Real-Life Discipleship

Building Churches That Make Disciples

Jim Putman

Is your church making disciples... who make disciples... who make disciples? Real-Life Discipleship explains what should happen in the life of every Christian and in every small group so that the church becomes an army of believers dedicated to seeing the world saved. With the overriding goal to train disciples who know how to make more disciples, this book offers proven tools and strategies from Real Life Ministries, one of America's fastest-growing churches. In this book, you will learn:

• How to create churches that succeed and grow
• How to intentionally disciple believers in every stage of their spiritual development
• How to find and develop leaders in your church

This book also contains these helpful features:

• A summary and profile of each stage of spiritual growth
• Recommended resources for disciple-makers
• Spiritual facts
• A presentation of the gospel

Discover what the Bible says about true and effective discipleship with these strategies and practices in this great church resource.

chapter 1

how do we create churches that succeed?

Real Life Ministries began eleven years ago when two couples met in one of their homes and began to pray that God would work in and through them to bring a disciple-making church to a sparsely populated area in northern Idaho. The Pacific Northwest is not an easy place to start a new church. Far away from the Bible Belt, we have a large number of people who either have never been inside a church or never want to go back.

This little group loved the Lord and longed for something more than the church experiences of their past. Church as they had known it was missing something. They determined to pray that a mighty work of God would begin with them. Over the next weeks, new families joined them, and the little band grew. They sensed God was at work in their lives and in their fledgling church, but they also had no idea what the future would look like.

Today those of us involved in the early days of Real Life stand in awe of what God has done. Our little band has grown to 8,500 strong. We have watched more than four thousand conversions and baptisms. More than seven thousand people participate in small groups. Not too long ago, most of the leaders of these small groups were either nonbelievers or unengaged Christians sitting on a church pew. Several of our members now serve as international missionaries, and a few have started six new churches, with thousands already in attendance. The little band that started out so small in the corner of Idaho is now training churches all over the world.

When you read our story, you might think that we were incredibly fortunate to plant a church in a place where there were so many gifted and trained leaders to make it all happen. When visitors come to see what God is doing here and see our team at work, they often say, “If we had the kind of people that you have in Post Falls, God could do great things through us, too.” At this point in the conversation, I love to share the story about our ninety-plus staff members — who they used to be and what they used to do. In our church’s administrative structure, we have seven key leaders who work under an executive pastor, who in turn works under me, the senior pastor. Only two of the seven worked in any church before they became pastors at Real Life. The rest started as volunteer leaders, later took on lower-level jobs within our church, and are now leading a movement that is stretching across the globe. There was a time that no church would have hired these individuals (or for that matter most anyone else on our staff, including me) for a significant ministry position because of their lack of formal training or because of their past issues. Now there isn’t a month that goes by that someone isn’t trying to take a staff member away from us.

In Church as a Team Sport, I said the difference between a high school coach and a college coach is that a college coach travels all over the country seeking proven athletes but that a high school coach has to identify and develop his own players. He knows he must start with the little kids who feed into the junior high program, as they will eventually be part of the high school program. Most pastors today use the college-recruiting model in order to fill staff positions at their churches: They hire people from seminaries, Bible colleges, or other churches rather than develop a team from within their own ministry. Churches even hire professional recruitment firms when they look for pastors. Every time a church hires from the outside, it reinforces to its people that they cannot become what is needed for their own church to succeed.

I am not against hiring from outside the church. We have done such hiring ourselves. But I am passionately committed to discipleship within the church, and I am just as passionate in my conviction that when done right, discipleship will produce the leaders every church needs to succeed. God has placed leaders within every church because He cares for the people the church needs to reach. These leaders often sit in the pews, waiting to be developed, to be released into ministry, but often they never are. Our churches are filled with diamonds in the rough, and when pastors and church leaders begin to take seriously our mandate to disciple our people, these leaders will emerge.

