Church Planting

Before Your First Discipleship Group – DMM Basics 101

“I love the idea of making disciples of new believers and seeing those discipleship groups multiply! I’m in!” you might be saying.  “But where do I start?  What do I need to do first to see a disciple-making movement begin?”

There Are 3 “Basics” That Are Needed As Every DMM Gets Started.

  1. A Prayer Strategy
  2. Abundant Seed Sowing
  3. Finding the Person of Peace

I played basketball in college.  I wasn’t amazing, but I enjoyed it.  It was fun to be a part of a team.  I loved the games.  I hated the practices.  Our coach would push us hard on the court in the early morning practice.  We had to dribble, shoot lay-ups and free throws until we were sick of it.  We ran back and forth, up and down the court dribbling and passing the ball until we could do it in our sleep.  It was these basics that won the games. read more

Women Cry Out- Give Us Our Inheritance!

spiritual inheritance

An interesting and profound story is found in Joshua chapter seventeen. It speaks of a man named Zelophehad who had no sons but only daughters. This is an amazing tale with many lessons about spiritual inheritance.

Inheritance For the Daughters

There must have been others in Israel who only had girls. These daughters of Zelophehad were different though. What was different about them? What does this have to do with seeing disciple making movements released??

Joshua 17:3 “However, Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. 4 They came near before Eleazar the priest and before Joshua the son of Nun and before the leaders, saying, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” So according to the [c]command of the Lord he gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers. 5 Thus there fell ten portions to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan, 6 because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons. And the land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh.” (NASB)

These daughters of Zelophehad were willing to ask for their inheritance along with their cousins or as we say in India “cousin brothers.” The fact that they were women didn’t stop them from thinking that they were worthy of receiving an inheritance in the land. It stopped many other women. It didn’t stop them. They asked…and they received.

In Psalms, God says…

“Ask of Me, and I will surely give the [f]nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.” Ps 2:8 NASB

Jesus said…

“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.” John 16:24 NASB

To see a movement of Jesus follower’s released, every believer must get involved. Every believer needs to ask God for their inheritance among lost people. Every believer must begin to see themselves as a disciple maker, as a trainer of trainers, not just a church member. This most definitely includes women!

God Calls Women To Ask For Their Spiritual Inheritance

God is calling women today from every strata of society and from every class; educated, uneducated, urban, village, old and young to join with their husbands and brothers in asking God to release their inheritance among the nations.

He wants women to be bold and ask Him for the lost people around them. read more

Staying Focused as Disciple Makers

What is the number one enemy you will face as you pursue the release of a Disciple Making Movement among the unreached? One would imagine that it would be intense spiritual warfare, keeping a visa platform, persecution, or some other kind of external challenge. Those are real and they are there to be sure. In my opinion, however, the greatest obstacle for those pursuing the release of a movement, is the inability to stay focused on what is most important. The tendency to become distracted doing many good things without doing what iblack-and-white-1845826_1280s most important is typical of those who hope to see movements but don’t.

Busyness is a major enemy in our lives. We can easily get so busy that we don’t have time to pray, to listen to God, to share good news with the Lost, or to adequately spend time with those who are expressing interest in coming to faith. These things usually happen in the early stages of our efforts to start a movement. When we don’t see things “take off” as fast as we had hoped, we allow ourselves to get involved in other ministry tasks that give us a bit of a sense of fulfillment. Teaching here or there, doing emails, making a video for a church about what we do, attending a seminar or conference someone invited us to…suddenly we realize we have had little time for the task of disciple making.

Later, when (and if) we do have some disciples and the first church gets going, it is again easy to become busy with things related to that church’s programs rather than continuing to pursue relationships with the Lost, or to invest in quality disciple making. We make the mistake of thinking that a weekly meeting of a few hours will make quality disciples. We fail to truly invest our lives in those God has given us whether it be in detailed prayer for them, or in developing deep relationships.

One of my favorite Old Testament Bible Heros is Nehemiah. In tnature-1984314_1280he sixth chapter of the book that bears his name, messengers come asking Nehemiah to attend a meeting with Sanballat and Geshem. Instead of agreeing he says,

“I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3)

Nehemiah is completely focused on his God-given task. He is not going to stop his work to go and resolve a conflict, listen to his enemies, or attend a meeting. He knows how to say a clear “no.” He continues to focus on what is most important. We need to do the same.

