Mosaix PDX: Blog Mind the Roots (part 2) by Dave Martin

As we delve deeper into the foundations of disciplemaking, I want to share how my understanding of the gospel and discipleship has been shaped by my experiences in a predominantly Eurocentric, white cultural environment. While I do not apologize for my background, I acknowledge that this perspective carries limitations. I am eager to learn (and I am learning) from diverse cultural, ethnic, and denominational experiences. This is especially important in a vibrant multicultural city like Portland. Our mission field is broad and diverse, and so is our labor force, which presents an exciting opportunity for Kingdom work.

In this article, the goal is to outline some foundational assumptions and principles for our discussion on disciplemaking — principles that can guide us as we navigate the complexities of our diverse environments.

Some core principles of disciplemaking

Methods are secondary; truth in relationship is primary
At the heart of disciplemaking is the truth we convey in relationships with others. While methods can be important tools in the process, they should never overshadow the authenticity of the relationships we build.
Daily encouragement is essential
Hebrews 3:13 reminds us to "Encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception." Encouragement should be a daily practice in our lives and ministries.
Spiritual disciplines prepare us for change
Engaging in spiritual disciplines isn’t about changing ourselves; it’s about positioning ourselves to encounter God, who is the real agent of transformation.
The importance of definitions and measurements
To effectively measure our success in discipleship, we need to define our goals. Many churches track attendance, offerings, and baptisms. There’s nothing wrong with these metrics, but shouldn’t we also assess:

- How many individuals are trained to confidently share the gospel?
- How many are equipped to make disciples themselves?
- How many are trained to invite others to study the Bible?
- Who possesses the knowledge to explain the Bible – its teachings and implications – clearly?

These inquiries will be central to our future discussions.

Defining key terms in disciplemaking

I’m indebted to Discipleship.org and their director Bobby Harrington for many of the following definitions. This ethnically and denominationally diverse coalition of disciplemaking churches provides invaluable resources. Here are some foundational definitions we can start with:

Discipleship: Typically seen as an educational process in North America, it often gets watered down to basically mean anything we do as a church. We prefer the term “disciplemaking” to emphasize its active and relational nature.

Disciple: Simply put, disciple can be defined by Jesus’ invitation in Matthew 4:19 - it is someone who is following Jesus (“Follow me”), being changed by Jesus (“I will make you”), and is committed to the mission of Jesus (“fishers of people”). [Regardless of the verbiage you adopt, it’s good to be consistent so that the repetition wears grooves into people’s minds.]

Disciplemaking: Entering into relationships to intentionally help others follow Jesus, be changed by Jesus, and join the mission of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20). This definition brings in the relational element. Jesus’ method of making disciples was intensely relational – something that’s been lost in cultures that value quick results and mass production.

Disciplemaker: A disciple of Jesus who enters into relationships with people to intentionally help them follow Jesus, be changed by Jesus, and join the mission of Jesus.

Church: A spiritual family growing in surrendered obedience to all the teachings of Jesus Christ who gather together regularly under Biblically recognized leadership for the purpose of fulfilling the Great Commission (making disciples) with a Great Commandment heart (loving God, loving people). Of course, there’s much more that can be said about the church – worship, sacraments, etc. – but this places a focus on the church’s core mission.

Disciplemaking culture: The beliefs, habits, and narrative of a church constantly repeated with congruence and intentionality, that make it clear to almost everyone, all the time, including newcomers, that disciplemaking is what everyone does in this church.

Disciplemaking book: Jesus and Scripture are the basis. We believe the 66 books of the Bible are the authoritative, reliable, and ultimate standard for disciplemaking and life (2 Timothy 3:16–4:2). The Bible was written by disciples, to disciples, and for disciples.

Let’s pause our definition list here and introduce five key qualities of a disciple that I’ve identified and attempted to define. I keep these qualities front of mind every day as I seek to encourage other apprentices of Jesus.

Key Qualities of a Disciple

As we pursue a deeper understanding of what it means to be a disciple, here are five key qualities to focus on:

Vision: Governed by [prioritizing according to] a clear sense of God’s purposes on the personal, national, global, & cosmic (universal) levels.
- “Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” - Joel Barker
- The VIM acronym from Dallas Willard: “A vision that is clear and strong, an intention that is robust, and means that are thoughtful and persistent, will lead to transformation and multiplication.”
- Do I have a vision anchored in God’s great story – his purposes for the individual all the way up to the cosmos?

Passion: A deep-rooted conviction that withstands challenges and drives contagious enthusiasm.
- “The word passion is often used interchangeably with the word excitement – but there’s a key difference. Passion is a conviction that becomes contagious because it stands the test of pain. Excitement diminishes when exposed to pain, but passion deepens when exposed to pain.” (clarityhouse.us)
- “Passion is the heart set free to pursue that which is truly worthy. Those who set their hearts on what is most worthy – the glory of God – live with joy-filled abandon. Their hearts are both seized and satisfied with the ambition for Jesus to be ardently worshiped. That love comes to dominate and integrate all other desires so that they live in the freedom of single-minded purpose.” - Ralph Winter & Steven Hawthorne

Knowledge: Familiarity with the Bible’s structure, themes, commands, & promises – and how these relate to real life. Knowledge isn’t everything, but it’s a key pillar in the life of a growing disciple.
- Knowledge gives substance to faith.
- Knowledge stabilizes us during times of testing.
- Knowledge enables us to handle the Bible accurately.
- Knowledge equips us to detect and confront error.
- Knowledge makes us confident in our daily walk.
- Knowledge helps filter out our fears and superstitions.