So why don’t most American churches tap into the hidden talent buried on their benches? I believe it is because they do not focus on making and training disciples. They spend so much time putting on a show that they do not have the time to know or invest in their people. Perhaps they might think they are making disciples because their show (large group events, weekend services) are really good, but discipleship is so much more than gathering a crowd and wowing them with amazing videos or good music or even good preaching. I am not against a good worship service; it plays a part in the process, but by itself it does not make disciples. Yes, Jesus gathered a crowd and preached inspiring messages, but He went much further. He cared very much about the gospel message that would be delivered but cared just as much about the process of making messengers who could deliver the gospel message accurately.

why disciple?

Jesus made it very clear what His church should do:

Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Notice that Jesus says that all authority belongs to Him. He is Lord. As believers and as a church, we recognize His leadership. He is in charge; we are His followers. As Christians, we exist for His glory and for His purposes. In this passage, He has given us a sacred mission: to go and make disciples. Two things come to mind when I think of this command. First, many pastors and Bible college professors have propagated the idea that this mission is given to only those trained in a seminary or Bible college. However, according to this command, it is the job of every believer to make disciples. The church is supposed to equip its people (every person) to be an army released on its community. Second, this command calls us to make disciples and not converts, and there is a big difference (more on this later).

The discipleship process Jesus modeled was essential to His plan to reach the world. In John 17:3-4, Jesus said, “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” It is not surprising to me that Jesus made this claim that His work was finished; it is when He said it that is worth commenting on. In this passage, Jesus claims that His work was done, even though He had not yet gone to the Cross. As believers we know that His primary purpose for coming to earth was to pay for the sins of all who would accept His grace through faith. The Cross is clearly central to His mission. However, this passage reveals something else. Jesus is praying to the Father before the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. He says here that He has completed something. Completed what? I believe He was talking about having completed the training of His twelve disciples. He was ready to release them into the world to make disciples themselves.

Too often Christians focus rightly on the gospel message of the Cross but forget about the discipleship process Jesus revealed and modeled. Again, He came not only to die but also to give us a model for disciple-making that trains Christians so they can accurately represent Him and deliver His message to the world. If Jesus had not trained disciples who could in turn train others, the gospel message would have been lost. No one would have heard about it after the disciples were dead.

You might be thinking, But we have the Word of God. While that is true, think about it. How did we get the Gospels? From the apostles, Jesus’ disciples. Or maybe you are thinking, Well, after the apostles wrote the Word, the Holy Spirit takes it from there. The Spirit and the written Word work together to reach the world. But if that is all it takes to reach the world, why did Jesus tell us to go and make disciples? And why did Paul say to train up reliable people who would teach others? Clearly, mature believers play a part in parenting spiritual children to know Jesus, and mature believers also play a part in training future disciples who will go on to train others.

Discipleship is so much more than just sharing the news about Jesus; it is also about teaching people to obey the commands Jesus gave us. Unfortunately, many churches have not taken this charge seriously, and they are experiencing significant problems. This whole issue of discipleship is critical if we want to save the church from the Sunday-morning show and make it a place where real relationship and real change takes place.

no plan b

Many Christians believe that they are unimportant to the cause of Christ and that the work of the church is the job of the clergy. So when I ask Christians why they have never served in the church, they often say, “Because I didn’t think I could.” Yet the Bible clearly states that all believers have been given the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 6:19) and that we are all part of the priesthood of believers (see 1 Peter 2:5). We are all saved by grace through faith for good works, which God planned for us before time began (see Ephesians 2:8).

Matthew 16:18 makes it clear that Jesus intended to create a team: “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (ESV). The church is God’s team. Those on His team work together under His direction to accomplish the goal of taking light to a dark planet. We are saved and placed onto God’s team to do the part He gifted us to do in the context of the team (see Romans 12:4-8). Again, we are all given abilities to edify and help the team be all it is supposed to be (see 1 Peter 4:10-11). These abilities are not for our own glory but for God’s. Some might feel they have no real abilities to contribute to the team, but that isn’t true. Paul says that everyone is important and everyone plays a role (see 1 Corinthians 12:12-31).