How hard is it for you to stay focused on what is really important? Do you clearly know in your own mind what is most important in light of your goal to see a movement of disciples?

In a recent training I asked the participants to make a list of everything they had done in the last week that took more than an hour of their time. After they had listed at least 15 things, I asked them to circle which of those things directly related to making disciples among the unreached. It was eye-opening for many of them to see how little time they actually devoted to the task they said was their primary vision. We all would benefit from a similar exercise from time to time.

Feeling convicted? I truly hope you don’t feel condemned. It’s very human to get distracted and not at all uncommon! Instead of feeling bad, look carefully at where you are at. Recommit yourself to stay focused on your true calling as a disciple-maker and messenger of the good news. Be willing like Nehemiah to say no to some things so you can say yes to what is really important.

The unreached wait to hear your message. New disciples wait to be encouraged, trained and mentored. Let’s get busy doing the most important things that lead to the release of movements.

Should Movement Goals Be Time-Bound? The Hidden Urgency That Drives Them

movement goals

Does it make sense to have time-bound goals for the release of Disciple Making Movements? Having a time-bound goal for a supernatural vision can be disheartening. Movements are a God thing…far beyond our control.

Are time-bound goals even Biblical? These are questions worth asking as we consider vision, mission, and goals when it comes to DMMs.

Some argue – there is a difference between business goals, what they call BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) and setting goals in the realm of the Kingdom. True. They are different. But could it be that this works in the business world, because it is actually a Kingdom principle? One related to the power of faith, and how that impacts action? read more

Movement Pioneers Are Busy and Overwhelmed…How Can We Help?

deacons movements

Is it time to appoint deacons? What is the difference between a deacon and an overseer? What do they do in a DMM (Disciple Making Movement)? Can I call myself Bishop if I am the leader of a movement?

I’ve been writing a series on leadership development in Disciple Making Movements. This is Part Five of that series. Please remember that what I write is not to be applied to legacy or traditional churches. My goal is not to attack churches or tell anyone that their denominational tradition is wrong. read more

Five Tips on When to Release Responsibility in Disciple-making

release

Jesus gave authority and power away before his disciples were fully ready. Do we? Sometimes I am afraid to give away responsibility. What if they mess it up? Most of the time I am slower to give away power and authority than I suspect Jesus would be.

Disciple Making Movements (DMMs) model everything after Jesus. Paul’s a great model too. Today I read Luke 9 in my daily devotions. I got stuck on verse one, “He gave them power and authority…” Then, in verse two, He sent them out to use it, however imperfectly. read more

What is the Most Often Neglected Task of an Effective Christian Leader?

training trainers

What is the main job of a pastor or Christian leader? Or of anyone with ministry gifts and experience? Is it to prepare quality sermons that inspire and instruct drawing people to attend church services? You may believe their primary job is to provide pastoral care to those who are sick and in hospital. Or perhaps it is to oversee the staff team of the church. According to the book of Ephesians, none of these are the primary task of those with ministerial gifts and responsibilities. Our most important responsibility is to train others to do what we do. read more

The Sow-Find-Start 30 Day Challenge

Join the challenge today!
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What is the 30 Day Challenge?

The 30 day Challenge involves 3 things:

  1. Sowing gospel seeds by intentionally initiating spiritual conversations with lost people (at least one per day)
  2. Finding Persons of Peace (at least one in the 30 days)
  3. Starting new discovery groups (at least one in the 30 days)

Why Should I Participate?

We all need encouragement and motivation to move forward in the goals that are important to us. By participating in the 30 Day Challenge, you are saying to yourself, to the DMM community, and to God that you are serious about wanting to see Him work in your area. You are willing and ready to put an effort forward and to be intentional about making progress in your End Vision to see disciples multiply.

When Does it Begin?

The 30 Day Challenge starts on September 1st and will run through the entire month. If by chance you are coming in late, no problem. Start whenever you want to and do this challenge for 30 days. read more

Ever Feel Like You Don’t Have What It Takes?

enough for fruit

As we work in Disciple Making Movements, it is common for us to think that we need more. We think, “If we only had more money it would be so much easier to do what we are called to do. if we had more workers…we would finally get results,” we tell ourselves. Or, “If we had more training and more understanding…then things would start happening.” We have come to believe that we need more, that we do not have enough to do what God has called us to do to see a movement of Jesus’ disciples start. read more