Skill: Effective application of biblical truth in relationships, workplace, family life, worldview, evangelism, & disciplemaking.
- Readiness through study, practice, and prayer to act appropriately in any situation (cf. “Teach them [how] to obey everything I have commanded…”)
- Are we really careful to teach obedience to all of Jesus’ commands? For example, do we teach people what it practically means to “cut off your hand” or “bear one another’s burdens”?

With knowledge and skill, we’re aiming for proficiency, not perfection. Examples – In 5 minutes, explain:

- What’s the Bible about?
- What’s Christianity about? Readiness through study, practice, and prayer to act appropriately in any situation (cf. “Teach them [how] to obey everything I have commanded…”)
- What is the gospel?
- How is Christianity different?
- How can you believe in a God when…?
- Why do you trust the Bible?

Character: Integrity, faith, love, endurance, servanthood, generosity, humility, gratefulness, self-control (sexual, material, verbal).
- “Character is a set of dispositions, desires, and habits that are slowly engraved during the struggle against your own weakness. You become more disciplined, considerate, and loving through a thousand small acts of self-control, sharing, service, friendship, and refined enjoyment. If you make disciplined, caring choices, you are slowly engraving certain tendencies into your mind. You are making it more likely that you will desire the right things and execute the right actions.” - David Brooks

More definitions

Disciplemaking gospel: The good news is focused on Jesus as our Messiah (King) and his death, burial, and resurrection. All who respond to salvation are freely saved and called to discipleship, no exceptions, no excuses (Mark 8:34-38; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8). The gospel we preach and believe dictates the kind of disciples we are and the kind of disciples we make. If we attempt to make a Christlike disciple from a non-discipleship gospel, we will fail. A non-discipleship gospel is one that does not include discipleship as a natural part of the message and expectation. For much more on this see The Discipleship Gospel by Bill Hull & Ben Sobels.

Disciplemaking calling: We are compelled to be and make disciples of Jesus. We believe Jesus Christ is supreme and worthy of all devotion, worship, and emulation, and disciplemaking is a natural and necessary life response to Jesus. With laser focus, it was Jesus himself who made disciples who could make disciples... and Jesus commands us to do the same (Matthew 28:16-20; John 20:21).

Disciplemaking model: We believe Jesus is the model (for life and ministry). Jesus showed us how to live life and how to make disciples. We seek to emulate his method and model. John said those who “claim to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6). Paul understood this when he said, “Imitate me, just as I imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1 NLT).

Disciplemaking motive: We believe love is the driving motive. The Great Commandment precedes the Great Commission. Loving God and loving people is the passion behind the priority, the motive behind the mission, the heart behind the hands. Disciplemaking is relational. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35).

Disciplemaking measure: We believe verifiable fruit is the measure. God’s agenda for each one of us is that we stay close to him and bear “fruit,” “more fruit,” and then ultimately “much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8). Fruit can be understood as character fruit (Galatians 5:22-23), as nourishing fruit (Hebrews 10:24), and as multiplied fruit (Matthew 28:19).

Disciplemaking power: We believe Holy Spirit power is the means. Disciples cannot be made through fleshly efforts. Jesus, in His humanity, fully acknowledged his dependence on the Spirit. Disciplemaking is not just a good strategy... it is a way of life, accomplished through the fruit of the Holy Spirit living through a person’s yielded and holy life (2 Corinthians 3:16-17). The Holy Spirit will lead us to be obedient people who live holy lives to God’s glory.

Disciplemaking environment: The local church is the primary environment for disciplemaking. The church is for discipleship, and disciples manifest the kingdom of God to the world (Colossians 1:28-29). When the church reverses this process and primarily attempts to get the world to go to church instead of the church going to the world, you get chaos. Jesus was a man for others; the church, likewise, is for others. Any plan that does not create disciples who live for others is a failure.

Disciplemaking movement: Leaders are called to grow a movement of disciplemaking leaders. If we are going to create disciplemaking movements, it is our conviction that we must train leaders in how Jesus built a movement – discipling leaders who become disciplemaking leaders who lead others (see 2 Timothy 2:2). Raising reliable leaders of a movement is harder and takes more time and prayer, but in the end this will bear fruit that will remain. Practically, this means we must develop teams of disciplemaking leaders who will fan the flames of reproducible disciplemaking into places where others have not gone before.

Disciplemaking resources to check out:

Discipleship.org
Renew.org
Navigators Church Ministries
Global Discipleship Initiative
Practicing the Way
Core Discipleship
Cross Training Ministries
BetterMan
Replicate
discipleFIRST
Lionshare
Real Life Ministries
SmallCircle

Recommended books:

The Discipleship Gospel (Hull & Sobels)
The Master Plan of Evangelism (Coleman)
The King Jesus Gospel (McKnight)
The Gospel Precisely (Bates)
Practicing the Way (Comer)
Go Micro (Ogden)

Moving forward

In our quest for a robust disciplemaking culture, we should focus on the gospel of Jesus — not merely as a message, but as a call to a lifestyle of discipleship. Discipleship should be an integral part of our church identity, and the disciples we cultivate will reflect our commitment to their growth.

As we engage in this journey, let’s remember that the Holy Spirit is our source of power, guiding us to live out our calling in ways that produce fruit — character, service, and multiplication among us.

Let’s bring these insights into our future discussions as we explore how to effectively measure our disciplemaking efforts. Let’s remember the goal of unity in diversity: as long as we remain in our affinity silos we’ll never know what we don’t know.

As 2025 unfolds, we will develop these themes further. Let’s pray that this will be a life-transforming experience for us and for our church communities.

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(The views expressed in blog posts are those of the authors of the posts. They do not reflect an official position of Mosaix PDX, but are intended to promote thinking and constructive interaction. We welcome differing viewpoints.)

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