Jesus commanded us to make disciples who make disciples. We can make disciples formally and informally. In formal discipleship you need to consider all that you want people to:
Know — key doctrines all people should know
Believe — truths that motivate and transform your identity and behavior
Do — the activities that the gospel leads us to practice
Informal discipleship, in conjunction with formal discipleship is crucial in making followers of Jesus who both hear and obey.
God commanded through Moses (Deuteronomy 6) and Jesus commanded the disciples (Matt. 28:18-20) to develop a disciple-making culture where all of life becomes the platform for disciple-making.
Six questions to determine if you have a disciple-making culture:
- Are the few doing the ministry for the many? Or are the few equipping the many for the ministry?
- Do we spend the majority of our time equipping, training and developing leaders?
- Is it apparent that every member is to be a full-time minister in your church? Do new believers get called and sent into the mission upon conversion?
- Do you celebrate those who leave to start new works?
- Is there shared leadership within the local body?
- Do you intentionally create vacuums for other leaders to fill?