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THE DISCIPLE-MAKING CHRISTIAN

Pastor Tim Potter

A review of biblical theology that presents the nature and practice of personal Christian

disciple making, through the local church, in this dispensation of grace.

Objectives:

1. To present a biblical theology of disciple making

2. To challenge each attendee to be a disciple maker

3. To refute current and past incorrect philosophical trends in the understanding the

Great Commission

DEVELOPING A DISCIPLE-MAKING CULTURE IN YOUR CHURCH

Some Initial Questions

• Does Christ still build His church? __________________________________________________

• Does He build it globally, nationally, regionally, and locally? _______________________

• How does He build the church? ____________________________________________________

Evangelism in the Local Church

• Typically, we utilize three kinds of evangelism: Institutional, Situational, and

Personal.

• Which style would each saint in your church more immediately embrace? _________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

A Broad Question

• If we are a true first-century church, if we learned a new language, changed our

diet, bought appropriate clothing, and did some on-the-job training in a new

country, should we be able to thrive as a church in any culture? ___________________

A Popular Comment in Our Neck of the Woods

• “Our church is not growing or is declining because . . . “

o The world is becoming a darker place.

o Christians are more and more worldly.

o Of stands we have taken in the past.

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What’s the History?

• Have you seen growth, plateau, or decline? ________________________________________

• How have you seen the church grow? ______________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

• Would you define the growth as the result of institutional, situational, or personal

disciple-making efforts? ____________________________________________________________

o Good programs? ____________________________________________________________

o Excellent facilities? ___________________________________________________________

o Quality staff? ________________________________________________________________

• If decline, what were the factors behind it? _________________________________________

o Lack of programs, facilities, staff? ___________________________________________

o Formal current community issues? __________________________________________

o “Old blood”? ________________________________________________________________

• If your church has leveled off in growth, what are the reasons for it? ______________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

God’s Natural Order of Things

• Is it generally true that children become like their parents?

• Do students, given enough time, become like their professors?

• Do citizens over time tend to become like their President?

• So, do churches become like their pastor?

WHAT IS DISCIPLE MAKING?

Disciple making is not:

• A ________________________ program

• Disciple making is not merely ________________________.teaching

• Disciple making is not merely ________________________ (ex. events).reaching

• Disciple making is not merely ________________________.discipleship

• Disciple making is not bound up in a ___________________ volume or

___________________ class.

• Its responsibility is never placed upon ________________________ parachurch

organizations.

• Exclusively bound to a one-on-one __________________relationship or small

groups.

• Being primarily discipled by someone __________________outside your local church.

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What disciple making is:

• A normative, local church, ________________________ individual responsibility that

God the Spirit empowers as Christ builds His church.

• It is each saint shouldering the responsibility to spiritually ________________________

reproduce themselves.

• It is the commitment of a life to another life for life.

• It requires that the ________________________ pastor be the “chief disciple maker.”

o If the pastor is not personally the most active, then . . . _____________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Programs Contrasted to Relationships

• Programs:

o Have a clean start and end.

o Provide measurable ____________________Accomplishments (Classes 101 – 401).

o Train people to serve for a _____________________limited time, typically the

length of the program.

o Consist of a _______few individuals giving the Word to many.

o Are rarely repeated.

o Constantly have to be reworked and tweaked, if they are not a one-time

event.

o Take much effort to garner participation, and often end with the realization

that no one will participate.

o Result in ________________hollow success. We are left wondering what we really

accomplished for Christ.

• A Relationship in Process

o Success can take decades_________________.

o Trains people to serve for a ________________lifetime, “one life to a life for life.”

o Many individuals are training other individuals. Disciples make disciples.

o Biblical disciple-making __________________naturally grows.

o Results in the first thing being fulfilled as described in Revelation 2:4-5.

Christ’s last words are our first command.

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Program

A Relationship in Process

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JESUS’ UPSIDE DOWN STRATEGY1

• Discipling the few is slow___________.

• The Kingdom of God is a mustard seed ____________ ____________ and

always will be.

• Discipling the few is hard___________.

• People are complex______________, and formation is messy___________.

• Discipling the few is limiting___________.

• Limits and rebellion are closely related__________ ____________. We have

been resisting_____________ limits since the Garden of Eden.

• Discipling the few demands_______________ a lot from me_________.