Tragically, most believers do not know or do not accept that we are God’s Plan A for reaching the world and that there is no Plan B. Too often our idea of being on a mission with God (if we think that is even our job) is inviting our unbelieving friends and family to church so the pastor can convince them to accept Christ. If we believe that these new converts should be taught at all, we certainly don’t think we are qualified to teach them. We have no idea that conversion is just the beginning of a spiritual growth process and that what comes next — discipleship — will determine if a person matures spiritually to a stage where that disciple experiences real change that others will notice.

Because of this view of Christianity, most believers are not equipped to do more than attend church. Most have few unbelieving friends because they’ve moved away from folks who don’t know Christ and entered into relationships with other Christians. Those who still have unbelieving friends often don’t know enough theology to answer the spiritual questions their non-Christians friends might ask. Why is this the case? Once again, I believe it is because most Christians were not discipled properly. Maybe they heard a sermon about discipleship once or attended a Sunday school class, but making disciples takes much more than listening to a lecture and knowing right theology. Discipleship requires real teaching and real learning. It requires conversation, modeling, encouragement, debriefing, and practice, all of which need to happen in the context of relationship. Without relationship between believers, there is no model to follow, no authenticity, no accountability, no application, and no support for the journey. These things come through personal contact. And because that relational context for learning is lacking, life change is much rarer than it should be among Christians today.

Many believers who do share their faith are spiritually immature, self-absorbed, or unwise in how they relate to the lost. As a group, Christians are known more for what we are against than for our love. As a result of our spiritual immaturity, unbelievers don’t want what we have, which is understandable. If we are spiritually immature and act like spiritual brats, why would unbelievers want to hang out with us in the church? They can find enough drama in their own lives without joining our drama-filled buildings on the weekends.

When a church spends most of its time and energy putting on a weekly show, the pastor is too busy to create a system by which people are being discipled. This behavior reveals that the leaders have a player mentality rather than a coaching mindset. Consequently, Christians with gifts that the church needs, such as leadership, end up taking their abilities into the business or sports world because the church is not training and using them. If making biblical disciples is the business of the church, and business is good, every need of the church will be met. When we disciple our people, leaders naturally develop and emerge.

At this point you might be thinking, I thought he wasn’t for the organic church movement. I say to you that I am not against an organized worship service done well (the show); I am against a worship service only. A worship service (show) can supplement the discipleship process, but it cannot create disciples alone. Discipleship demands intentionality and relationship — by which each person is invested in specifically. This cannot happen in the worship service.

It is my hope that every church will return to the model of discipleship found in the New Testament. The good news is that these problems can be remedied by getting back to a proper understanding and the practice of biblical discipleship.

chapter 2

the invitation is the definition

Brandon Guindon (our executive pastor) and I were in a small town doing a seminar with the leaders of the most influential church in that area. We wanted to get a feel for where the leadership was as a team. The senior pastor was an incredibly sincere and relational man. Before we came, he told us that he thought his church was divided on the direction and philosophy behind the small groups they were starting. We agreed that if he were correct, the issue did need to be addressed.

We started the first session by asking the group of about fifty leaders two simple questions. We wanted to break the ice a little — get a good discussion going — and to discover whether the pastor was right in his assessment of the situation. The first question: What is the purpose of the church? Of course they right away were able to agree that making disciples was the answer. So we asked the next logical question: What is a disciple?

These were the elders, pastors, and leaders of the church, so we thought it would take them about ten minutes to agree on an answer to such a basic question and then we could move on. As the discussion started, it was apparent these leaders either didn’t know what a disciple was or couldn’t agree with anyone else in the room. As the meeting progressed, I sensed a relational tension that extended well past organizational purpose and direction. This was not going to be easy. This church was sitting on a powder keg, and the fuse was already lit and burning fast. Everyone on the team was pulling in a different direction, and they were frustrated with each other because they couldn’t get resolution or traction. If this church imploded, the collateral damage would change the way the town saw the church and, more important, the way the town saw the Lord. In a moment’s time, I knew that Brandon and I would have to change our strategy. It was time to start defining words — important words — and we would have to start with the word disciple.

This problem is not unique to the church I just told you about. At Real Life, we ...