2012.   Dillon rightfully points out that the fear of fundraising can be diminished, but not eliminated altogether.  Many rookie fund raisers get an icky feeling asking people for money.  It starts with what Dillon would call an inaccurate belief that you are asking people to give some of their money.  The correct belief is that you are inviting people to give back to God some of His resources for His work (1 Chronicles 29:14-16).  It may sound like semantics, but the beliefs and attitudes we have about fundraising will impact our actions.

While the book is very practical and lies out an easy to follow strategy for raising funds for ministry, the heart of the book is relationships.  Fundraising is developing relationships with donors.  If you approach them like dollar signs, you’ll likely have limited success.  Approach them like people, created in the image of God and part of the same mission to make disciples of all people and you’ll results will be different.  Just as important the time you spend fundraising will be enjoyable and a natural extension of your ministry.

If you are raising funds for ministry, then I’d encourage you to pick up a copy of this book.  You’ll find it’s a great ministry tool and will help you raise funds in a way that you can celebrate and enjoy.

Shift 1: From Reaching to Making

We need to shift to a clear definition of “disciple,” and then ask if our church is making that kind of person. It’s not enough to reach people if we are not making biblical disciples.

Shift 2: From Teaching to Modeling

Discipleship begins with pastors and church leaders shifting their view of discipleship from classes toward a discipleship lifestyle. As leaders, we must intentionally model what it looks like to follow Jesus and lead others to do the same.

Shift 3: From Attending to Participating

Discipleship cannot simply be a program or a ministry we offer and people attend. We have to shift discipleship back to the center of our churches, making it the purpose of everything we do and let people know that discipleship is dependent on participating in the endless process of following Christ.

Shift 4: From Connecting to Transforming

Beyond just classes and sermons, discipleship must be based on friendship and time together. To cultivate the kind of disciples Jesus did, we have to shift our paradigm from activity and surface connections to deep, accountable relationships.

Shift 5: From Attracting to Deploying

Jesus was much more concerned with the 12 men He invested in than the thousands He taught. Shifting our scorecard from how many people we gather to how many disciples we deploy is essential.

This year, Exponential is April 22-25. If you’re thinking about or planning to attend the conference, the deadline is coming up to get the best rate possible–$99 registrant/$29 spouse. After July 20, the rate goes up. Go sign up now before the price increases.  You’ll love the conference and even if you don’t you’ll love Orlando in April.

If Facebook profile pic changes, then update Twitter profile pic.

If I receive a new follow on Twitter, then tweet “Thanks for the follow.”

If I’m tagged in a Facebook photo, then add the photo to Dropbox.

If I star a blog in Google Reader, then add it to Evernote.

The possibilities for creating recipes are nearly endless.  This level of automation is very handy.  Here are a couple of ideas for maximizing this tool for church planting.

If “name of church” is mentioned on Twitter, then email me the Tweet.

If “name of item” is posted on Craigslist, then email me the post.

If my Facebook status is updated, then Tweet my FB status.

Tweet with #FB hashtag to post to Facebook without the hashtag.

There are lot of useful recipes already created and ready for you to browse on the site.  Check it out and save yourself a little time by using this handy tool.