by Gary Reinecke | Jun 4, 2021 | Uncategorized |
One of the distinctions we are addressing in the Disciple Coach approach is to help engage Christians that really want to make disciples but for a number of reasons have been unable. “Tatum” (not her real name for a real person in our small group) came into our group as a curious, somewhat fearful and timid seeker. Following the experience of a painful divorce she decided to give God a try. What did she discover? That many of her friends noticed a change in her life they didn’t quite understand. What has she done? Honestly, she has had to make some hard choices about the relationships that were not contributing to her emotionally healthy spiritual growth. That was difficult and still is difficult for her to navigate. But for the curious one’s she is engaging in emotionally healthy discipleship conversations. How is she doing this? She is taking a coach-approach by listening carefully and asking questions to challenge, clarify and inspire her friends to take a step in their discipleship journey.
Tatum is the type of person we created the Disciple Coach Quiz for – to inspire the 98%. These are Christians who are looking for a way to use their gifts where God has placed them in life to help other people discover and follow Jesus so that they can make disciples. Our aim is not to have another thing for people to do or a program to follow, but to make several natural shifts that will enable each of you to make disciples who in turn make disciples.
Here are a couple of “best practices” to help you process your Disciple Coach Quiz results:
- Self-assessment: take the quiz and read your report and reflection questions.
- Pairs: consider working with another Christian and encourage each other to take steps to make progress in your disciple coach journey
- Triad: bring another new Christian into the group and reflect on steps you can take together to reproduce disciples into the 3rd and 4th generation
We are getting closer and closer to launching the Disciple Coach Quiz. As we beta-test the quiz we are receiving amazing feedback. Here is what other people are saying about the Disciple Coach Quiz…
The mission of the Church is not simply reaching the lost, increasing Church attendance or teaching biblical information – or anything else. Our mission is to make fully-fledged reproducing disciples of Jesus. And this is true for each individual disciple. Disciple Making isn’t something we do; it’s everything we do.
Many of us are on the journey to being fully committed to the Mission of Jesus but we are unsure of the areas we still need to develop. This is where the Disciple Coach Quiz comes into play. Gary Reinecke and his team have developed a really useful questionnaire which gives you an overall Disciple Coach Score as well as some improvement keys to help you grow in your commitment to His Mission.
Even though I have been Making Disciples for a long time, the results of the quiz pointed out some areas I still need to work on and I have already created some action steps for myself.
Colin Noyes – Author As You Go, Makes Disciples, Making Disciples in a Postmodern Era & Making Disciples Coaching Guide with Storyboard
by Gary Reinecke | May 28, 2021 | Uncategorized |
How can people engage relationally?
If you view the disciple making process like a map – chances are the map you used in the 20th century is different than the map you use in the 21st century. The modern map began with ‘Believing’, followed by ‘Behaving’ and culminated with ‘Belonging’. In the post-Modern era the map looks more like this: “Belonging”, “Following” and “Serving”.
How can people engage in their disciple making journey?
How can people help others?
Special thanks to Sequoia Church, Nic Pope - Lead Pastor Used with permission
Jesus mastered the art of listening and asking questions to help people discover truth for themselves! Today, self-discovery is foundational to the disciple making process. This is why disciples have shifted from telling people (Modern) what they should believe to self-discovery (Post-Modern) using a coach-approach.
We are getting closer and closer to launching the Disciple Coach Quiz. As we beta-test the quiz we are receiving amazing feedback. “Our goal? To provide a tool that will help you and those you disciple progress through the three stages mentioned in a previous blog: beginning with being a disciple – shifting to a disciple maker – finally, adopting a coach-approach as you make disciples.” Stay tuned for more updates in the weeks to come!
Research suggests that about 2% of the churches in America are multiplying so I think it is fair to speculate that about 2% of Christians are making disciples, that are making disciples.
(Becoming A Level Five Multiplying Church Field Guide)
So, we created the Disciple Coach Quiz to inspire the 98%. These are Christians who are looking for a way to use their gifts where God has placed them in life to help other people discover and follow Jesus so that they can make disciples. Our aim is not to have another thing for people to do or a program to follow, but to make several natural shifts that will enable each of you to make disciples who in turn make disciples.
by Gary Reinecke | May 21, 2021 | Uncategorized |
As a disciple I am learning from Jesus to live my life as he would live life if he were I. I am not necessarily learning to do everything he did, but I am learning how to do everything I do in the manner in which he did all that he did.
Dallas Willard
Someone who is living out of a Basic Core that exhibits a love for God in Christ and a love for others that leads to making disciples.
Colin Noyes
A disciple coach helps their newest disciples by listening and asking questions to help them discern the voice of the Holy Spirit so that they can take the next step in their discipling making journey.
Gary Reinecke
Notice the nuanced progression:
- The disciple, by definition, is a student.
- The disciple shifts, ever so slight, when they become a disciple maker.
- The disciple maker shifts, by adopting a coach approach, to multiply disciples.
These three nuanced shifts are observable. You have probably experienced them in your own development. One way of looking at this is moving from a disciple who makes disciples by addition (one at a time) to a multiplier (exponential growth into the 3rd and 4th generation of disciples).
The vision fueling the disciple coach-approach is to engage Christians who are not currently making disciples, for whatever reason, to participate in the mission of Jesus. “How so?” By listening to the Holy Spirit, take the next step on their disciple making journey so that they can help people around them do the same.