• I cannot give________ what I do not________ possess__________, and cannot

help but give________

what I _____ ___________do possess. It requires I keep growing and

learning.

1 Taken from https://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/jesus-upside-strategy/

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THE PASTOR’S PRIMARY DISCIPLES

The Father and the Family

WHAT’S YOUR WEEK LOOK LIKE?

There are only 168 hours in a week, so how do you allot your time?

Sleep: 49

Eating: 10.5

Worship: 10

Working: 50

______________: ___________

______________: ___________

______________: ___________

______________: ___________

______________: ___________

______________: ___________

Total: ___________

DISCIPLE MAKING QUIZ: TRUE OR FALSE

This quiz is taken from Aubrey Malphurs’ book Strategic Disciple Making.

1. ______ The only way to disciple a person is for a _____________, _____________gifted,

mature Christian to work one-on-one with a believer who ______________desires

to grow in Christ.

2. ______ The disciple is a Christian, but a Christian may not be a disciple.

3. ______ Disciple making is only one of several key ______________ministries in the

church.

4. ______ The church should focus primarily on discipling those who are __________

serious about Christianity.

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5. ______ Disciple making involves the ________________edification of the saints and

not the __________________evangelism of sinners.

6. ______ Disciple making is best accomplished by a ___________few in the church

who are _______________trained to disciple those who are serious about their

commitment to Christ.

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WHAT IS A DISCIPLE MAKER?

A Biblical ______________Theology of Disciple Making

Introduction

Matthew 28:19-20

• Notice the _________verbs and ___________verbals

• What makes this declaration of the Great Commission different from the

others? __________________________________________________________________________

• What is the root of the ______________imperative “make disciples”?

The Old Testament Reality

• There is no ____________________LXX/Septuagint equivalent for the root for “make

disciples” in Matthew 28:19-20.

• But, there is an __________________equivalent for the root of the imperative “make

disciples.”

• Jeremiah 12:16

• Other than this verb (lmd or “lamad”) which gives us a description of the nature

of _____________learning in the OT and NT, what other relationships in the OT

mirrored a quasi-discipleship relationship? _________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Greek Mindset (500-300BC)

Historically known as the Hellenic Period (Philosophers)

• _____________Learners

• Learned from a _____________master or ____________teacher

• _____________Committed

• _____________Imitators

• _____________Devotion (almost religious in Greek culture)

• _______________Fellowship (continued after the teacher died)

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The Period Between the Testaments

(The Post Exilic Background to Christ’s Ministry)

• The Jewish mind was tremendously _____________influenced by Greek culture and

thought.

• The followers of the __________Talmud (Jewish written tradition) were named the

“Talmeed.”

o After the tradition of the Greeks with the Philosophers and their disciples,

the teachers of the Talmud had their disciples called the Talmeed.

o This is the beginning of the ________Rabbi position in Jewish history. The

teachers of law and the Talmud were the Rabbis.

o This also is the_________origin of the existence of Jewish schools of

thought (such as Hillel, Shami, etc.).

The Talmeed Described

• ___________Learners and ____________listeners .

• Had to have a teacher.

• Passing along the teachings of the rabbis to carry on the ________ oral traditions.

• They were ______________imitators.

• Could not be a Talmeed without fellowship.

• They were expected to _________serve.

• There was a deep _________________commitment.

The New Testament Reality of Disciple Making

• Forms of the root “disciple” are found some ________250 times in the NT.

• The first time we see it is in reference to ________ _____ _____________John the

Baptist’s disciples – Matthew 9:14

• ____________Pharisees had disciples – Mark 2:18

• _______/_______Saul/Paul had disciples – Acts 9

• First __________ woman called a disciple – Acts 9

BUT Jesus was always clarifying what made up a true follower:

1. _____________ Listening (expert listening) – John 10:27-29

2. ___________ Learn (an absolute learner) – **Matthew 11:28-29

3. ___________ Obeying – John 17:13-20

4. ___________ Mimic – “Follow Me”

5. ___________ Fellowship – Mark 3:14

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6. ___________ Committed – Luke 9:62 – “hand to the plow”

7. ___________ Serving – Mark 10:45

8. ___________ Suffering – Matthew 5:10

9. ___________ Rewarded – John 12:32; John 14:2-3

Conclusion

• What is your conclusion regarding what Jesus meant when He said, “follow me”? _

_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

• What can we conclude would be the desire of a ______new believer? ______________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

• What protective value would mentoring these new followers of Christ have on the

__________ ___________local church? _________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

• From a discipler’s standpoint, how much ________time would need to be invested

in a new disciplee? _________________________________________________________________

• One Life to a Life for Life

References used for “What is a Disciple Maker?”

