Discipleship Focused Leadership

From Oct. 4-6 I attended the Renew and Discipleship.Org Conferences in Nashville, Tennessee. It was a great time where I got an opportunity to hear a lot on discipleship. It challenged me a in a lot of different ways.

One of the sessions I attended was about creating a new kind of leader led by DiscipleFIRST. It was really encouraging to hear how this one particular Church is changing this model from a “Superstar” leader type model to a Disciple-Making leader type. Other session I attended focused on how to form and multiply a disciple making group.

Of all the sessions and breakouts I attended, here are a few things that stood out to me:

• It is estimated that 80-90% of Pastors are leaders and not disciple-makers. This is significant because discipleship is key to helping others grow spiritually. Yet, most of our Pastors are being trained and equipped to lead rather than disciple. Pastors need to lead, but they also need to lead by example. They cannot call people in their Church or congregation to be disciple-makers if they are not out there making disciples themselves.
• We need less Superstar Leaders and more Disciple-Making Leaders. Being the superstar leader can be toxic, it hinges solely on one person and it prevents others from unlocking their full potential as a disciple-maker. Pastors and ministry leaders should be raising up disciple-making leaders who focus on starting groups, creating more disciple-makers and disciple-making groups.
• Start 4 person groups with the intention of multiplying. While Life Groups and Small Groups are great, the purpose of these are community and growing as a group together. Very rarely do they multiply or invite others into the group. However, with 4 person discipleship groups, the purpose is to form a short term group that multiplies after a set period of time (usually months, not weeks). That way you are training more people to be disciple-makers and reaching more people for Christ.
• Life on life is key. While these smaller, multiplying groups are meant to be short-term, an important element of it is to “do life” together. These groups are not all about teaching them who Jesus is and training them to be disciple-makers. A key component of it being together for life events (good and bad). That is what Jesus did and that is what discipleship is.

Conclusion

With discipleship the great encouragement is that we can all do this. We have to take a mindset of “Yes, I can” instead of having one “superstar”  others do it. Christ calls us ALL OF US to go and make disciples. This is for all believers and for Pastors, too. Pastors should be taking the lead on modeling what it looks like to disciple others. The more Pastors can be doing this, the more likely the whole Church will embrace this and be disciple-makers themselves.

What do you think? How can your Church improve in the area of discipleship? How can they embrace disciple-making? Share your ideas below or on social media.

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