We are getting closer and closer to launching the Disciple Coach Quiz. As we beta-test the quiz we are receiving amazing feedback. “Our goal? To provide a tool that will help you and those you disciple progress through the three stages mentioned above: beginning with being a disciple – shifting to a disciple maker – finally, adopting a coach-approach as you make disciples.” Stay tuned for more updates in the weeks to come!
by Gary Reinecke | May 10, 2021 | Disciplemaking, Uncategorized |
I’m reminded how dangerous or naive it is to make broad generalizations about the way Jesus made disciples. How can we really know?
Early in my seminary education I had a professor who lived-out the values of a disciple maker. He was an imposing figure (6’5″-ish) but Dr. William “Bill” Iverson (this is linked to my classmate’s blog – Dave Diaso) was a relational ninja who was always on the ready to engage students in the ministry of disciple making. What he lacked in methodology he made up for relationally; that is, he did not work a linear process but started where people were on their journey to discover and follow Jesus. During my first quarter in seminary “Bill” introduced me to Robert Coleman’s book, “The Master Plan of Evangelism”. In this small but profound book Coleman articulated Jesus’s strategy for making disciples. I saw the method to “Bill’s” madness from the pages of this book. It was a framework for disciple making. I remember taking all of the small group leader’s and apprentice leader in the church plant I was helping launch through this book together. It embedded the DNA of make disciples into our small groups at New Song Church.
I’m using Coleman’s framework to “reverse engineer” (meaning to compare and contrast to find the correlation) the 5 habits of a Disciple Coach. As you study the 5 habits see how they fit into the way Jesus made disciples according to Coleman.
Here are a underlying principles that consistently determined what Jesus’ action would be in any given situation as he made disciples:
- Selection – men were His method
- Association – He stayed with them
- Consecration – He required obedience
- Impartation – He gave Himself away
- Demonstration – He showed them how to live
- Delegation – He assigned them work
- Supervision – He kept check on them
- Reproduction – He expected them to reproduce
Robert Coleman’s – “The Master Plan of Evangelism”
Here are the 5 Disciple Coach Habits and how they correlate with Coleman’s 8 disciple making principles:
- Missional Values – CLICK HERE
- Consecration – He required obedience
- Delegation – He assigned them work
- Active Prayer – CLICK HERE
- Selection – men were His method
- Relational Connection – CLICK HERE
- Association – He stayed with them
- Impartation – He gave Himself away
- Disciple making Cycle – CLICK HERE
- Reproduction – He expected them to reproduce
- Strategic Partnerships – CLICK HERE
- Demonstration – He showed them how to live
- Supervision – He kept check on them
The Disciple Coach Quiz is designed to help you establish a baseline of where you are today. Secondly, for those you are discipling.
Each Disciple Coach Habit has a corresponding Coaching Guide. The guides are broken down into the following categories:
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- Key Outcomes – Best practices for you to identify with as a disciple coach.
- Example – Read about ways to put the habit into practice.
- Reflection Questions – Discover new insights.
- Action Application – Apply the habit in your ministry as a disciple coach.
- Resource – Dig deeper to understand the habit.
- Challenge – Take the next step on your journey to reinforce the habit.
The Disciple Coach Quiz provides a baseline (strengths and weaknesses) and the coaching guide is designed for you to identify real actions you can take in the areas of desired growth. It also serves as a tool for you to ask those your are discipling to assess themselves and for you to coach them in their development.
We are in the final stretch of beta-testing the Disciple Coach Quiz and it will be ready any day now.
Thank you to those who are providing feedback as we get ready to launch.
Recommended book on the principles of disciple making
by Gary Reinecke | May 3, 2021 | Disciplemaking |
As we approach the launch of of the Disciple Coach Quiz in a few weeks, we thought it might be helpful to explain the best ways to use the quiz to support your work as a Disciple Coach.
In his work as a regional leader supporting pastors and church planters to increase the health of their disciple making ministries, Glenn has invited leaders to take the quiz for their own awareness to accelerate their work as disciple makers. That is a good first step. Here are the three applications to gain the most from the Disciple Coach Quiz
What are the best ways to use the Disciple Coach Quiz?
- Good – take the quiz yourself!
- Like we mentioned above; this is an excellent first step. It will help you focus on the habit you need to develop to continue your journey. Awareness is a powerful exercise.
- Better – ask 1-3 of your most committed disciple makers to take the quiz!
- This builds on the previous application but now you are expanding your circle of influence so that you can more strategically support the disciple coaches you are coaching. You might want to function like a peer-to-peer learning community to share insights you are discovering along the way. You might want to consider meeting periodically to reinforce the learnings along the way and facilitate those conversations using a coach approach.
- Best – from the group above, ask the most engaged disciple makers to share the quiz with people in their network!
- Invite them to do the same thing that you did with them. For the Disciple Coach it is natural to coach (listen and ask questions) of people they are supporting on their discipleship journey. The best kinds of people for this level of involvement are small group leaders, outward focused ministry teams and entrepreneurial types who are relationally connected to people far from God.
We are in the final stretch of beta-testing the Disciple Coach Quiz. It will be ready any day now. Would you consider taking it and giving us feedback on whether this is a helpful resource for you and those you are coaching on their discipleship journey?
