52 WEEKS OF DISCIPLESHIP- Week 3: Holiness

52 Weeks of Discipleship is based on works by Tom Cocklereece, Simple Discipleship (2009) and The Laws of Discipleship (yet to be published).

The making of a disciple may be compared to a jeweler shaping a raw diamond. After a raw diamond is cut in two halves, the jeweler determines the shape and cut based on the shape and size of the raw gem. Nothing is wasted in the cutting and grinding process as even the diamond dust is saved for use in the making of drill bits and saw blades.

Likewise, God is the master jeweler and disciple-maker who determine the size and shape of each finished disciple. Disciples are cut and ground through the difficulties of life. Nothing is wasted in the production of a disciple.

• Your financial struggles and giving of tithes and offerings shape your faith and determine your loyalties. Matthew 6:24
• Your loyalty to Jesus in difficult times proclaims to people whom you really serve. John 18:15-26
• How and to whom you pray is an indicator of your allegiance to Jesus. Luke 18:9-14
• Your willingness to submit to God as he allows difficulty and suffering is directly proportional to the amount of Jesus-light you will eventually reflect. John 9:1-3; Romans 12:1-2

An ideal brilliant round cut diamond reflects the most light of any other comparable gem and has 58 facets. Almost half or 43% of the facets are on the underside part of a diamond called the pavilion.

The same is true of a disciple of Jesus. Each facet is cut so that the completed disciple reflects the most light of Jesus and many of the facets are never seen by other people. These unseen facets represent the qualities of character-shaping and the degree to which the disciple reflects the character of Christ.

Best illustrated with a diamond, the largest single surface or facet of a diamond is the table. The table is on top of the gem and is the shape of an octagon having 8 angles. The table collects the most light of any facet on the diamond which is refracted and reflected back out of all of the facets. If the table facet is covered or marred, the diamond will reflect little light. Nobody would buy a diamond like that. Likewise, a disciple of Jesus collects the most light through holiness and living the eight character traits represented by each angle of the octagonal facet of diamond discipleship.

There are 8 elements of holiness that make up one’s character:

1. Obedience– behaving and living according to God’s Word
2. Loyalty– a commitment to devotion and duty to the Lord
3. Truth– Committed to God’s Word and seeking truth
4. Honesty– Committed to the consistency of truth-telling without retelling, nuance, and reframing the truth
5. Justness– fairness and impartial treatment of all people
6. Love/Respect/Fear of the Lord– 1) FoL- respecting and reverencing the Lord; 2) loving & respecting others even if different race, belief, or religion, i.e. enemies
7. Compassion/Courage– Compassion and Courage work in tandem to lead one to act in one of two ways:
   1. Reactive Courage is when one acts impulsively to assist another person from danger
   2. Moral Courage is when one acts intentionally on the basis of intrinsic moral values to assist another person under threat or danger
8. Integrity– Honesty with self about one’s sin & weakness

What points of character do you need to work on so your life reflects the most light of Jesus?

——————–

Dr. Tom Cocklereece is CEO of RENOVA Coaching and Consulting, LLC. He has 20 years of experience as a pastor, and is an author, certified professional coach and coach trainer, leadership specialist, and an independent Coach/Teacher/Speaker for the John Maxwell Team

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52 WEEKS OF DISCIPLESHIP- Week 2: Salvation

52 Weeks of Discipleship is based on works by Tom Cocklereece, Simple Discipleship (2009) and The Laws of Discipleship (yet to be published). A corresponding free sermon outline to this devotional is available at the following link:

A couple years ago my wife and I went to the local driver’s license office to renew our licenses. You have heard so many stories about all of the documents you must have with you to prove that you are who you say you are. I handed the lady across the counter my expiring license that had a picture of someone who happened to look like me. She would not accept the visual photo as proof so I had to present a certified birth certificate, a W-2 form with SSN#, and two recent bills with my name and address. Finally she said I appeared to be who I said I was, so she charged me the required amount for my inconvenience and printed me a new driver’s license. They were turning away people who failed to produce the proper documentation. They sadly or angrily walked out the door.

I thought of the common fictitious visual people have of the Pearly Gates as we approach the afterlife.

We may imagine a person has died and is standing at the Pearly Gates of Eternity awaiting the receptionist, perhaps the Apostle Peter, to open the door but he says, “Wait just a minute. You must prove who you are and that you deserve to come in.” The puzzled person is now caught between life and whatever comes next. A few other people appear at the gate and Peter says the same thing to them, and of course they looked just as distressed and puzzled—like a cow looking at a new gate. As the weary soul stood there he asked, “What documentation do I need to get in?” Peter simply said, “If you don’t know, then I can’t help you. You will likely have to proceed to the other destination.