• Culver, Robert D. "What Is The Church's Commission? Some Exegetical Issues In

Matthew 28:16-20." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 10:2 (1967).

• Rogers, Cleon. “The Great Commission.” Bibliotheca Sacra 130 (1973).

• manthano, mathetes, matheteuo, mathetria in the following four works:

• Arndt, William, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. A

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

• Balz, Horst Robert, and Gerhard Schneider. Exegetical Dictionary of the New

Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1990–.

• Brown, Colin. New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Grand

Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1986.

• Kittel, Gerhard, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds. Theological

Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964

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THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH MODEL OF DISCIPLE MAKING

1 Thessalonians – One Life to a Life for Life

Chapter 1. Establish the Right Start: The Foundation of Your Expectant Faith

• At the right _________place – v. 1

• Speaking the right ____________message – vv. 2-5

• Maintaining the right ___________example – vv. 6-7

• Having the right ____________influence – vv. 8-9

• Anticipating a right _________ hope– v. 10

Chapter 2. Have Right Relationships: The Fellowship of Your Expectant Faith

• Have the right ______________/____________initiative/approach – v. 1

• Understand the right __________motive – vv. 2-3

• Own the right _____________disposition – vv. 4-12

• Long for mature enduring ________________relationships – vv. 13-20

Chapter 3. Cultivate Right Growth Patterns: The Fervor of Expectant Faith

• A growing faith has the right ___________ __________support system – vv. 1-5

• A growing faith needs the right spiritual _______________reciprocity – vv. 6-10

• A growing faith is focused on the right __________passion – vv. 11-13

Chapter 4. Live Holy Lives: The Focus of Your Expectant Faith

• The ________________foundation of your holy walk – vv. 1-2

• The _________focus of your holy growth – vv. 3-8

• The __________freedom of your holy love – vv. 9-12

• The ________hope of your holy future – vv. 13-18

Chapter 5. Pursue Godly Goals: The Future of Your Expectant Faith

• Live with the right ________________ perspective – vv. 1-5

• Pursue a Godly team effort – vv. 6-11

• Attach to a proper ____________worship – vv. 12-28

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DEVELOPING A CULTURE OF DISCIPLE MAKING

Some Hands and Feet of Disciple Making

Building the Nursery – A 5 to 15-Year Process

• Implement Disciple Making as your church-wide __________mission (clothes line).

• ________Teach Disciple Making as a ______________ Culture – “Everyone win one,

lead one, follow one, take one.”

• Provide whole church _______________opportunity to practically learn (7th grade

up for 9 months during Sunday School).

o Use ___________________ Foundations as the curriculum.

• Preach through __________________________ 1 Thessalonians during the same year.

o Best time is the Morning Worship Hour.

• Each class is on the same material for each week for 9 months.

o *See Sunday School Schedule at end of notes.

• The 4th Sunday of each month all meet together.

• Call for commitment after 9 months. (Appoint an administrative helper.)

• What will the next 4 years look like?

o The next 9 Months:

▪ Give them a place during a scheduled service.

▪ Have folks interested in beginning meet you after a morning or

evening service (in a non-pressure way).

▪ Pair them up to review the Foundations again, just together. No

time limit on this.

▪ More confident folks can invite an unsaved friend to begin studying

with them.

▪ More confident folks can invite someone in the church to follow

them.

o 9-12 Months:

▪ Ask ________less committed followers to join ________more

committed followers in personal discipleship as they feel led.

▪ Have those who have started give ___________________ testimony

once per month in an evening service.

▪ Offer friends outside the church and guests at church a personal

Bible study.

o 12-15 Months:

▪ Form a ministry team to look for guests.

• Get to know them; offer to sit with them.

• Offer a personal Bible Study.

• Offer to take them to lunch, dinner, or coffee (church pays!).

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▪ Invite friends outside the church and guests at church to personal

Bible Study (try not to invite people to a church service).

