Simple Discipleship 2009

Much of this article was recently published on the Equip Disciples blog at: http://equipdisciplesblog.blogspot.com/ under the title “Use Simple Discipleship to Equip Disciples” as a part of the Simple Discipleship Virtual Book Tour. I felt it is a good case study to use to illustrate how international churches are importing the church organizational structures of the American churches. As in America, churches need to move away from a silo and program approach to discipleship and employ a ubiquitous approach that more nearly simulates biblical spiritual growth which is a process and not a program.

Christians and churches in the United States generously provide money for missions to reach people for Christ in third world countries. Increasingly, church members are volunteering to go on short-term mission trips to help build church buildings, directly share the message of Christ, and equip church leaders there. While all of these are altruistic and expected missions activities of which should be encouraged and increased, western churches may be exporting some of our own problems and replicating them in other nations. Specifically, while American churches are wealthy by third world standards and should help them, doing so may create an attitude of dependence. However, more troubling is the fact that third world church leaders are copying American church methods, structures, and models.

I have been providing leadership and discipleship coaching for a church leader in Uganda. The leader pastors a church of about 100 congregants and virtually begged me to teach him Simple Discipleship principles. I initially resisted coaching my pastor friend from Africa primarily because of cultural and contextual differences as compared to American churches. The pastor’s persistence won the day, and he convinced me to train him in the Simple Discipleship concepts.

Since Simple Discipleship was published, I have further developed and refined the process and have begun to use the survey and balanced scorecard as an initial church spiritual vitality analysis. The reader of this article should know that Simple Discipleship uses four primary values of Worship (red), Word (blue), Ministry (yelow), and Missions (green) which are measurements of what I call Dynamic Necessary Attributes (DNA) needed for healthy church growth. In preparation for working with the pastor in Uganda, I asked him to provide numbers for the average resident attendance, worship, Bible study, ministry participants, and missional involvement. Ministry is defined as activity that is directed to support the church fellowship internally. Missions is defined as activity that is directed toward the community or world outside the church and usually centered off campus toward unchurched.

Set Free Christian Church is located in Lugazi, Uganda of east Africa and is a city of 32,700. The church ministers to a total of about 150 people weekly (average resident attendance) in some way, and 85 of that number attend worship, while 35 attend Bible study, 17 people serve in a ministry activity, and 20 people assist in missional outreach. Respectively, the percentages of 150 would be 57, 23, 11, and 13. Simple Discipleship uses horizontal measurements or what is called balanced discipleship. This means that if Set Free Christian Church were the perfect church, 100% of the 150 people would be active in each of the four areas measured. Of course, there is no perfect church this side of heaven, but the pie graph illustrates the real numbers and a lack of balanced discipleship. Balanced discipleship could be illustrated by a pie graph with four parts that are close to equal in size. As you can see, the graph illustrates four unequal parts. In this case, a large percentage of the people connect in worship, and fewer develop in Bible study, engage in ministry, and deploy in missions.

In graph form here is what the numbers from Set Free Christian Church look like:

• Average Resident Attendance- 150…100%
• Worship attendance- 85 of 150…57%
• Word attendance- 35 of 150…23%…
• Ministry participation- 17 of 150…11%
• Missions participation- 20 of 150…13%

A total of 65 or 43% of the people are not active in any of the four dimensions of the church’s life.

This is an example of horizontal measurement…counting people only once in each dimension across the four primary spiritual growth areas. Of course, the numbers have been placed in a pie graph format to so balance or the lack thereof. Like American churches, many of the people reflected in “total membership” are missing from any participation. Furthermore, over 50% of those who attend worship are not active in the other three vital areas of church and Christian life.

The point is that though the context and culture are different, Set Free Christian Church reflects some of the same problems as American churches, i.e. silo methodology, compartmentalized ministries, and a focus on evangelism without equal attention to teaching, hands-on ministry, and missional invlovement by every Christian. Set Free Christian Church is but one example, but it is likely that other international church leaders have replicated some of the structures of churches in the western developed world and in so doing they have probably also imported our silo and program approach to discipleship in which evangelism is the primary focus. Making disciples includes BOTH evangelism and a process of teaching to move Christians from one level of spiritual growth to the next providing fellowship and support that encourages them to grow and avoid regression (carnal Christianity).

Simple Discipleship is a new paradigm for discipleship or at least its application restores biblical values-based discipleship. I look forward to seeing Simple Discipleship principles applied in churches in all nations that desire balanced discipleship and to empower total missional involvement that will activate Christians to be better evangelists as well.

To purchase your copy of Simple Discipleship, go to:

 http://www.simplediscipleship.com/store.html

Josh Hunt has a way of simplifying issues and cutting right to the point. He is particularly effective at helping church and small group leaders improve their teaching and increase their class size. The primary key is good teaching by framing the questions. Most people fail to understand that Jesus himself often taught by asking questions (Mt 6:28; 7:3; 9:4; 9:28; Mk 8:29; 13:2; Lk 6:46; 22:46; Jn 4:35; 9:35; 13:12; 21:15-16). This is the genius of Josh Hunt’s method, and it sounds easy but requires that small group leaders do more than simply bore their classes by lecturing them or reading points from an outline. Josh challenges leaders to spiritually come alive and get creative. So how does the principles of Josh Hunt’s teachings apply to Simple Discipleship (SD)? SD encourages building great Bible study groups and a strong sense of community within those groups. Additionally, strong Bible study groups are needed in a Simple Discipleship church since they are the center of ministry within the church and missional outreach. You can read more of Josh Hunt’s articles at http://www.joshhunt.com/

It is not enough to teach what Jesus taught; we need to teach how Jesus taught.

