How to Build Disciple-Making into Your DNA
I (Bill) quite clearly recall a seminar question-and-answer session I was conducting with a group of pastors. There was one pastor in particular who kept voicing objections about changing his church culture from a non-disciple-making ethos to a disciple-making-first focus. We had conducted an exercise in which we asked each pastor to make a list of the people in their churches who would be the best candidates to start a disciple-making journey with them (we ask this question because it’s vital to make this type of change with at least one other person, when possible).When we called upon this pastor to report on the list he had made, he told us that the paper for his list was blank. He was emphatic that there was no one, not even one person, in his congregation of two hundred people, who would be interested in discipleship. I was stumped on this one.
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“Not one?” I mused with my finger on my chin, reflecting on what I would say next. I knew he believed what he was saying, but I couldn’t help but think, Perhaps he has unconsciously constructed and rationalized his conclusion to protect him from the work he was afraid to do? Then, I thought, Or maybe he’s afraid because he had no idea what to do. Then it happened—a Holy Spirit “brainchild.” Although it hasn’t happened very often to me, I’ve learned to recognize it when it appears.
So I said, “May I ask you a question?” I thought permission would be important for what I was about to say. He consented.
“How about you?” I asked. “Are you interested in discipleship? When you say that there is no one to do this with you, aren’t you at least that one person who wants a fresh start to rebuild your ministry and develop a congregation centered on making disciples?”
He was befuddled by my question, mumbled that he didn’t know, and sat down.
Disciple making hadn’t become part of this pastor’s “DNA,” so he couldn’t begin, and he didn’t know what to do. And when you don’t know what to do, you do what you know how to do—go online and order a program with materials and videos. You’ll just keep running programs, one after the other, until the congregation finally refuses to participate because they see little life change and no multiplication. This is one reason some churches die.
This explains the reason that so many lead pastors insulate and delegate. They insulate themselves from the congregational life of discipleship, which they most often do by delegating the actual work of discipleship to staff or laity. We agree that delegation is good. However, lead pastors need to be involved in disciple making, too. The DNA of their ministry was developed in seminary or in a church subculture that too often values consumption, production, and the rewards that come with mega-ministry growth metrics. This is not an intentional or even a conscious decision; it just sort of grows on churches like moss grows on rocks—slowly and over time, until it takes over the whole thing. So we must evaluate where we’re at and where we need to go.
We leave you with a few simple exhortations for going about implementing this type of DNA change in your life:
Find various types of people who have a discipleship-first mentality and spend time talking with them if you know them, read their publications (if you know about them), and learn more directly from others.[1]
Search the Scriptures and study Jesus’ ways and means of discipleship.
Pray for wisdom from God on how to move forward.
When you come to the point where for you to do anything other than to make disciples is a grievous sin, then you’ll know that you have the disciple-making-first DNA. Remember, this is about your personal preparation to lead a disciple-making movement—when you call out, “Follow me!” you will want to know where you’re leading them and what you’ll do on the way.
NOTES:
1. Find a description of the disciple-making-pastor DNA in Conversion and Discipleship (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016) 205.
This was taken from The Discipleship Gospel by Bill Hull and Ben Sobels. Used by permission of HIM Publications. Use code TBP at checkout for a discount when you place your order here.