As I watched, one of the other souls said something to Peter that I could not quite make out, after which he opened the gate. Like I had done at a friend’s high rise apartment during my life on earth, I tried to go in behind him before the door closed but a loud alarm sounded and Peter said, “Ah-Ah-Ahhh, you didn’t say the magic words” and the gate promptly shut with a loud clang.

I began to think, “If I could just get back to my life, maybe I could figure out the proper documents or the magic words so I could get into heaven. I could see just past the entrance and could see that it was certainly a wondrous place. I walked up to the gate and said to Peter, “Could you please just let me in? I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable about now. I’ve had a rough day. You see I woke up this morning, ate breakfast and had some chest pain and a few minutes later I suddenly found myself here talking to you.” Peter said, “Sorry, I can’t let you in. Why don’t you regain your composure…

Yes, a fictitious story, but it does make us think about that moment you will begin your journey on the other side of earthly life. By the way, there are no magic words because words can be deceptive. God does have a heart monitor and can determine exactly what’s in your heart-thoughts and heart-beliefs. Are you sure you are going to heaven?

——————–

Dr. Tom Cocklereece is CEO of RENOVA Coaching and Consulting, LLC. He has 22 years experience as a  pastor, and is an author, certified professional coach and coach trainer, leadership specialist, and a member Coach/Teacher/Speaker for the John Maxwell Team.

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MAINTAINING A DISCIPLE-MAKING CULTURE

Since my book, Simple Discipleship, published in 2009 I have talked with many pastors who read the book and wanted to rush back to their church and start their new disciple-making process the next week. However, remaking and shaping a disciple-making culture takes prayer, preparation, and…time. It has taken years for many churches to devolve from effectively making disciples so changing the current inertia will require hard work and time implementing simple discipleship principles. The process as outlined in the book includes proven methods of initiating change in a church. The rest of this article outlines a four-year plan for establishing and solidifying a disciple-making process.

A few churches using the Simple Discipleship process were successful at implementing but within a couple of years they were struggling to maintain momentum. In some cases the resistance to the new process came from some who refused to allow the church to change. Many church leaders have the ability to implement a process but few of them have the patience and determination to solidify the process to maintain a disciple-making culture. In the book I said, “Many leaders are surprised at the speed at which changes are reversed when the champions of tradition regain a footing (Simple Discipleship, 173).” When the leadership relaxes or there is a change in pastoral leadership, it takes little time for the church culture to slip back into its previous condition of not making disciples of Jesus.

Would you be interested in an online Simple Discipleship course intended to help church leaders design, implement, and improve their disciple-making process? Email response to drthomreece@gmail.com 

What is needed is an extended plan that helps church leaders maintain the momentum of Simple Discipleship. Some of the materials are already available on the Simple Discipleship website (http://www.simplediscipleship.com). The available materials include three sermon series sets with Bible studies for start-up plus two additional years. The sets provide seven or more messages to me used annually to keep the discipleship process going and maintain momentum.

 The initial start-up of the Simple Discipleship process requires at least three months of preparation followed by four to six weeks of implementation. However, the bigger picture plan modeled in the graphic above encompasses the following four- one year emphases. The first one-year emphasis is “Strong Faith” with the focus on building a strong faith and spiritual vitality in the people and the overall church. This first year is foundational as it is the supporting platform for all that follows. Church leaders too often try to grow a church on a weak faith platform. Pastors often voice concern that their people are extremely apathetic and will not invite others to church. The second year emphasis is “Strong Family,” obviously built on “Strong Faith.” Healthy churches consist of strong faithful families that love worshipping together. Therefore, the third year emphasis is “Strong Church” which is built on strong families which possess “Strong Faith.” The fourth year emphasis is “Strong Witness” during which there should be an all-out effort at sharing Christ by as many people in the church as possible. The effort includes a multi-pronged evangelistic campaign throughout the year. This does not mean that no witnessing is done in the previous three years but the people now have the confidence of having a strong church built on strong families and built on strong faith. The four-year plan outlined here is to be added to the efforts delineated in the Simple Discipleship book.

——————–

Dr. Tom Cocklereece is CEO of RENOVA Coaching and Consulting, LLC. He has 20 years experience as a  pastor, and is an author, certified professional coach and coach trainer, leadership specialist, and a member Coach/Teacher/Speaker for the John Maxwell Team

Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Web | Blog | Book | Coaching | Leadership

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THE PERSONALITIES OF THE GOSPEL WRITERS: A GOSPEL FOR EACH PERSONALITY

Read the four gospels and you will see the distinctive expressions of the personalities of each writer—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. For evangelical Christians, God inspired the words to be written in their respective sections of what became part of the Bible, but God’s inspiration did not diminish the individual personalities of the writers. This article seeks to identify the personality or behavior styles of the four gospel writers using the widely accepted DISC system that is simplified for easy understanding.