▪ Provide another regularly scheduled service for disciple-making.

o 36 Months:

▪ In time, make the initial step a __________________requirement for

membership.

• By the time most are interested in membership, they

probably will have a discipler.

• They are introduced to a mentor on week one of the

membership class if they have not had a discipler yet.

• The content of the lessons should be finished before they

become a member.

• In time, they are expected to shepherd another soul.

o 48 Months:

▪ Provide a third regularly scheduled service for disciple-making.

• Broad Steps to Beginning:

o Starts with pastoral approval.

o Leaders can lead.

o A leader to help administrate the discipleship.

o A trusted more mature believer going through the material with others.

o Provide a location and a time for your people to meet.

▪ Three scheduled service times in 48 months.

▪ No one should disciple at the expense of their service to the church.

Leadership Leading the Way (Psalm 133)

• Leaders __________________ shepherd a member or new attendee.

• Under an “Everyone Win One” goal, when a leader wins a soul, he

______________disciples that soul.

• Leader gives _____________testimony as to how things are going with the new

convert. (“What’s the good news, about the good news?”)

o During any service; pastor leads; leaders are next.

• This expectation can fall out to other non-pastoral, non-deacon leaders in time.

• Restructure leadership meetings

o Weekly __________prayer/discipleship meetings with pastors

o ________________Discipleship/leadership meetings vs. board meetings

o Monthly __________prayer/discipleship meetings with elders and deacon

leaders

o Monthly discipleship deacons meeting with Associate Pastor

▪ Each deacon reports of their service and discipleship for the month.

o Annual Disciple-making “Leadership ___________________Questionnaire”

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▪ Accountable to Evangelism, Discipleship, and Service

Spiritual Mentoring Roadmap: The Mile Markers of the Spiritual Journey

The Mile Markers of the Spiritual Journey

• First _________________Impression – Invitation to dinner or coffee

• Let’s Begin: Foundations ___________Bible Study (Grace Discipleship Series)

• Let’s Meet the Family: ___________Welcome to Our Family (Grace Discipleship

Series) and Introduction to Service

• Let’s Walk Together: The Walk (Grace Discipleship Series)

• Let’s Pray: The God Who Hears – W. Bingham Hunter

• Let’s Read: Scripture Reading Plan

• Let’s Witness: Evangelism for the Fainthearted – Floyd Schneider

• Let’s Make Disciples: Discovering Disciple Making Ministry (The Trellis and the

Vine & The Lost Art of Disciple Making)

• Let’s Study Together: Simply Blessed (Grace Discipleship Series)

4 Major Areas of Life Experience

• Let’s Love Your Family: When Sinners Say I Do – Dave Harvey

o Shepherding A Child’s Heart – Tedd Tripp

• Let’s Be Pure: Finally Free – Heath Lambert

• Let’s Steward: Whole Life Stewardship (Grace Discipleship Series)

• Let’s Think Biblically: Love Not the World – Randy Leedy

o Biblical Worldview (worldliness, entertainment choices, current cultural

trends, etc.)

Your Faithful Example

• Let’s Focus: Your One Degree – Dave Jewitt

• Let’s Redeploy: Aquila and Priscilla Ministry Training

o Semi- or fully retired saints giving their lives to disciple making

• Let’s Influence: Intentional Titus 2 Ministry

o Reproducing another saint or two just like you

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Missional Budget

• Budget based on your ___________ _____________mission statement: “Grace Church

exists to glorify God by evangelizing the lost and equipping the saints with the

goal of Christ-likeness.”

• ________ 5 Year Plan beginning in 2006 to transform our budget to look like our

mission statement.

o Three Part Budget – Glory/Evangelism/Equipping

o Glory (staff and facilities) is now less than evangelism and equipping.

o Evangelism is now according to Acts 1:8 – More funds going into Jerusalem

(Mentor) than Judea (regional church planting), and more funds in Judea

than “uttermost part” (foreign missions). The result is more for the

“uttermost part.”

o Equip – discipleship material, educational material at all levels.

• Disciple makers love to give to a ministry mission rather than a mere budget.

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Lake County for Christ

• Personal Evangelism and Disciple-Making Training.

o Everyone Win One, Lead One, Follow One, Take One.

• Reaching each ________home in our city and county every 5 years with the gospel

in layers.

o _______ ___ ______ Door to Door in Mentor (19,200 homes) every 5 years

(During Wednesday Prayer Meeting).