I start reading hundreds of books but rarely finish any of them. Occasionally I finish one. Once in a blue moon I read one twice. Reading a book three times is almost unheard of. I have just done it with two different books. I want to talk about one of them in this set of articles.

Modern science has taught us much about communication. A great deal of research has been done on what makes a message stick. One of the best books on the subject is Heath and Heath’s Made to Stick. If you have ever seen a copy you might remember. The book is bright orange with a piece of duct tape stuck to it. The cover itself teaches one of the six principles contained inside.

As I read (then listened) to this incredible book, I was struck by two things:

• This is exactly how Jesus taught
• Every Bible Study lesson should include these 6 elements

It is not enough to teach what Jesus taught; we need to teach how Jesus taught.

Jesus perfectly illustrates all six of the what the best of modern science tells us goes into making a message sticky. Its like He knew! Today, we can understand and appreciate on a deeper level why people down through the ages consider Jesus to be the greatest teacher ever. And we have all the more insight into how we can teach sticky lessons as Jesus taught sticky lessons.

Jesus’ message was sticky. It sticks. People remember what Jesus said. They quote him. People quote Jesus who do not even know they are quoting Jesus. He has impacted every corner of culture.

What are these six principles?  We will look at them more in detail–and illustrate these in the life of Jesus, but here is an overview. (Note that it spells out the word SUCCES)

Simple.

Jesus taught in short, pithy, memorable slogans. The golden rule is one one example. Rick Warren says people don’t remember paragraphs; people remember slogans. Jesus reduced many of the most profound truths down to memorable slogans. Simple is not simplistic. You don’t have to be very smart to make things complicated. It takes a genius to make them simple. Jesus was a genius at simple, but profound communication.

I try to do this in my lessons-often including a repeated phrase to reduce the lessons to something that will be ringing in their ears when they walk out. (And, if it is really sticky, much later.) You would do well to include a simple, memorable, slogan-like summary of what you want to teach in every lesson.

Unexpected.

The brain is wired to notice what changes, what is different, what is new, what is unusual, what is out of the ordinary. This is the really amazing thing about Jesus’ teaching. I have read the gospels hundreds of times and Jesus’ message still shocks me. I still can’t believe he said what he did to the Syrophoenician woman.

In contrast, a lot of Sunday School lessons are sadly predictable. They have this “yup-yup” tone about them. That is why people are yawning. It is not enough to teach what Jesus taught. We need to teach how Jesus taught.

My wife gets credit for this suggestion. I try to include something unexpected, something creative, something shocking in every lesson. You should too. Jesus was unexpected. We should be too.

Concrete.

I cant prove it, but I think Jesus held stuff a lot when he taught. I think he pointed to things. Like when he spoke about wheat I imagine him with some wheat in his hand. I can’t prove that and it might not be true. But, I know this is true: he talked about lots of stuff that you can touch and feel. He used the physical to teach the invisible. We should too.

This is the part of my lessons that I struggle with the most, but it is perhaps most important to make a message sticky. Try to bring something into the classroom every week that you can touch and feel. Your people will remember what the hold and smell. The message will stick.

Credible.

This was one of the most shocking things about Jesus’ teaching. “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,  because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” Matthew 7:28-29 (NIV)

Jesus teaching had its own authority. We don’t have the authority of Jesus so we quote him, and the rest of the Bible, as our authority. We also do well to quote respected leaders. Sometimes, saying, “John MacArthur says” is better than, “I have always thought.”

Here is a quote I used yesterday. I think you will agree it is much more powerful coming from John Piper: “The obstacle that keeps us from obeying the first (vertical) commandment is the same obstacle that keeps us from obeying the second (horizontal) commandment. It is not that we are all trying to please ourselves, but that we are all far too easily pleased.” –Desiring God, John Piper. I try to include quotes like this in every lesson and you would do well to do the same.

Emotional.

My preaching professor in seminary used to often say, “People are very seldom moved by cold, hard logic” We change people when we move them emotionally. Jesus moved people emotionally. He made the angry and he made the cry. He made the puzzled and he shocked them. So should we. Emotional messages stick. I try to include great stories in every lesson to make the message emotional and thus sticky. You should too.

Story.

 Jesus used illustrations to tell the crowds all these things. He did not tell them anything without illustrating it with a story. Matthew 13:34 (GW)

Great teachers use great stories. Great stories stick. Most of us can tell stories told to us in childhood. I work at including great stories in every lesson and you should too.

Over the next six articles we will be looking at these six principles and how we can include then in every lesson to be a more sticky teacher. Jesus used these principles and is the master teacher of all times. We will be illustrating these principles from the life of Jesus.

 It is not enough to teach what Jesus taught; we need to teach how Jesus taught.