A SIMPLIFIED DISC SYSTEM

The DISC is widely accepted in the human resources and professional life, work, and leadership coaching fields. Each letter in the DISC illustrates a personality or behavior style of about a quarter of the population. Respectively the letters stand for D- dominating, I- inspiring, S- steadying, and C- calculating. The words representative of each group illustrate the behavior characteristics of each style. A simplified system (underlined) that is also easier to remember is illustrated in the list and in the article graphic:

• D – Dominating – Assertive – Momentous Mark
• I – Inspiring – Animated – Jubilant John
• S – Steadying – Amiable – Likable Luke
• C – Calculating – Analytical – Methodical Matthew

As the reader may note, the primary behavior type of each gospel writer is included. Note that Analyticals and Amiables are generally slow-paced while Assertives and Animates are generally fast-paced. Also, Amiables and Animateds tend to be people-oriented while Analyticals and Assertives tend to be task oriented. Now let’s formulate this in the lives of the gospel writers.

METHODICAL MATTHEW

The Apostle Matthew’s behavior style is easy to recognize by his precise records and lists. C-Analyticals are list-makers and tend to like systematic thinking. True to his character, Matthew ties the past to his present day where nine times he uses the phrase: “that it might be fulfilled.” Matthew’s gospel consists of 1071 verses and 165 times or in 15% of his verses he uses the phrase formula “when a, then b” which is consistent with how an analytical style person would write. Analyticals tend to define the present and future by past historical events. Matthew was Jewish and throughout his gospel account he connects Old Testament prophecies with the events in Jesus’ life that fulfill the respective prophecies. Matthew wrote his accord as a chronological record of events and fulfilled prophecies based around the life of Jesus to show the Jews and us that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. Indeed, God used a methodical tax-collector accountant to be the historian who may have written the Q-documents on which the Gospel of Matthew and other gospels may have been based. For the graphic the color blue is used to illustrate the personality of the analytical as they are often moody and sometimes “blue.”

MOMENTOUS MARK

Mark was likely a D-Assertive as his is the shortest of the four gospels with only 678 verses in the KJV and is 37% shorter than Matthew’s gospel. It is as if he wrote an account of Jesus’ life for other assertive readers. Some have called his account “a gospel tract” because of its brevity. As assertive people do, Mark got right to the point. He skipped the birth narrative as well as much of the narrative of Matthew’s account. The pace of Mark’s gospel is rapid as he used the word “immediately” thirty-six times. Assertives tend to focus on tasks or events rather than people and relationships. They don’t like to waste time, resources, or in the case of Mark, ink and papyrus. For the graphic the color green is used to illustrate the personality of the assertive as they are often driven to “go” at full speed and evangelism or transforming the behavior of others is often their modus operandi.

LIKABLE LUKE

The Gospel of Luke seems to be almost conversational as he moves from one section to the next. Thirteen times Luke begins verses with the phrase “so it was,” which sounds like another way of saying “once upon a time.” He began his account by addressing the person to whom he was writing named Theophilus, an indication of Luke’s amiable personality style which is people oriented. By his greeting, it appears that it was important to Luke that Theophilus like him and feel that he respected him, which is also classic behavior for amiables. Luke’s account is the longest of the synoptic gospels with 1151 verses and the chronology differs from that of Matthew. Amiable people tend to focus of relationships rather than things like chronological order and logic. This is not to say that Luke thought chronology or logic to be unimportant but those things were not natural for him to consider paramount. Like Matthew, Luke’s account includes a birth narrative but the genealogy appears in chapter three. For an analytical the genealogy may appear out of place but it is simply reflective of the personality of an amiable person. Luke included many names in his account but it may have been more to show relationships between the characters rather than to simply be historically accurate. The color yellow is used to depict the amiable because it is represents “peace” which is often a high priority for amiables.

