by Gary Reinecke | Jun 10, 2021 | Uncategorized |
How were you first taught to make disciples? Was it through inviting new friends to your church? Handing pamphlets out on corners? Sharing testimonies with strangers? If any of this sounds familiar, you are not alone. For decades, this was how many Christians were taught to share the gospel and produce more followers of Christ. However, if you have tried any of these methods recently, you have likely been met with indifference or even animosity.
A couple of years ago we met our new neighbors and had them over for dinner. We had a wonderful time connecting which led to conversations dealing with their journey of faith. At no time did it seem odd to go there. They had been seeking relationship and we were first to extend an invitation. This led to multiple encounters over the next few years that allowed us to coach them to a next step on their spiritual journey simply by listening and asking questions. A skill-set that most Christians can develop.
We created the discipleship coach quiz because only about two percent of American Churches are growing through multiplication, while ninety-eight percent are not producing disciples for the next generation. Part of this problem is due to the fact that the Church is a little behind the times. We need to understand the cultural shift of a postmodern person. The postmodern generation doesn’t like to be told what to do and how they should do it; they value discovering these things on their own, in their own way.
In a previous blog we contrasted the spiritual journey of a modern vs. a postmodern person Essentially I asked: “WHAT’S DIFFERENT?” My answer, based on experience, observation, discussing the topic with others in the field and reading books on the topic: “THE STARTING POINT HAS CHANGED!”
- Instead of beginning with ‘Believing’ as the starting point – the initial point of contact is ‘Blessing’.
- When a person comes in contact with a Christian who heightens their curiosity for spiritual matters, that person might be interested in exploring a next step on their discipleship journey.
- That initial point of contact, which heightens curiosity and could lead to a potential next step, most naturally occurs in the Harvest!
So how do we reach the very people that are like the disciples Jesus tapped to follow Him? They are not going to magically appear in church. They are unlikely to seek out Biblical wisdom out of the blue. We need to meet them where they are at; outside of the walls of the church. Jesus didn’t go to the temples to find his first disciples; he met them on the shores of Galilee, in the middle of their workday. Disciple making doesn’t start in church “anymore”; it begins earlier, in the harvest. It begins in conversation and through true relationships. It starts by recognizing where not-yet Christians are on their spiritual journey and finding ways to join them.
Everyone has a different path. We shouldn’t impose a pathway… Everyone needs to create their own. We may have a few principles or milestones, but they are the author of their story. They create their own pathway.
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…
Gary and the InFocus team have put together a very helpful tool in the Disciple Coach Quiz. It only took a few minutes to complete and gave comprehensive feedback that was immediately helpful. The quiz helped me identify where I was weakest and the quiz report offered up quality questions to help me start down the road of growth in this area. A natural next step will be to pursue coaching in this growth area.
Daniel Bethel Director of Church Planting, Christar International , Malaga, Spain
Stay tune! We are excited as the we prepare for the launch of the Disciple Coach Quiz.
by Gary Reinecke | Jun 6, 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 very new Christian (less than 6 months) and encourage each other to take steps to make progress in your disciple coach journey
- Triad: bring another yet-to-be Christian into the group and reflect on steps you can take individually as well as 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…
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