Next article: Simple lessons stick

Simple Discipleship 2009

Tom Cocklereece knows how to keep it simple! In his recently released book, Simple Discipleship, Tom provides “a framework for building your ministry process to effectively make disciples” (9). Tom gives a play-by-play game plan to move your church from complex to simple. The bridge of effectiveness from the old way of “making disciples” to the simple discipleship way is spiritual life coaching. Tom’s simple process of discipleship “does not replace teaching materials per se, but instead provides a framework umbrella, matrix, and method that will help ministry leaders do simple church and discipleship” (22).

A wise person once said, “It takes a good tool to do a good job.” Simple Discipleship is a good tool that will raise the bar of discipleship in your church. My highest recommendation for Simple Discipleship. Below Tom elaborates on the simple discipleship process that moves beyond a program-driven approach to a disciple-making approach. – Jess Bousa (author of The Discipleship Dare)

What Process Does Your Church Use to Make Disciples?

The key word is “process.” Prior to the twentieth-century, churches saturated their ministries with discipleship rather than treating it as a separate entity. Worship, music, prayer, Bible study, fellowship, and so on, were recognized as being a part of discipleship. A paradigm shift occurred in the twentieth-century when many churches adopted a program approach to ministry delivery, and for a few generations it seemed to work. But the program approach to ministry delivery is dependent upon strong nuclear families, church and denominational loyalty, and a homogenous community structure that is unapologetically Christian and active in church. Neither condition exists in much of the U.S. and especially in the metropolitan and urban cities. Church leaders did not see the change coming while Bible colleges and seminaries continue to educate ministers in the program ministry paradigm, and many church leaders continue to work harder at delivering ministry using the outdated approach.

The program ministry approach also has a major inherent problem—it is a silo delivery system. Several years ago I went on a mission trip to Wisconsin to help build a church, and I loved the countryside. I took several photos of dairy farms that included a big house and two or three silos for grain storage. In one they may store corn and in another they may store wheat. Your home probably has several silos in the kitchen—one for sugar and another for salt, along with several others. Churches have developed silos for ministry delivery—music, worship, Sunday school, Women’s ministry, Men’s ministry, children’s ministry, sport’s ministry, oh yes, and discipleship as a separate entity. The program/silo approach tends to lead to an unhealthy and ineffective leadership structure as department (program/silo) leaders become protective of their area, which leads to even more separation of each ministry. Over time the ministry delivery areas are separate and no longer function as a unified and connected process for disciple-making. Churches have done ministry this way for so long that if they are encouraged to return to a pre twentieth-century approach, they might say, “We’ve never done it that way before.” For a bicycle to be an effective propulsion process, each sprocket, gear, and chain must remain connected, and if the chain becomes disconnected or jammed, the movement will stop. Such is the program approach to ministry delivery.

I am not suggesting that churches completely do away with the program approach to ministry delivery, as it is an effective method of providing some specialized ministries such as those directed to men and women, to name two. But disciple-making must permeate all ministries of the church since making disciples is the primary purpose of the church (Matthew 28:19). I do not believe there are five purposes of the church—worship, fellowship, ministry, missions, and discipleship—, but one: MAKING DISCIPLES. There are two sides to the making disciples balance sheet: evangelism (baptizing) and teaching (see http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/baptist-church-decline-balance-both-sides-of-the-great-commission/) .

 Simple Discipleship (SD) is an answer to the program/silo approach to ministry delivery and disciple-making. It will return your church to developing a process for making disciples. Two respected Christian leaders and teachers recently reviewed Simple Discipleship and here is what they said:

–Dr. Nelson Price, Pastor Emeritus, Roswell St. Baptist Church, Marietta, GA
SD is a life-support system for churches. The concepts are definitive and measurable. However, there is a little known secret of success in all of life. It is this: “Nothing works.” This program will not work. You have to work it. If worked the result is a potentially renewed church comprised of confident and fulfilled Christians. It is to be commended as a method of permeating the life-style of individuals and putting the total church on task.

–Dr. Chuck Lawless, Dean, Billy Graham School, Vice President for Academic Programming, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Far too many believers have never been discipled, and too few churches are prepared to address this problem. Tom Cocklereece has proposed not a program, but a process that drives discipleship into the DNA of a congregation.  Read this book, work the ideas for your church, and start making disciples!

 Here are some diagnostic questions for you to ask about your discipleship ministry:

• What process does your church use to make disciples?
• Is it a process or a program? (Remember that a processes connect systems while programs may be independent)
• Is your process working?
• How do you know it is working?
• How do you measure results?
• What expectations are communicated to the church?
• Is everyone unified around the same clear expectations?

Leaders of Simple Discipleship churches can answer these questions in a definitive way. I look forward to helping to launch a discipleship revolution in many churches. To purchase your copy of Simple Discipleship: How to Make Disciples in the 20^th Century, go to: http://www.simplediscipleship.com/Store.html

SD Blessings!

