People today are busy: leaders and disciples. Commitments can often be shallow and fleeting. On the other hand, disciple-making is best done through the context of consistent relationships and discipline.
Knowing those realities, how can we encourage faithfulness in our disciple-making meetings (even our own)? One of the most important ways is to make every meeting meaningful. Don’t do all the talking. Involve the person or group. Share your positive expectations. Affirm. Help rather than hurt. Make the meeting practical. Lead disciple-making efforts toward personal application.
In addition to making the meeting meaningful, consider the following ideas:
- during and between meetings, work to deepen the relationship;
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follow up every time a disciple is absent;
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when a disciple misses, express your genuine care and let him/her know you missed him/her, pray together, and remind about the next meeting and assignments;
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give assignments to each disciple;
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establish a prayer partner time between classes;
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celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and special life events;
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communicate a vision of how the next disciple-making lesson will help in living out the Christian life in the world;
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explain the benefits of faithfulness for themselves and those they will disciple.
These are a few ideas, but the floor is open to you. Press the comments button below to leave your ideas and experiences. Help others who will follow. Make disciples!
For more ideas about disciple-making, check out these posts:
- Encouraging Disciple-Making Questions
- Which Is Better: 1-on-1, D-Group, or Small Group?
- Turn Lessons into Discipleship Experiences
- Turn Sermons into Discipleship Experiences
- New Year’s Personal Discipleship Questions
- Spiritual Discipline: Journaling
- Discipleship Relational Stages, Part 2
- Disciple-Making Guidelines