JUBILANT JOHN

There are 4146 verses in John’s gospel which is almost three times longer than the accounts of Matthew or Luke. Of course The Gospel of John is not one of the synoptic gospels as he is all over the chronological time-line. In classic I-Animated style, John jumps all the way back to the beginning of time in his introductory prologue. Animated people are more emotionally expressive and John certainly includes more emotive content than the other gospels. The word “love” appears twenty-seven times in John’s account, twelve in Matthew, five in Mark, and thirteen times in Luke, but the focus of the word is also different. John’s focus on the subject of love includes the aspect of love from people to people but also that of God’s love for people while the other gospel writers focused on the love of people for other people. The synoptic gospel writers never seemed to refer to themselves directly but John may have done so. Animated people are natural “selfies” as they generally find a way to include themselves in the story and John stated four times “the disciple whom Jesus loved” which is likely a way he included himself in his gospel account. The color red is used to illustrate the animated style because it is bold, bright, and joyful which are common for animateds.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PREACHERS AND TEACHERS

Why did God tell the story of Jesus through four people representative of the four primary personality styles? Perhaps it was to relate to each of the four primary personality styles of readers of the Bible. Preachers and teachers should pay attention to the preparation and delivery of their messages and lessons. There is the natural style of the one delivering the preaching and teaching and then there are also the varying styles of the people in the audience. It is imperative that the preacher and teacher deliver the message in a way that uses a variety of styles so that nobody is left out of the message. General observations and guidelines include:

• Analyticals want logic and structure in the message which may be boring to an Assertive and especially an Animated.
• Assertives want to know “why this is important” right up front at the beginning.
• Amiables and Animateds love stories and illustrations in the message.
• Analyticals and Assertives are often turned off by jokes while Animates are turned on and excited by jokes.
• Amiables and Animateds are more interested in “what does this mean to me” aspects of the message while Analyticals and Assertives are more interested in “what am I supposed to do” aspects of the message.

The implications of the personality styles as related to discipleship are included in one of my publications: The Disciple-Maker’s Toolkit. 

A CAUTION

The observations about the four personalities or behavior styles are generalities since everybody sometimes acts outside of their usual pattern. Please offer your comments to this article. What do you think were the personality styles of other Bible characters or writers?

——————–

Dr. Tom Cocklereece is CEO of RENOVA Coaching and Consulting, LLC. He has 20 years experience as a  pastor, and is an author, certified professional coach and coach trainer, leadership specialist, and a member Coach/Teacher/Speaker for the John Maxwell Team

Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Web | Blog | Book | Coaching | Leadership

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DISCIPLESHIP CHESS

I play chess almost every day because I love the game and it reminds me of a few things about the discipleship ministry I developed in 2008 and is written in my book Simple Discipleship.

Thom Rainer and Erik Geiger in Simple Church challenged church leaders to simplify ministry and focus on making disciples which is the command in the Great Commission. Taking them up on the challenge, the result is a reproducible, contextual, biblical, and cross-denominational discipleship structure on which leaders may build their disciple-making ministry. The fact that varying sized churches representing virtually all of the evangelical denominations have used and/or are using Simple Discipleship shows the achievement of the goals listed in the previous sentence.

 

The proof…look on the internet and see how many church logos or denominational logos look similar to the colorful Simple Discipleship brand. That being said, there are many churches that have succeeded as they launched Simple Discipleship and here are several reasons that relate to chess:

1. They remained focused on Jesus and the biblical mandate to make disciple-makers, not just converts.
2. They simplified their ministries by aligning or eliminating anything that does not contribute to making disciple-makers.
3. They stuck to their strategy of leading change instead of managing the status quo which is what many churches do.
4. They moved carefully but deliberately to develop urgency, buy-in, and momentum for change.
5. They prayed and anticipated the actions and reactions of the opposition; not only Satan but also undiscipled Christians who are more concerned about what they want than about seeing more people know Christ.
6. They accepted as few and small losses as possible while taking big gains by making discipled warriors.
7. They did not run Simple Discipleship as a program that has an end but maintained it as a disciple-making process and will only declare “checkmate” when Jesus returns.

I take chess seriously but making disciple-makers is the most important activity for all Christians.

Dr. Tom Cocklereece is CEO of RENOVA Coaching and Consulting, LLC. He has 20 years experience as a pastor, and is an author, certified professional coach and coach trainer, leadership specialist, and a member Coach/Teacher/Speaker for the John Maxwell Team

Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Web | Blog | Book | Coaching | Leadership

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HOUSE CHURCHES: CHURCH BY ANOTHER NAME

Many Christians love the traditional and contemporary church and all of the richness, variety, and opportunity provided, but times are changing. There is a new contemporary church movement that is expected to grow exponentially in the next twenty years—the house/home/organic/cell church. The movement is contemporary but it is in fact a return to the way New Testament churches began as mentioned in the book of Acts in the Bible. Scholars are not sure what to call the movement as they use several terms interchangeably—house church, home church, cell church, micro-church, organic church, simple church, etc. Consider several facts about the house church movement:

• Half of the churches in the United States consist of less than 75 people. (Average Size Church)
• Approximately 80% of all churches in North America have reached a plateau or are declining. (Simple Church at Home)
• Every year, approximately 4000 new churches open their doors. Every year approximately 7000 churches close their doors for the last time. (Simple Church at Home)
• Adults under 35 years of age prefer to attend small churches. (Barna Research)
• Thirty-three percent of Christians say “they experienced God or expressed their faith” during a house church or community cell group meeting in the last month. (Barna Research)
• As many as 20 million Americans are involved in house churches or off church campus cell groups and the number is expected to grow exponentially in the next 20 years. (Barna Research)
• Churches spend between 82 – 96 percent of their financial resources on maintaining themselves with 30% of their budget maintaining buildings and property. (Simple Church at Home)
• A study at Fuller Theological Seminary states that if a church is 10 or more years old, it takes 85 people to lead 1 person to Christ. If the church is from 4 to 7 years old, it takes 7 people to lead on person to Christ. If a church is less than 3 years old, it takes only 3 people to lead one person to Christ.
• House churches that are not open to joining a network of house churches usually become stagnant and turn inward. P. 152, Starting a House Church, Kreider & McClung.
• House/cell churches may be a response to or preparation for Christian persecution. (The Rise of the House Church)

OBSERVATIONS ABOUT CELL/HOUSE CHURCHES

Some scholars who have studied the house church movement have used distinctive language to describe the contrast between the traditional brick and mortar church and the house church. They have said it is the difference between “going to church” or “being the church.”

Many describe brick and mortar churches, whether traditional or contemporary, as being doctrinally a mile wide and an inch deep. The suggestion is that they are not effective at making disciple-making disciples.

The brick and mortar churches could capitalize on the house church movement by effectively developing Bible study cell groups scattered around their city while encouraging groups to attend worship and other large-group events at the main campus. This suggests that a small church with the building capacity of 200 people could actively engage over 400 people in regular Bible study. A church of 1,000 could actively engage over 3,000 in any given week.

Christians in metropolitan churches are used to high quality worship services that could easily compete with American Idol. One pastor suggested that many modern Christians are hooked on church worship entertainment like crack cocaine. That remark may be extreme but the data prove that the American churches are ineffective at making disciple-making disciples.

——————–

Dr. Tom Cocklereece is CEO of RENOVA Coaching and Consulting, LLC. He has 20 years experience as a  pastor, and is an author, certified professional coach and coach trainer, leadership specialist, and a member Coach/Teacher/Speaker for the John Maxwell Team

Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Web | Blog | Book | Coaching | Leadership

10 VITAL BEHAVIORS THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR CHURCH

WHAT ARE VITAL BEHAVIORS

Many of my readers know that I wrote a book that Church Smart Resources published in 2009 titled Simple Discipleship: How to Make Disciples in the 21^st Century. Over half of the 5,000 copies have already sold to church leaders and many churches are using it to improve their disciple-making ministries. There are “Simple Discipleship Churches” now in every English-speaking nation of the world.

In my leadership and discipleship ministries I sometimes run across something that confirms the concepts in my book. Recently, while doing research for a leadership webinar on Maxwell’s Law of Influence, I read the book Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change and was amazed as the authors discussed vital behaviors that can change an organization from failure to success. The authors went on to discuss how leaders may identify vital behaviors of their organizations. This is not rocket science, however vital behaviors vary from one organizational genre to another. For instance vital behaviors of sales companies will differ from vital behaviors of churches. As I researched further I discovered that Simple Discipleship already identifies the vital behaviors of the church. In fact, Simple Discipleship provides a process that church leaders may use to implant these vital behaviors of Christians into their churches. So, what are the essential vital behaviors of churches?

10 VITAL BEHAVIORS OF CHURCES

We could call these vital behaviors of Christians since they are but in the life of a church the idea is to get as many people as possible to engage in the vital behaviors listed below:

 

KNOW CHRIST

SD Logo for
FBC Smyrna, GA

1. Daily private worship

2. Weekly corporate worship

3. Giving of tithes and offerings

GROW IN CHRIST

4. Regular group Bible study in Sunday school and/or small groups

5. Love people

6. Obey God’s word; (application)

SERVE CHRIST

7. Serve in a ministry in the church; learn it, do it, teach another disciple

SHARE CHRIST

8. Share Christ with others

9. Invest in people outside the church

10. Invite people to church

There are no surprises in the list but many churches have become lax or laissez-faire in several of the behaviors. As readers may see, the vital behaviors have been grouped in four categories illustrated by the familiar cross logo of Simple Discipleship. It is likely that some readers may identify other behaviors but it is important to limit and focus the desired changes to insure success. Readers may notice that the behaviors listed above are essentially “basic Christianity 101.” Put your church to the test. If the numbers of people who are engaging in the behaviors listed above are declining or are at a dangerously low level, your church is in trouble.