Dr. Tom Cocklereece

This article is part 2 of a virtual book tour for Dr. Jeffery A. Johnson and his new book Got Style? Personality-Based Evangelism. The author challenges the reader on why sharing the greatest message in the universe makes many feel burdened and overwhelmed because they are sharing out of guilt instead of grace. Dr. Johnson establishes a case that people will evangelize more frequently as they do so using their natural style that is related to their God-given personalities. This article gives readers a taste of the book and the need for rethinking biblical evangelism that avoids the traditional cookie-cutter methodology. Most of my readers have received some kind of evangelism training which sometimes gives the impression that Christians are robots going from one person to another and playing a recording. Sharing our faith is to be anything but rote impersonal repetitive encounters with others who need a personal relationship with God. Dr. Johnson serves as the National Director of Evangelism and Church Planting for the American Baptist Churches, USA.  …Dr. Tom Cocklereece

Personality Based Evangelism in Particular:

The stories of Andrew and Phillip-and the experiences of other people I have known-have always led me to wonder exactly what it is that allows or enables people to share their faith with others so freely and so immediately after their conversions. It seems clear that a believers’ early communication then and now is about a personal encounter and experience with Christ, not really a doctrine or dogma. Why? It certainly is because the Holy Spirit leads and moves people, and the Spirit’s role cannot and will not be minimized. But is there also some God-given something in people the Holy Spirit works with that enables them to be early and effective witnesses, even without special training? I believe there is. My study and experience have led me to this conclusion.

More than anything else, personality is the human component involved in effective evangelism. By personality, I mean much more than the traditional dichotomy of extrovert vs. introvert, which pits three-fourths of population against the other fourth, respectively. Extroverts and introverts can be found in varying degrees in any of the personality styles. By personality I mean God’s inherent wiring as to how people generally engage and interact with the world.

People seem to instinctively know this even if they have different ways of expressing it. A recent informal poll found only 8 to 10 percent of Christians regularly share Christ with others. When asked, “Why don’t Christians share Christ?” several responses were given:

• 33.5% – Afraid of being rejected, embarrassed
• 21.7% – Afraid of not having answers
• 19.2% – Rarely think about the need
• 17.3% – Don’t know what to say
• 8.3% – Haven’t found a way to share that fits personal style (In other words, it’s not comfortable or natural.)

• Monologue … Dialogue
• Presentations … Conversations
• Our language … Their language
• Count (quantity of) conversions …Count (quality of) conversations
• Front door approaches … Back door approaches
• Fishing from the bank … Swimming with the fish
• Scripted … Spontaneous
• Winning … Nudging
• Gospel presentations … Gospel experiences

It is my pleasure to participate in a virtual book tour for Dr. Jeffery A. Johnson and his new book Got Style? Personality-Based Evangelism. I have always thought that there are differences in the natural style each Christian as related to sharing Christ with others. Being of the melancholy/beaver personality type, I tend to appeal to logic, reason, and the Bible. My wife, Janice is the choleric/lion personality type and tends to cut to the chase and quickly attempts to influence a decision for Christ. Dr. Johnson establishes a case that people will evangelize more frequently as they do so using their natural style that is related to their God-given personalities. This article gives readers a taste of the book and the need for rethinking biblical evangelism that avoids the traditional cookie-cutter methodology. A subsequent article next week will focus on specifics of Got Style? Personality-Based Evangelism. Dr. Johnson serves as the National Director of Evangelism and Church Planting for the American Baptist Churches, USA.

Evangelism in General: In nearly twenty-five years of ministry, I have heard repeatedly preached and presented that an individual Christian needed to know their spiritual gifts in order to be effective at sharing their faith. That seemed to me to stifle the energy and enthusiastic a new believer brought to the conversion, especially if they are not the much biblically literate or historically churched at the time of their commitment to Christ. So that got me thinking … “What is it that people have inherently and innately within themselves at their point of conversion that God can use to enable them to share their faith effectively?” I came to the conclusion … it’s personality. Though spiritual gifts can enhance a person’s witness, they are not a requirement to be a witness. It seemed to me that the early church did effective evangelism for decades, actually seeing larger scale conversions than we have witnessed today and without the benefits of the lists of or training about spiritual gifts. It was centuries later that lists were widely disseminated for comparison purposes. When the gifts are presented in the Bible, it is always in connection to building up the Body of Christ, not reaching people outside the established Church.

This false premise of the relationship of evangelism and gifts needs to be replaced with better understanding of witnessing. Surprising as it might sound, the term “witnessing” is not a scriptural term. Being a witness is entirely scriptural. Witnessing is something you do. Being a witness for Jesus is something you are. Witnessing is a verb, a mechanical process. Being a witness is a noun, an organic reality. What qualifies you to be a witness for Christ is spending time with Christ.

At this point, you may be aware of an assumption I make about evangelism in general: I believe there is some point in time when a person makes a conscious decision to follow Christ. This can happen in any Christian tradition or outside all Christian influences. The decision may happen suddenly, as in Paul’s case, or it may happen gradually, as in Timothy’s case where he grew up with a believing mother and grandmother (2 Tim. 1:5). However it happens, becoming a disciple of Jesus is something people choose and accept rather than something that “just happens” to them from the outside. I believe that people come into God’s family by their own choices, not the words or choices of others. God has no spiritual grandchildren, just daughters and sons. Since that is the case, every person needs an opportunity to make that decision. Our evangelistic efforts give them that opportunity.

