Personal Disciple-Making
At RUC
The Rosebank Union Church Strategy for Personal Disciple-Making
18“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
MATTHEW 28:18-20
The Prerogative of
Personal Disciple-Making
Why is Personal Disciple-Making so important?
Five Catalysts for Personal Disciple-Making
Summary from Justin goes here
The Personal Disciple-Making
Pathway
How do you move someone from faith to maturity to being a multiplying disciple of Christ?
The Discipleship Paradigm
In the context of the church, our discipling ministries focus on moving people towards maturity in Christ in various group sizes – from the large church gatherings, to smaller more intimate groups.
As a person progresses from Engage to Establish to Equip to Export, their level of commitment self-discipline and self-sacrifice increases.
As a person participates in smaller and smaller group sizes, the level of accountability, vulnerability & commitment increases.
Personal Disciple-Making
The focus of Personal-Disciple Making is on the personal group layer of the discipleship paradigm. In this layer a Disciple-Maker leads two or three people in a context of significant accountability, vulnerability & commitment towards growing maturity in Christ.
Two Questions
As a disciple-maker, when considering how to lead the people you are discipling, it is helpful to ask yourself these two questions:
- Where are your group members along the pathway?
- How can you move them further along?
Formation to the image of Christ happens through continuous attention to the Great Commandment
“Jesus answered, “The most important is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:29-31
Love God. Love People.
In light of the Great Commandment, in order to move people further on the pathway, disciple-makers need to be continuously leading them towards:
- Loving God
- Loving Others
Maturing disciples need to grow in loving God and loving others in all the domains of life. This involves engaging our Heads, Heart and Hands across all the relationships in our life, namely the way we relate to God, Our Household, God’s Household, Our World, and the World in general.
The Personal Disciple-Making
Principles
What are the foundational principles that guide us in making disciples?
Personal Disciple-making is the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word in the context of a life-on-life process, whereby a follower of Christ invests themselves in a few hungry individuals who have been engaged with the gospel, the purpose being to establish them in the faith, and equip them to export a third generation of disciples
The 5 Principles are:
Holy Spirit Empowered | Word Saturated | Life-on-Life Modeled | Purposefully Customised | Gospel Multiplying
1. Holy Spirit Empowered
Explanation
- True sanctification is a product of heart change, and only God can change men’s hearts (2 Corinthians 3:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
- The Holy Spirit is the one who teaches us and guides us into all truth (John 14:26, 16:12)
- The Holy Spirit gifts men & women, and empowers them to use those gifts in ministry (Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:4-6)
Application
- Pray consistently and specifically for those you disciple – both corporately and personally.
- Continually teach and emphasise that spiritual maturity comes only through communion with God.
2. Word Saturated
Explanation
- God reveals Himself to us primarily through His Word (John 5:39-40)
- God’s Word grows us up in our salvation (1 Peter 2:2-3)
- God’s Word equips us for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
- God’s Word convicts us of sin and keeps us from falling deeper into it (Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 119:9-11)
- Obedience to God’s Word causes us to prosper in everything (Psalm 1:1-3)
Application
- God reveals Himself to us primarily through His Word (John 5:39-40)
- God’s Word grows us up in our salvation (1 Peter 2:2-3)
- God’s Word equips us for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
- God’s Word convicts us of sin and keeps us from falling deeper into it (Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 119:9-11)
- Obedience to God’s Word causes us to prosper in everything (Psalm 1:1-3) Always point disciples to the Word when teaching, answering questions, and addressing issues.
- Teaching disciples how to study and memorize God’s Word for themselves is one of our highest priorities.
- Labor diligently to know the Word yourself and take great care when teaching it.
- Regularly share what you are learning from God’s Word with those you disciple.
Incorporate God’s Word into every aspect of your ministry (Prayer, counseling, evangelism, etc…)
3. Life-on-Life Modelled
Explanation
- A relationship of love and care is the best context for Biblical influence (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8, 2 Corinthians 12:15)
- Jesus trained his disciples by having them with Him in the context of ministry (Mark 3:14)
- Spiritual leaders are called to set an example for younger believers (1 Timothy 4:12, 1 Peter 5:2-4)
- People need to not only hear the Word, but see it lived out before them – “more is caught than taught” (1 Corinthians 11:1, Philippians 4:9)
- It is only as we spend extended time with people that we can discern their needs and help them live according to God’s Word (1 Thessalonians 2:10-12)
Application
- Spend extended time with those you disciple in informal as well as formal settings. Make it your goal to spend time with them in every context of their lives.
