Purpose Driven Discipleship- Tom Rees

What are we trying to accomplish?

“A Christian Disciple is a learner and follower of Jesus Christ who reflects His teaching and lifestyle and is actively reproducing that pattern in others. “

Barna Study on discipleship:

- Only one of every six people who attend a Christian church are involved in being discipled

- Women are twice as likely to be involved in a discipleship program

- 69% of adults who engage in discipleship do so in small groups

- One out of three church leaders are themselves involved in a small group

What is our strategy for making disciples?

(What are we doing with our time we have with people?)

Diamond of Spiritual Development

Jesus called his disciples to make four commitments:

            1) Commitment to Membership

                        -Becoming a member of the body of Christ

                        -The Process of Knowing Christ

                        -Include them

            2) Commitment to Maturity

                        -The process of growing in Christ

                        -Instruct them

            3) Commitment to Ministry

                        -The process of serving Christ

                        -Involve them

            4) Commitment to Mission

                        -The process of sharing Christ

                        -Invest them

How is your ministry part of this strategy?

Five Circles of Commitment

            1) Community

                        -Unchurched

                        -Occasional Attender

                        -In social network of members

            2) Crowd

                        -Regular pattern of attendance

                        -Believers and non-believers

            3) Congregation

                        -Committed to fellowship and membership

                        -Baptized in water

                        -Accountable relationship with the local church

            4) Committed

                        -Committed to grow

                        -Involved in Bible study group

                        -Growing in character, faith, and spiritual disciplines

                        -Not actively serving

            5) Core

                        -Committed to serving

                        -Actively involved in ministry

                        -Serve in leadership and ministry roles

Each circle represents a barrier of resistance- a line that is seemingly uncrossable

How do we bring people from the outside to the core? (Discipling)

How do we get people from the core to reach the outside? (Missional)

Where are you?

            -Recast our mission

            -Assess our present ministries

            -Identify what base(s) your ministry is targeting

            -Determine which bases your church needs to strengthen for growth

            This presentation definitely challenged me, or maybe more so saddened me- seeing all of the ways that we as Christians have been and continue to fall short in the areas of discipleship and outreach. It’s easy to play the blame-game, but we are all guilty of being comfortable, fearful, prideful, lazy, etc. and not getting up and actively pursuing those who need to encounter the Lord.  

            Whether we are happy with our little core click and don’t even realize that there are others who have yet to know God in such a way, or we are hanging out in the crowd going back and forth on whether or not to fully commit, we all have improvements to make, and we need to start making those changes now.