Growing up in Christ and mature use of the gifts does include acquiring some knowledge of the Bible. When people come to faith in Jesus Christ, their biblical literacy and knowledge vary widely. But, they all have a natural inclination to somehow share their new found faith. Expecting people to wait to share their faith until they have a general, adequate understanding of Scripture is problematic in two ways. First, who gets to decide what is adequate? Second, learning Scripture basics take time. And if people have little or no knowledge of the Bible when they come to faith in Christ, they might wait months or years to build that foundation. In the meantime, the energy and enthusiasm inherent in their conversion becomes stifled; passion wanes. New believers often become only “hearers” of the Word and not doers (James 1:22). New believers generally have twelve people in their spheres of influence who are not yet believers while long term Christians have about four on the average. Taking new believers out of their spheres of influence for any length of time substantially limits the reach of the Kingdom.

From a Biblical point of view, however, there is no time limit when it comes to sharing the Gospel. From the moment people experience salvation, they become witnesses, expected to share their faith experience, to introduce others to Christ. The Scripture’s witness in John 1 records that within hours Andrew shared his encounter with Christ– and with his own brother Peter. The next day, Philip – within hours of meeting Jesus – introduces his friend Nathanael to Christ. Studies show the closer one’s conversion to Christ is to one’s conversation about Christ, the more often one will share one’s faith over the course of time. The greater the lapse of time between eternal conversion and eventual conversation about it, the less likely people are to evangelize and evangelize regularly, if ever. Some studies say that as many as 50% of believers have never shared their faith with another person. What would account for this? Perhaps if we are honest, we will admit that the more leadership roles people take on in the church in order to “use their spiritual gifts,” the less time they have for connections with people who are not yet Christian believers.

To hear more about this, check out Jeff’s book, Got Style? Personality-Based Evangelism at www.JudsonPress.com. It is turning traditional evangelism on its head.

Purchase Dr. Johnson’s book at the link above to Judson Press or at Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Got-Style-Personality-Based-Jeffrey-Johnson/dp/0817015558/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258646452&sr=8-1

Leadership

Being a part of a new church or turnaround church that is growing is one of the most fulfilling experiences I have ever had. When people are receiving Christ and a sense of harmony seems to fill and surround the people and the ministries, it is like heaven on earth. A healthy church is something for which we church leaders strive to lead. I have had two experiences in churches that enjoyed significant growth and momentum—for a while. What stopped the growth? Outdated ineffective dysfunctional silo-style guiding structures reversed the positive spiritual momentum.

In a new church start in Texas, I served in the leadership to directly assist the pastor. The church began as a mission of another church in the community that had a church planting ministry that was very intentional. Planting a church is the easy part; keeping it growing is another. The goal in time was for the new church to stand on her own two feet, as it were, and constituting as an autonomous entity. The parent church and local denomination had several requirements before the new church’s identity and autonomy would be recognized—constitution, By-Laws, documents of incorporation as a non-profit in the state, and so on. I was young in the ministry and did not understand why the pastor kept putting off officially constituting the church. We finally completed all of the work to establish the legal identity of the church, enjoyed a great celebration, and then watched the growth slow to a trickle. The excitement was gone and I then understood why my pastor waited as long as he could.

In my current ministry, we experienced what we thought was a turnaround. I hoped we would be one of those “break-out churches” as Dr. Thom Rainer identified in his book by that title. We overcame a church split, established new ministries, began to intentionally share Christ, and established our discipleship process. Six years after a devastating church split, the church had doubled in size, had two worship services, and was reaching unchurched people. Once again, the growth momentum came to a screeching halt and people began to slowly depart. Why… outdated ineffective dysfunctional silo-style guiding structures borrowed from the corporate world.

Space does not allow for me to fully elaborate, but in both cases the guiding structures that were to provide stability stopped the growth. In the first case, the constitution and by-laws slowed the growth like concrete setting-up as the leaders’ energy was sapped by frequent and lengthy committee meetings that seemed to accomplish little. A turf mentality emerged that stifled the collaborative culture of the new church. In the second case, the guiding structures were very weak as related to selecting and installing deacons and other leaders. Selecting leaders became a popularity contest. When conflict later emerged, the guiding structures that were designed to deal with such conflict actually became an instrument that slowed the response of the leaders. Here are some important questions:

• What are the guiding structures of your church…or better stated, do they work?
• How long has it been since they were examined or modified?
• Leaders should not wait until a conflict during which to try to fix weaknesses in guiding structures.
• Are the guiding structures too confining, inflexible, unclear, or contradictory of one another or of the Bible?
• Do the guiding structures encourage collaboration or silo and turf mentalities?
• Do the guiding structures take on more importance than the ministry they are designed to support?
• Do your guiding structures support a discipleship process and leadership development process that is Biblical?

Guiding structures establish an organization’s identity but, like a growing disciple of Christ, they are to be growing, flexible, and empowering.

SD Blessings!

Dr. Tom Cocklereece

Today I have invited my friend Jess Bousa to write a blog for Simple Discipleship. You will see that he is as passionate about discipleship as I am. He has written a new book that will be a great resource to grow disciples. If your internal fire for your own spiritual growth is burning low, then I recommend The Discipleship Dare to help rekindle the flame. Perhaps you have heard of The Love Dare that challenged many couples to improve their marriages. Jess did not write that book, but he did write The Discipleship Dare that challenges Christians to develop and flex their spiritual disciple muscles. BTW, this would be a great resource to support your startup of Simple Discipleship.