WHAT SHOULD LEADERS DO?

Get started now! Turnaround ministry is extremely difficult and there will be push back because people will try to maintain the status quo. As a church leader, your job is not to keep the status quo but to lead and equip the church to make disciple-makers. Imagine what could occur if you increased the number of people engaging in daily private worship, tithing, or inviting others to worship. Many churches are using Simple Discipleship principles and it can help you get it done too. It is comforting to me as a author that my book will have a long life span of usefulness to churches.

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Dr. Tom Cocklereece is CEO of RENOVA Coaching and Consulting, LLC. He has 20 years experience as a  pastor, and is an author, certified professional coach and coach trainer, leadership specialist, and a member Coach/Teacher/Speaker for the John Maxwell Team

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S.P.i.N. EVANGELISM

S.P.i.N EVANGELISM Card

Simple Discipleship presents the newest method of sharing Christ.

There are many declining churches in the U.S. and at times the data have suggested that over 3,500 churches close each year. However, when new church starts are factored into the numbers, there is a net 500 to 800 new churches started each year. That may sound promising but the same church leaders tell us that to keep up with population growth, 13,024 new churches are needed each year. I believe that the decline of the church is two-fold: 1) Christians have not been discipled, and 2) as a result of #1 few Christians are sharing Christ and many have come to expect evangelism as only the work of ordained clergy. Where are the evangelists for Jesus?

CORPORATE EVANGELISTS

As I was researching to write this post, a friend sent me the most remarkable article concerning Microsoft Corporation. They recently made a major realignment in their corporate strategy and now have representatives in each state with the word “evangelist” in their titles:

• Developer Evangelists
• Architect Evangelists
• User Experience Evangelists
• Partner Evangelists

Consider that we now have secular corporations “stealing” and redefining words that only the church used for the last 2,000 years. The word “evangelism” comes right out of the Greek New Testament “euaggelistou” (transliterated Greek from 2 Timothy 4:5 which says “do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” The meaning of the word Christians lifted out of the Bible to describe the work of spreading the good news of the gospel of Jesus has belonged exclusively to the church to describe part of the work of the Great Commission of Jesus. It is troubling that Microsoft Corporation has more “evangelists” promoting their business than many churches combined in the 21^st century. Where are the evangelists for Jesus?

WHY S.P.i.N. EVANGELISM?

Many Christians seem to approach evangelism as if it is a non-relational rapid transactional event in which the evangelist shares a memorized program of sharing Bible verses after which the recipient instantly prays a prayer. The evangelist quickly moves to their next prospect. I realize the description is rather cold but this is one reason evangelism is not working today.

I recently read a book titled SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham. After extensive research, Rackham found that rapid transactional selling works well enough for small consumer goods and services. However, his study also found that big-ticket items require multiple-meeting relational selling and that rapid transactional selling fails to work effectively for the big-ticket items. I believe the same is true today as applied to evangelism. The 21^st century church is faced with the most educated and skeptical audience ever. The fact is that salvation is not a small-comodity-rapid-transactional decision and thus requires that the evangelist use the multiple-meeting relational sharing approach that I call S.P.i.N. Evangelism.

WHAT IS S.P.i.N. EVANGELISM?

S.P.i.N. EVANGELISM uses a multiple-meeting relational sharing approach that leads the recipient deeper toward a spiritual decision to receive Christ using a progressive question process. Rather than a “push” method which inundates the recipient with various Bible verses, S.P.i.N. EVANGELISM asks questions in a conversational way that coaches the recipient deeper toward a decision. The questions have a tendency to cause the recipient to continue thinking about their spiritual status. The beauty of the method is that the evangelist leverages the work of the Holy Spirit as the issues that are raised by the questions continue to “spin” in the mind of the recipient. As the evangelist begins to answer any questions with Bible verses, the recipient may move toward a decision for Christ. The method uses the following acronym:

SPIRITUAL SITUATION

Questions:

• What is your spiritual situation?
• What are you relying on to get you into heaven?
• How does your religion or faith assure you a place in heaven?

PROBLEM OF SIN

Questions:

• What does your belief system do with the problem of sin?
• Are you satisfied with your faith not having a remedy for your sin?
• Would you consider another option that solves your sin problem?

ETERNAL iMPACT

Questions:

• What is the implication or impact on you if you have unresolved sin when you die?
• What is the impact on you if you have resolved your sin before you die?
• The sin problem has been solved. Would you be interested?
• If I could explain how your sin problem could be solved, what would you do?
• What if you knew that your sin had a remedy that assured you a place in heaven?

