Where would you start to develop disciple-making goals for your church? In my post, Movement: Discipleship Evidence, I shared some discipleship expressions of movement or evidences: conversation is more about Jesus and His ways, more time is devoted to prayer and Bible study, greater concern for the needs of others, a growing desire to help others, an increased willingness to witness, and sensitivity to the leadership of God in his/her life and openness to go wherever God sends and do whatever He asks.
How can you turn turn these evidences into goals? How can you recognize and encourage disciple-making? Use pen and paper to jot down ideas before continuing. This will prevent my ideas from influencing yours.
Disciple-Making Goals
Here are some thoughts I had for goals in response to the evidences listed:
- conversation is more about Jesus and His ways. GOAL: Use Real Life Discipleship Manual to train your disciplers to listen for conversational maturity as a disciple.
- more time is devoted to prayer and Bible study. GOAL: Ask your disciples to keep a log of daily prayer and Bible study time.
- greater concern for the needs of others. GOAL: Give disciples $10 and one week to pray about and give the $10 to meet the needs of others. Report back at the next meeting.
- a growing desire to help others. GOAL: Seek ways to help a family members or friend AND a workmate or someone in the marketplace. Report back at the next meeting.
- an increased willingness to witness. GOAL: After training disciples in 3 Circles, challenge them to practice 3 circles and have a gospel conversation with at least one person. Report back at the next meeting.
- sensitivity to the leadership of God in his/her life and openness to go wherever God sends and do whatever He asks. GOAL: Review Teach Disciples to Use S.O.A.P. with your disciples. At your next meeting, ask disciples to report on the application and prayer phases, especially focused on “What did you do as a result of what God said?”
Your goals in response to these (or other) discipleship evidences will naturally depend on your disciples, their spiritual maturity, and any materials you are using. In Movement: Discipleship Evidence, I said, “Without movement, one might conclude that the disciple is either sick or dead.” Let’s demonstrate that Jesus’ life is in us. Let’s show evidence of the difference He makes. Let’s be disciples. Make disciples!
Photo by Vaishakh pillai on Unsplash