By Jess Bousa (Guest Blogger), author of The Discipleship Dare: Living Dangerously for God

The American Church is in the middle of a discipleship crisis. In Dallas Willard’s book, The Great Omission, he concludes that the Church is full of undiscipled disciples. Instead of making disciples, we have made converts and instead of baptizing them into the Trinitarian community, we have baptized them into church membership. When the discipleship process is reduced down to converts and church membership, it often takes the real challenge out of following Jesus through our everyday lives. Without the challenge to be pushed to the Biblical standard of discipleship, the world will be full of unChristian Christians, which is the general consensus of outsiders to the Christian faith the Barna Group discovered in their extensive research project reported in the book, UnChristian.

Marines are challenged to thrive not only survive at all times no matter the costs. Every year approximately 38,000 Marines receive their basic training, which is far more challenging than any other branch of the military. Most Marines testify that going through the twelve weeks of boot camp to gain entrance into the Marines is the most challenging thing they ever had to do in their lives. There is no such thing as an unMarine Marine. If the Marines were filled with such a person, they would not be known as being the most elite armed forces in the Military. Their reputation is the result of their training process. Without a training process that challenges every area of life, they would not perform the tasks necessary.

The process determines the product. What if the process of training disciples in the local church has been sidetracked as a result of mass producing discipleship for the crowds? What if discipleship starts and ends with the personal development of a few? Without a tool that builds a bridge from the preaching and teaching in the local church to the real life of a disciple through the week, “real disciples” will continue to be sidelined.

To combat the discipleship crisis in the American Church, I created an experience called: The Discipleship Dare. It is a journey that lasts for 40 days. It can be used alone or in the context of a group. I designed it to jumpstart the lifestyle of a new disciple or revive the lifestyle of a veteran disciple. It can be used as a companion guide for a sermons series, small groups or Sunday School classes. What if the biggest risk in life is not taking any risks for discipleship? I dare you to experience the 40 day Discipleship Dare challenge and dare others to do the same!

For Free Resources & To Purchase, The Discipleship Dare,

Please Visit @ www.TheDiscipleshipDare.com/ 

Simple Discipleship 2009

BTW, The book Simple Discipleship: How to Make Disciples in the 21st Century is available for order at http://www.simplediscipleship.com on the store page. The book will be released by Church Smart Resources soon.

Simple Discipleship Coaching Model

World famous author and Christian leader John Maxwell has well said, “Everything rises or falls on leadership.” This is one reason it is so important for pastors and church leaders to actually lead instead of simply manage. The temptation for pastors is to put the church on “automatic” and focus on preaching and teaching, and this is a mistake that you and your church cannot afford. Believe me…I learned this the hard way. Pastors and leaders in smaller churches under 300 feel great pressure as the church may not be large enough to pay a staff member to focus on administrative issues. On the other hand, leaders of large churches express many of the same concerns of leaders in smaller churches—the difference is the problems are the same but larger. Have you ever cleaned or varnished a floor and found yourself in a corner? This describes the current state of the church in a number of ways but especially in regard to discipleship and leadership development. Developing future church leaders does not just happen automatically. What is your leadership development process?

 From a business perspective John McGuire and Gary Rhodes identify what I believe to be part of the problem that church leaders have copied. In their book Transforming Your Leadership Culture they suggest that the leadership model of many organizations today are based on a mid twentieth century military model that is hierarchical and called a “command and control” model. Many church leaders were educated and worked in the secular business culture using this model often before seminary training and a church career. The “command and control” model is still used in churches by pastors, administrators, deacons, elders, and boards. This model of leadership exhibits several big problems such as control instead of empowerment, innovation, and collaboration. Even in denominations that have a congregational polity, churches seemingly receive new programs from the top, i.e. national, state, or local denominational agencies instead of innovating from within the local church.

Some churches have broken away from the “command and control” model and use a more independent ’superstar” model. What I mean by this is that some churches have become dependent upon the leadership of a big name well known effective leader to carry the leadership load. The problem with the “superstar” model comes when the time does come for succession and installation of a new “superstar.”

There is a third model that is more consistent with Scripture and the servant leadership concept that Jesus Christ taught that I will call the “coaching collaboration empowerment” model. The focus here is not on control or independence but instead is on interdependence. This becomes a leadership development process that seeks to produce leaders who possess servant-leadership qualities of character, integrity, servanthood, and humility that is grounded in intrinsic values of the Christian faith. It is a process in which leaders mentor/coach potential leaders in a coactive relationship before the potential leader in ordained or installed. Ken Blanchard suggests such a leadership development process in his excellent book Lead Like Jesus in which he divides the leadership development model into four realms—heart, head, hands, and habits. I have further developed this model into what I call the Simple Discipleship Leadership Coaching Model where in each of the four realms the potential leader is nurtured and observed as related to his or her relationships. The four relational vitality realms are: 1) personal leadership, 2) one-on-one leadership, 3) team leadership, and 4) community leadership.