SPIRITUAL NEED

Questions:

• What would your life be like if you had assurance of forgiveness of sin?
• What if you could know that you have eternal life?
• How would assurance improve your quality of life now?
• What would be the benefit in the future of assurance of salvation?
• Why is it important for you to solve this problem?
• Would you like to choose to put your faith in Jesus Christ right now?

The reader may notice that S.P.i.N. EVANGELISM addresses two issues directly—sin and its once-for-all remedy. Too many methods fail on these two points. One of the greatest failures of the modern church is the belief that we can make the gospel of Jesus non-offensive to the world.

One of the greatest failures of the modern church is the belief that we can make the gospel of Jesus non-offensive to the world.

Some cases may allow for the evangelist to lead the recipient to a decision in one meeting, but most of the time the work of the evangelist may require three or more encounters. The method is especially useful for chaplains but many others will find it effective. The challenge is that S.P.i.N. EVANGELISM employs a cultivating gardening approach—preparing, cultivating, planting, and watering. Not many modern day evangelists have developed the patience for such a process but the “payoff” could be great for Christians who learn and use such a process.

I am currently teaching S.P.i.N. EVANGELISM as I receive invitations to churches. I have developed a simple card that I use to teach the method. There are many other evangelism coaching questions that are a part of the process. The method is fluid and the evangelist takes the cues from the Holy Spirit and the recipient during the process. The evangelist may use the card as a prep tool depending on where they are in the sharing process. It is conversational because there is nothing to memorize. Sharing of faith should come from the heart and not from a memorized speech. I am writing an ebook on the method that will be available soon.

I challenge you to learn to employ S.P.i.N. EVANGELISM and report your results to me at tom@simplediscipleship.com or in the comments section below this post. I look forward to seeing a new Great Awakening in our time!

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Dr. Tom Cocklereece is CEO of RENOVA Coaching and Consulting, LLC. He has 20 years experience as a  pastor, and is an author, certified professional coach and coach trainer, leadership specialist, and a member Coach/Teacher/Speaker for the John Maxwell Team

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THAT ONE THING DISCIPLES OF JESUS MUST DO!

After over twenty years serving as a pastor of churches, my “tent-making” job is that of working as a leadership trainer and executive sales coach for a training company. The experience has been enlightening and challenging. In every class or coaching session I ask the client, “What do you want to do after the class or session that you not currently doing?” This is a great question for pastors preparing for preaching and teaching but it is also a question we need to ask of every Christian and church.

Consider the following passage:

Matthew 4:18-22

¹⁸Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. ¹⁹Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰They immediately left their nets and followed Him. ²¹Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, ²²and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. NKJV

Jesus’ purpose was to “make them into ‘fishers of men.’” Note that Jesus said, “I will make you fishers of men.” He did not say, “I will make you fish.” These were Jesus’ first words to those who would become not only disciples but apostles in the early church. Now let’s notice some of the final instructions to these same men:

Mt 28:18-20

¹⁸And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. NKJV

 

Of course this is the Great Commission and it summarizes the initial instructions Jesus gave these same men as to what it means to be “fishers of men.” It also answers that one question, “What do you want a person to do after he or she becomes a Christian that he or she is not currently doing?”

Note that Jesus said, “I will make you fishers of men.” He did not say, “I will make you into a fish.”

 MAKE DISCIPLES!

 

“THERE YOU GO AGAIN!”

Yes, I get that comment often but here is the question: How many people claiming to be Christians in your church have never led even one person to receive Jesus Christ as Lord? Statistics suggest that about 60% of Christians have not shared their faith in the last six months. I think the number is higher, especially in plateaued or declining churches because discipleship is no longer in their cultures. Considering the number of churches that fit that description, there are a lot of Christians who are not “fishers of men.” To qualify as a disciple of Jesus Christ, one should be making disciples.

A Christian that has not produced another Christian in a decade is a paradox and contradiction!

A sales person that has not sold anything is not a sales person. A Christian that has not produced another Christian in a decade is a paradox and contradiction! Working with a sales staff introduced me to another concept: “quota.” All competitive sales teams have a quota which is the desired number of sales they expect to make. Most quotas are set by the leadership of a company and it is usually challenging since this year’s quota is often set higher than last year’s quota. I am not suggesting that church leaders should set any kind of quota for baptisms or disciple-making. However, it is clear from Jesus’ words to his first disciples that he expected them to “catch some fish,” a euphemism for “make some disciples.”

THAT ONE THING DISCIPLES DO

Image credit: uatp2 / 123RF Stock Photo

There are stages of spiritual growth with the first stage being a new Christian. Of course, new Christians are not necessarily expected to make disciples but the Bible indicates that a person who has been a Christian for three or more years should be making disciples. Consider the stages of spiritual growth:

THE STAGES OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH

• Non-Christian– a person who has never received Jesus Christ as Lord and experienced salvation.