▪ Evangelism weeks not days

o Mailing all 94,200 homes in our county every 5 years.

o Presence at every ________public venue in our county to distribute the

gospel.

o TV Commercials in 4-county area via Time Warner/Spectrum –

approximately 300-350 showings per month for $1,000.

2030 Vision

• Identify or _________plant one church in each of the 88 counties in Ohio.

• Identify and/or plant one church in each of the ________3033 counties in the

United States.

• Build a national, New Testament interdependent network among driven, Bible-

saturated, intellectually honest pastors for the cause of Christ and church planting.

(See Archmin.org/arch-map.)

• To ___________ utilize members at GCM to achieve this goal.

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o Disciple-making souls love to be visionaries!

Where Do We Start?

Disciple Making Strategy Suggestion

Disciple-making planning should include the following:

1. Ministry ___________analysis (What are we today?)

2. Spiritual discovery or development (What do we value?)

3. Mission _________________development (What are we here for?)

4. An ____________________environmental scan (What is going on where God has put

us?)

5. Vision development (Where does God want us to be in 10 years?)

6. Strategy development (How do we get to where God wants us to be?)

7. Strategy implementation (What are the tactics & detailed plans to move along on

the journey?)

8. Develop ____________________contingency plans for defined risks.

Eternal Results at Grace Church: Lasting Fruit

What you will see too:

• Consistent growth through disciple making

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• Jerusalem saturated in layers (city and county)

• 11 Church plants in 15 years

• Realizing 2 Timothy 2

• Aquila and Priscilla ministry development

• Changed pastoral ministry description

• National and global network of hundreds of churches for church planting

(Archmin.org)

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VITAL SIGNS OF A DISCIPLING CHURCH

How Strong is the Heartbeat?

The Heart of the Son for the Basics

Revelation 2:5 – “Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do

the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand

out of its place—unless you repent.”

Main Responsibility: Go Everywhere and Make Disciples

Information in the following sections was taken from Church Still Works by Paul Chappell and Clayton Reed.

• Are we growing _________locally in our churches?

o _______0-3% growth with corporate evangelism only

o _______3-5% growth with corporate and situational evangelism

o _______5-7% growth with corporate and situational evangelism in an

administrative way

o _______8-13% growth with well-organized disciple making with members

• Are we making ____________disciples as our church grows?

o Are people being _________saved?

o Are converts being ____________baptized?

o Are baptized converts becoming ______-_______long-term, active members

of our churches?

• Findings:

o One saved for every 2.4 people attending

o 27% of our converts are getting baptized

o 18% of our baptized converts are becoming committed members.

o 82% of converts _________never become committed members.

The Natural Activity of a Disciple-Making Church

• Is your church planting new churches? Planning to?

• Total Worship Attendance in New Churches

o Before ______ 1950 – 449,515

o 1950-______ 1969 – 736,494

o 1970-1989 – 879,385

o 1990-______ 2008 – 379,152

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Global Influence of Disciple-Making Churches

___________Foreign missions increases when local churches make disciples and plant

more churches!

Average Amount ________Given to Missions Annually:

• Independent Baptists: $13,295.98

• Southern Baptists: $4,426.00

• Assemblies of God: $14,339.33

Percentage of Whole Budget Given to Different Areas of Missions:

o Average percentage given to ________ local missions: 2-7%

o Average percentage given to church ____________planting: 0-2%

o Average percentage given to __________ foreign missions: 8-13%

Know Some Basics

• The ________ Field – Rural, Urban, Semi-Rural, Semi-Urban

• The __________ Farmer – The pastor needs to know his own giftedness and

limitations.

o ___________ Preacher – smaller churches

o Preacher/____________ Expositor – little larger churches

o Preacher/Expositor/_________________ Administrator – larger churches

• Our _________ Farms – Our churches may vary in growth depending on the Field,

but Heart of the Son of God for the Basics never changes.

• Sad Reality: Growth rates greatly differ by age of the church. Younger grow more

than older.

Avoiding Noble Pitfalls on Your Way to Making Disciples

• Everyone has a ______________commission, but it’s not always the Great

Commission.

• Beginning with your family and your leaders, develop a __________culture of

disciple making.

• Endeavor to know your ________Bible and First Century normative patterns of

church existence.