The purpose of this process is to equip, empower, and encourage new and innovative leadership that is grounded in the faith but without using a command and control model. It also reduces the problems of choosing an untrained and untested leader, and choosing leaders by popularity. The desire is to choose leaders who are “filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.” New qualified leaders like this should not be elected, selected, or voted in to a church leadership role. They are developed, coached, and observed as they served effectively before they are ordained or installed. The drawback to this kind of leadership development process is time and effort. Remember that Jesus Christ spent three years of one-on-one and one-to-few hands on coactive coaching with the apostles. Look at the results!

SD Blessings!

Dr. Tom Cocklereece

BTW: The book Simple Discipleship: How to Make Disciples in the 21st Century is available for order at http:www.simplediscipleship.com on the store page. The book will be released by ChurchSmart Resources soon.

Simple Discipleship 2009

I have been writing articles for this blog site for just over a year and I am pleased and surprised at the response. There are 224 readers of this blog on a regular basis. I know that does not sound like a huge success, but it is exciting for me. I have endeavored to offer articles that do not simply provide information about my book and process called Simple Discipleship, but I desire to write articles that are on the crest of the wave as related to leadership, coaching, discipleship, church organizational development, church management, and organizational change. I realize my next article is overdue in the series “The Twelve Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Church” but I have been extremely busy getting ready for the release of the book and big launch of the Simple Discipleship ministry. In the meantime I thought it might be good to offer the top 10 blog titles from this last year, as many readers came on board more recently. Here are the top 10 for the past 12 months.I will be republishing these in the next few days.

1. The ten articles consist of a variety of the subjects listed previously with one exception: the top article “Why Don’t Smart People Get Jesus?” was written by a guest blogger and was her thoughts on a sermon. Interestingly, many misunderstand the message of the article. It is not saying that Christians are not smart or that people should not use their knowledge and reasoning as related to religion. It is only an observation that sometimes we allow our own stereotypes, thinking, and intelligence get in the way of new knowledge, perspective, and perhaps enlightenment. For many who promoted and read the article, their presupposition was to begin and end with their own point of view—namely that God does not exist. They walked into the trap of their own limited view and thus confirmed Rachel’s point. The award for the most popular article in the last 12 months on this weblog goes to Rachel Fox! Here is the link to that article: http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/why-don%E2%80%99t-smart-people-get-jesus-by-guest-writer-rachel-fox/
2. The second most popular article deals with one of my passions—that of personal, executive, and life coaching. Many churches could and should start a Christian coaching ministry as a spiritual formation ministry as compared to counseling. Coaching works and it is not what many think it is. I was watching a movie on TBS recently and during the commercial breaks there was a segment of a life-coaching vignette with a shallow-minded life coach talking with her client about some pretty silly things. The coaching I have done is respectfully confrontive and constructive to significant issues. Some of this article is a part of my new book to be released in October 2009. Here is the link for the second most popular article: http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/start-a-christian-coaching-ministry/

3. The past 12 months has seen upheavals in the economy and political realms. I wrote about some of these things and offered some thoughts on their impact on the churches. My predictions have proved accurate that many churches were not ready for the Great Recession and are still suffering. Also, many churches are losing their opportunities for relevant ministry an to help hurting people in new ways. The reaction of churches has been to scale-back ministries, terminate ministers, and cut budgets. Of course when churches cut budgets, it is usually ministries that could revitalize the church—a big catch 22. http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/economic-crisis-is-the-church-ready/
4. An article that continues to get significant attention is about the decline in the Southern Baptist Convention churches. This has been hotly debated in the last few months. The response of the leadership seems to be: “There is nothing wrong. We just need more evangelism.” Read http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/baptist-church-decline-balance-both-sides-of-the-great-commission/

5. For several years I have had the opportunity to attend the Catalyst Conference sponsored by Andy Stanley’s church. There are usually over 12,000 people there soaking up the wisdom. Last year Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great spoke. I offered some insights: http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/good-to-great-insights-from-jim-collins-catalyst-2008/
6. Last year I read a business book titled Ten Commandments for Business Failure and it sparked my writer’s imagination. I decided to write a series of similar articles from the perspective of the church. It was a very successful series. Many of you read the primary or lead article, but you may find the other articles in the series interesting. http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/ten-commandments-for-church-failure/

7. At number 7 for the year was an article that built on #4 listed above and expounded on the Southern Baptist Convention resolution calling for a Great Commission Resurgence. This article is rising to the top fast since I wrote it in June 2009 and it is already up to #7 of 60. I affirm the GCR, but again, calling for more evangelism in churches that have many converts instead of disciples is like asking 3^rd graders to run for elective office in the U.S. Senate (although they might do a better job—maybe that analogy does not work—but I think you get my point).  Many Christians in the churches are not sure-footed in their faith enough to do more evangelism, and that fact is deeply troubling in light of the story of the Samaritan woman in The Gospel of John chapter four. We must overcome a major hurdle—many Christians in the pews, chairs, or bleachers think it is the pastor and staff’s job to do outreach, mission, ministry, and evangelism. Unless the churches address the problem of making disciples instead of converts, the GCR will soon be a forgotten initiative. :<( http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/the-hole-in-the-great-commission-resurgence/

8. At #8 is another coaching article and some of these concepts are in my book Simple Discipleship. The article differentiates the three concepts of mentoring, counseling, and coaching. There are also some insights into leadership coaching. http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/the-power-of-coaching/

