HABIT #4: Unleash Your Disciple Making Cycle: Simple-Repeatable-Reproducible

Ignite Your Disciple-Making Engine: Start with the Big Why

Ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels when it comes to disciple-making? It’s easy to get lost in tactics without a clear vision. That’s why, before you build your strategy, you need to answer the fundamental question: What am I trying to achieve?

1. Mission Trumps Religion: When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Discipling

A shocking statistic: 1 in 3 churchgoers stopped attending church during the pandemic. This revealed a crucial truth: true faith goes beyond religious routine. Church leaders who were already making disciples saw this as an opportunity to double down on their mission. Others, forced to re-evaluate, discovered the power of a clear purpose.

2. The Gospel Thrives in Adversity: Crisis Breeds Innovation

“Thriving” might not be the first word you associate with a pandemic, but in this case, it describes the spirit of those who embraced the challenge. Some churches chose fear and isolation, while others chose to be open, curious, and explore new ways to connect. The results speak for themselves: churches with disciple-making communities or strong small groups thrived, while those without scrambled to catch up.

3. Disciple-Making Needs a Playbook: Keep It Simple, Keep It Shareable

We challenged a group of leaders we were training in our Leadership Collective to a fun competition: explain your disciple-making process using only a napkin and a 3-minute video. This forced them to distill their approach into its core essence. The result? Reproducible systems. Leaders with clear, transferable processes invested their energy in multiplying disciples who could then multiply themselves. Others refined their existing methods, making them easier to share and implement.

Ready to ignite your own disciple-making engine? Start with the big “why.” What are you trying to accomplish? Once you have clarity, you can build a strategy that gets you there. To help you understand your “why” – begin with the question: “What is the fruit of a disciple?” The answer will propel you into your disciple-making cycle.

“In order to develop a framework, it is necessary to be clear about what you are trying to accomplish; what are the identifiable traits of loving God, loving others and making disciples. You need to start with the big picture.”As You Go… Make Disciples by Colin Noyes

Here are a couple of coaching resources to help you assess, refine, or create your disciple-making cycle.

Resources to cultivate disciples that make disciples!

Make Obedient Disciples
(of already disciples)