Stage 1: Babe in Christ– (Novice)  a new Christian hungry and feeding on the “milk of the word” and often fed by others (be careful who is feeding them); regresses easily (1 Corinthians 3:2)

A spiritually immature Christian may not grow very much before he or she gets sidetracked, discouraged, or backslidden. We call these conditions:

• Carnal Christian– a spiritually regressed and stagnant Christian seeking little spiritual nutrition (1 Corinthians 3:1, 3) Language and behavior often reflects non-Christian attitudes and immorality whether he or she is regular in attending church; does great damage to the reputation of Christ and Christians.
• Casual Christian– a spiritually stagnant Christian content with life (Matthew 13:22) Language and behavior may or may not reflect non-Christian attitudes and immorality. Tends to exhibit little commitment and does not actively seek to make disciples.

Continual growth is reflected in the following descriptions:

Stage 2: Growing Christian– (Apprentice)- a growing Christian feeding on solid spiritual food learning to feed herself but still vulnerable to regression (Hebrews 5:12-14) Language, behavior, and habits are increasingly more Christ-like and less course and less worldly. This Christian is making occasional attempts at sharing Christ and making disciples.

Stage 3: Advancing Christian– (Journeyman)- a growing Christian feeding herself the “deep things of God,” consistently led by the Holy Spirit, and less susceptible to regression  (1 Corinthians 2:10-11) Language, behavior, and habits are not only Christ-like but his or her example is in contrast to the worldly culture. This person intentionally making efforts to share Christ and disciple those who receive Christ.

Stage 4: Maturing Christian– (Master)- a growing Christian feeding self, others, and “bearing fruit,” and unlikely to regress (John 15:8) Language, behavior, and habits are not only Christ-like but he or she constantly influence others to become growing disciple-makers. This person is an evangelist disciplist, as sharing Christ is 1^st nature and discipling new Christians into leaders is the fruit of this person’s life.

(Much of the above material was first published in my book Simple Discipleship: How to Make Disciples in the 21^st Century.)

So, what should the people in your church be doing that they probably are not doing now?

 

MAKE DISCIPLE-MAKING DISCIPLES!

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Dr. Tom Cocklereece is CEO of RENOVA Coaching and Consulting, LLC. He has 20 years experience as a  pastor, and is an author, certified professional coach and coach trainer, leadership specialist, and a member Coach/Teacher/Speaker for the John Maxwell Team

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THE TOP 10 SIMPLE DISCIPLESHIP POSTS OF 2012

It has become a tradition to post an article sharing the top 10 Simple Discipleship articles of the year. Writing is an interesting endeavor. Articles the writer expects will receive broad readership often get little attention and the opposite is also true. I did not count on the Gremlin articles to get such high numbers of readers. All total, all of the articles in the Gremlin series have received over 40,000 hits since they were originally published. The Discipleship Best Practices series also receives many hits on a regular basis. I hope you will share these top billed articles with others by re-posting them and sharing them on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. Here are the top 10 of 2012:

1. Name Your Gremlin: Denial with 12,290 hits
2. Evangelism without Discipleship with 7,049 hits
3. Get Out of Your Own Way with 895 hits
4. Discipleship Best Practices: Process Discipleship with 729 hits
5. Discipleship Best Practices: 13 Ways to Make Disciples with 721 hits
6. The Red Pill or the Blue Pill? with 664 hits
7. Exponential 2012: Are You Being Sifted? with 642 hits
8. The Rise of the House Church: Is God Getting Us Ready? with 640 hits
9. Discipleship Includes Encouraging Jeremiah Pastors with 635 hits
10. Name Your Gremlin: Scaredy Gremlin with 557 hits

The New Year of 2013 finds this writer getting ready to begin a new series titled The Laws of Discipleship. Since I have already copyrighted the material, the postings will be restricted to those who register. Of course all participants will receive The Disciple-Maker’s Toolkit with permission to reproduce it for their ministry needs and they will become contributors for the book or resource when it is published later in 2013. You may read more about the project in the following link:

The Laws of Discipleship Project

2013 also brings new changes for me as I am no longer serving as pastor of a local church but will begin a focus on leadership development for churches and ministries as my ministry and working as an executive coach for a training and development firm. I look forward to assisting your church or ministry with leadership development.

Thanks for reading Simple Discipleship @ WordPress

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Dr. Tom Cocklereece is CEO of RENOVA Coaching and Consulting, LLC. He has 20 years experience as a  pastor, and is an author, professional coach, leadership specialist, and a member Coach/Teacher/Speaker for the John Maxwell Team

Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Web | Blog | Book | Coaching | Leadership