9. At #9 there is another article calling for not just a change in how churches do discipleship, but a revolution! Considering that six of the top ten articles deal specifically with changing how churches should do discipleship suggests there may be a lot of agreement out there. Let’s get the discipleship revolution started. http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/we-need-a-discipleship-revolution/

10. Number 10 is at the heart of Simple Discipleship as it presents the key diagnostic questions again regarding effective disciple-making. Is your church using a process? Most do not—even the ones that are growing. They are sort of in the sweet spot of their life cycle. Maintaining a disciple-making process will lengthen the life-cycle and even begin a new S-curve in the life of the church. Read more: http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/the-twelve-most-important-questions-you-will-ever-ask-about-your-church-6-what-process-does-your-church-use-to-make-disciples/

I hope you enjoy reading through some of these articles that you may have missed. As soon as my book releases, I should be able to get back to providing new articles on leadership, discipleship, and coaching.

SD Blessings,

Dr. Tom Cocklereece

Leadership

When I posted the introduction article to this series, I titled #10 as “What is our process for managing conflict?” I have updated this article to use the word “resolving” instead of “managing.” Virtually every organization, church or not, manages conflict in one way or another whether it is ignored, confronted, or resolved, each is a way of managing conflict. Resolving conflict is more difficult than managing it, but resolution provides a seedbed for renewed energy and creativity for an organization. The reader should note that I am painting the issue with a broad brush approach as each conflict will have its own specific issues that cannot be addressed herein.

Jesus Christ gave the Christians and the church a reconciliation process that many appear to neglect:

Matthew 18:15-17 (NKJV) ¹⁵ “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’
¹⁷ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

The reconciliation process flows in the following manner:

1. The first step of resolution is to have a one-to-one meeting of the offended parties with no outside parties involved. The original problem is often compounded when one or both parties talk to others about the incident, which tends to plant further seeds of discord. When people not involved in the original incident are “brought in” to the situation, they should politely encourage the offended party to meet one-to-one with the other person involved and not discuss it further with others. Triangulation must be avoided and discouraged.
   
2. If the one-to-one meeting fails to resolve the conflict then it is time to have a group session such as an intervention, but all parties must avoid escalating the conflict. The purpose is not to “gang up” on one person, but to seek unity, counsel, and provide accountability through the reconciliation. The hope is that all relationships are restored and even made stronger in love for one another.
   
3. The third step is often called “excommunication” and appears drastic. The point is that the faith community makes an attempt to encourage all parties to reconcile. If one or both refuse reconciliation efforts then fellowship is withdrawn with the hope that the loss of the loving association with the faith community along with conviction of God and conscience, the individual will ultimately seek reconciliation with the other offended party as well as the faith community and be fully restored.
   

The process does work and many Christians and churches have used it for generations, but many churches abandoned this biblical model for reconciliation during the 20^th century. Again, it seems we have become too smart to follow the simple instructions of the Bible.

Leaders should educate their church in the biblical reconciliation process before conflict erupts. This establishes it as the process so there are no surprises. Leaders must model the process in their own lives if they expect the church to adhere to it also.

Predictable Times of Conflict

In the book Mastering Conflict and Controversy Speed Leas identifies the ten most predictable times of conflict. Some of these may be surprising to many leaders:

1. Easter- at busy and stressful time in many churches.
   
2. Stewardship or fundraising campaigns and budget time.
   
3. Addition of new staff.
   
4. Change in leadership style.
   
5. The pastor’s vacation.
   
6. Changes in the pastor’s family.
   
7. Introduction of baby boomers into the church- I think this is reflective of a transition of power from one generation to the next which always creates conflict.
   
8. The completion of a new building.
   
9. Significant loss of membership- usually a result of the “blame game.”
   
10. Significant increase in membership.
    

How People Respond to Conflict

Ken Sande in his book, The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, has provided a useful process for conflict resolution which harnesses the biblical principles outlined above. A reading of his work will help leaders recognize how people respond to conflict. For instance, the conciliatory behavior includes 1) overlooking the offense, 2) discussion, 3) negotiation, 4) mediation, 5) arbitration, and 6) Church discipline. Peace Fakers resort to 1) denial, 2) flight, or 3) suicide. Peace Breakers resort to 1) litigation, 2) assault, or 3) murder. Sande’s model illustrates a slippery slope and how the failure of any or all parties to approach reconciliation properly can lead to drastic consequences.

Close the Side Doors

Church leaders often hear discussions about “closing the back door” of the church. It is simply a way of describing the number of people who leave the church for a variety of routine reasons. Churches may “close the backdoor” by better assimilation, connecting people to small groups, accentuating loving relationships, and directly helping people grow spiritually. However, leaders need to “close the side doors.” Theaters and churches have side doors that become emergency exits during a crisis. When a church experiences conflict many people will begin to look for the “side doors” through which they leave the church. A biblical process of reconciliation that is activated immediately will help close the side doors. Any conflict leaves walking wounded in the church and the leaders must bring healing to the masses quickly or risk leaving the side doors open.

We live in a culture that seems to thrive on conflict, and the church has begun to reflect the culture in this regard. How we handle conflict is a direct indicator of the health of a church or individual Christian.

SD Blessings!

Dr. Tom Cocklereece