• Develop a philosophy of ministry from several ___________________________NT

passages – 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Acts 20:17-30; 1 Peter 4:7-11; Ephesians 4:11-12.

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Make a Difference: “Positive Deviance”

7 Virtues of Disciple-Making Churches

• Generate __________ Guests Through Effective Outreach

• Create Positive First ______________ Impressions

• Connect God’s _________ Words with ____________ Hearts

• Follow up Biblically and Strategically

• Use Effective _________ Tools and _____________ Technologies

• Compel Spiritual Commitments

• Develop Devoted Disciples – Every Member Motivated

Continue the Deviance: Maintain the Balance!

• Standing… but not standing still.

• Structure a strategic disciple-making plan and expect Christ to build the church.

1. ________________Theology_

2. ________Philosophy_________ (build the nursery)

3. Practice (methodology)

• Guard against theological drift.

o Over-emphasis, under-emphasis, or deemphasis of any particular doctrine.

Attend to doctrine within its biblical proportion.

o Deletion of any doctrine or addition of any “doctrine”

o Analogy: The human skeletal structure

• Caution your heart against “reactionary theology”

o Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) launched a New Evangelicalism with a

“New Attitude”

Continue the Deviance: Maintain Intellectual Honesty

• The shrinking of churches can be blamed mostly on the ___________leaders of

those churches. When the leaders play the “blame game,” they are not being

intellectually honest.

o Three things we blame: the world, worldly Christians, and stands we have

taken in the past.

• Some doctrines have been addressed out of their biblical proportion, leading to

spiritual scoliosis.

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RECOMMENDED BOOK LIST

Whole Church Evangelism and Disciple Making

• Evangelism for the Fainthearted – Floyd Schneider*

• The Lost Art of Disciple Making – LeRoy Eims

• The Trellis and the Vine – Colin Marshall and Tony Payne*

• True Evangelism – Lewis Sperry Chafer

• God-Centered Evangelism – R.B. Kuiper

• The Gospel and Personal Evangelism – Mark Dever

• Discipling: How to Help Others Follow Jesus – Mark Dever

• Sharing Your Faith with Friends and Family – Michael Green

• Evangelism Outside the Box – Rick Richardson

• Evangelism for the Rest of Us – Mike Bechtle

• Strategic Disciple Making – Aubrey Malphurs

• The Complete Book of Discipleship – Bill Hull

• The Power of One on One – Jim Stump

• The Art of Neighboring – Dave Runyon and Jay Pathak

• True Community – Jerry Bridges

• The Master Plan of Evangelism – Robert E. Coleman

*these titles are available from the Grace

Church bookstore and at gcm.li/store.

If you would like to give to Arch Ministries, please see below.

archm.in/donate or

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Dear Harry,

I received your email from Jude Leary after attending a Basic Discipleship Seminar in

July. I felt like what I heard from Pastor Tim Potter is what I have been looking for, for a

long time. I'm sold on the philosophy and have taken the last few weeks to review my

notes and begin laying out a strategy to see this kind of disciple-making ministry

become the heartbeat of this church.

I'm trying to contain my excitement so that I don't steamroll my church with "another

new thing." So, I have simply been praying about it for the last month and have taken

some time each week to think through when and how to implement it.

Based on what I heard at the seminar, here's what I am thinking.

1) Teaching through the 12-lesson basic guide in SS starting in Nov. so that we can

finish before June (I'd start sooner but I have a conflict that delays my start to Nov. 3).

I'm budgeting 2 weeks per lesson; it may move more quickly depending on

questions/answers.

2) Taking our leadership team through a book about this new approach written by

someone unrelated to Grace Mentor.

3) Early next year preaching through 1 Thessalonians 1-5 laying out a case for one on

one discipleship from the NT (Maybe Jan-Mar.)

4) Inviting people who finish the 12-lesson course, to find someone else in the church to

partner with and go through the lessons again (starting July/August 2020).

5) Around this same time, opening the 6pm hour on Sunday evenings for these studies

to take place at tables in our church cafeteria. Those not doing a study with someone

would be invited to another classroom for a short devotional and prayer time.

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You've been through this at Grace (and maybe some with other churches). Can you see

any gaps in the implementation process? Or something that should be considered that I

have overlooked?

Thank you,

A Grateful Pastor