- Be ever watchful and thoughtful for informal teaching opportunities – both planned and spontaneous.
- Create an environment of love and trust in your discipleship relationships. Be real and open about your own struggles in personal sanctification and ministry.
- Make it a priority to do ministry together. Striving together to achieve a common goal facilitates relational depth and camaraderie.
- Never forget your group are in the scope of ‘loving others’ for you, so don’t neglect to love and serve them!
4. Purposefully Customized
Explanation
- The disciple-maker should always have specific Biblical objectives toward which they are moving the people they are discipling (Matthew 4:19,1 Thessalonians 4:1-2, Philippians 1:25)
- Because every person is at a different stage in their spiritual development, discipleship must be tailored to meet their individual developmental needs (1 Thessalonians 2:7, 11 5:14)
- Continual evaluation and planning is necessary to most effectively discern disciples’ needs and help them progress in their faith (Ecclesiastes 10:10, 1 Kings 3:9)
Application
- Before each year, or even month of discipleship, write out a list of goals that you have for each person you are discipling and plan your discipleship in light of this.
- Be sure to think about those you disciple as individuals and address their specific individual needs.
5. Gospel Reproducing
Explanation
- Disciple-making is about constant movement, that is, ‘following Jesus’ (Colossians 2:6-7), ‘increasing in knowledge’ (2 Peter 3:18), and being increasingly fruitful (Colossians 1:6).
- Movement, or progress, is not often linear, but over time results in a definite journey from engage-export ie a journey towards ‘maturity’ (Ephesians 4:13)
- Thus keep the idea of continuous progress in mind, with the end-goal of exporting constantly before you.
Application
- Practically this means having a time-frame in mind, in order to prevent your group defaulting to a fellowship group.
- Ensure that by the end of the ‘equip’ stage the people you are discipline are being primed to be exported. If they are not, consider extra time required, or release them into their own journeys.
The Personal
Disciple-Makers
Are your ready to take on the task of being a Personal Disciple-Maker?
The RUC Roll-Out Plan
- Disciple-Making Pathway Launch (October 2021)
- Coaching Cohorts (November 2021)
- Praying (December 2021)
- Inviting (Jan/Feb 2022)
- Going! (Feb/Mar 2022)
Coaching Cohorts
If you are interested in becoming a personal disciple-maker, we would love to journey with you and help to equip you. For this purpose, we are running coaching cohorts, where people with experience in personal disciple-making will help to mentor you as you disciple others. If you are interested in joining one of these cohorts, please complete this form.
Sign me up!
The Disciple-making Story
If you have been in church for any length of time, you would have heard the challenge to ‘make disciples’ or to be a disciple-maker in your everyday life. But what does this mean exactly? In 1 John 2:6 it says, “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” To be a disciple-maker means living like Jesus and doing what He did. If you want to have a better understanding of what it means to ‘make disciples’ the way Jesus did, then spend some time working through ‘The Disciple-making Story.’
As we study the gospels, we will see that Jesus had a very intentional model for making disciples.
He started by calling people to ‘Come and See’ who He was. In this way, He was calling people to come in a bit closer to see the type of man He was.
He then challenged people to ‘Repent and Believe.’ Jesus was showing that it was not just enough to know who He was, but that there needed to be an active decision to believe in Him.
Jesus then challenged those who would ‘repent and believe’ to ‘Follow Him.’ By calling people to follow Him, Jesus was asking people to learn what it means to live more closely and more obediently to Him. During this stage in a follower’s journey with Jesus, He would spend time instilling His character and priorities in them – showing them what was most important to Him.
He would then issue the next challenge of ‘Follow Me and Fish for Men.’ Here Jesus was asking His followers to join Him in the work of ministering to others and making other disciples. During this stage, Jesus would give His followers more responsibility and ministry opportunities.
Finally, Jesus would challenge His followers to ‘Go and Bear Much Fruit.’ In this stage, Jesus was releasing His followers to minister to others in the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit, and to teach others to do that same.
The Disciple-making Story spends 20-days doing a chronological overview of Jesus’ disciple-making ministry while helping you apply this to your everyday life. It shows us how He went about raising up disciples who would make disciples, and helps us understand how we too can do this in our context today.
Devotional source J-Life Africa