There are many simple disciple making practices or tools that can be used and that can help shape culture and increase disciple making effectiveness in your church.

One of the best known tools is Alpha which many have used with great effect to connect with and bring to faith those who don’t know Jesus. But there are many other tools as well.

As you develop a disciple making pathway, a critical step is to ascertain which disciple making tools or practices you will use. The good news is that doing this effectively isn’t hard or complex. It just takes intentionality and equipping so that we become good at using the tools.

I once heard that the difference between an amateur and a professional is that an amateur practises until they get it right, while a professional practises until they no longer get it wrong. Effective equipping should see us practising until what we’re doing becomes second nature.

Following are practices or tools, some of which you might find useful to include in your disciple making pathway.

BLESS

Dave and Jon Ferguson have provided a range of resources around the BLESS principles which they describe as “everyday ways to love your neighbour” and that can be used in relationship evangelism.  Using BLESS involves Beginning with prayer, Listening, Eating with them, Serving them, and Sharing with them.

PRAYER CALENDAR

Another great practice is the Prayer Calendar that David and Paul Watson write about in “Contagious Disciple Making”.

Using the Prayer Calendar, you write the name of an unchurched person next to a day of the month on a calendar. When that day comes around every month, you text that person saying “I was just about to pray for you and wondered if there is any particular need I can for for?” After they text back with the need, text them a simple prayer asking Jesus to meet that particular need. We have seen prayers such as this answered and frequently the person will say “do you have time for catching up for a coffee?”

THE THREE CIRCLES

The Three Circles is an effective way of sharing the gospel. A short video illustrating the Three Circles may be found here.

15 SECOND TESTIMONY

How to structure and share a 15 second testimony can be viewed here. Whilst I don’t believe that it’s necessary to shorten the testimony to just 15 seconds, the structure is very helpful in preparing a person to share their testimony effectively.

411 DISCIPLE MAKING

411 Disciple Making is a simple tool that can be used to equip disciples to make disciples. 411 Disciple Making incorporates The Three Circles and 15 Second Testimony. A video illustrating 411 Disciple Making may be viewed here.

LIFE JOURNALLING

One I have used for over 20 years is the daily practice of Life Journalling, SOAPing on scripture. Life Journalling involves selecting a Scripture to reflect and journal on, writing out an Observation of what it is saying to you than how you will Apply this to your life, and finally committing it in Prayer.

It helps me to not only come to know scripture but to determine what the Holy Spirit is saying to me through it and what I need to apply. A further step I have taken is to regularly journal with a number of people and we share what we have journaled. In this way we are discipling one another.

DISCOVERY BIBLE STORY

Discovery Bible Story is a great tool for making disciples in small groups also described in “Contagious Disciple Making”, What Jesus Started by Steve Addison and T4T by Steve Smith and Ying Kai. With Discovery Bible Story, the focus is on the group leader being a facilitator rather than a teacher. Typically the group will look at a passage or story in the Bible and then have discussion around questions like:

“What did you like about the passage / story?”

“What did you observe the key characters doing?”

“What did you observe Jesus / the Holy Spirit / God doing?”

“What did you learn from the passage / story that you will seek to apply?”

THREE THIRDS GROUP FORMAT

This is another excellent small group tool where the time in the group is divided into three parts:

1. Looking Back which involves pastoral care, pastoral prayer, and worship as well as accountability to “how did you go?” about the agreed application from the previous meeting.
2. Looking Up which involves vision casting and the Discovery Bible Study
3. Looking Forward which involves goal setting and prayer.

“Contagious Disciple Making”, What Jesus Started by Steve Addison and T4T by Steve Smith and Ying Kai explain the Three Thirds Group Format further.

APEST

The APEST resources developed by Alan Hirsch and others have been used by many churches to mobilise disciples in line with their Ephesians 4:11 gifting.

Developing a Language To Help Classify Discipleship Progress

It’s useful to develop a language that helps identify where a person is at in terms of their spiritual development. A seeker should be at a different place on their journey than a person who has been a Christian for years. And they will probably be at a different place than someone who is in leadership or wanting to plant a church.

As a result it’s useful to be able to develop a language, not to box someone in, but to help understand where they are at and even some important next steps for them.

Jeff Vanderstelt in “180: A Return to Disciple Making”  suggests language around “family” as being useful. More information about  this can also be found in the March 2025 Exponential Australia article.

Further Resources

When it comes down to it, there are many tools or practices that can be used in making disciples and equipping them to make more disciples. Some web sites that may be useful in providing disciple making resources include:

#NOPLACELEFT 

T4T (Training for Trainers) 

Contagious Disciple Making

Movements (Steve Addison)

The acid test of a disciple making tool or practice will be whether it is useful in helping us (and others!) do what Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:18-20:

Then 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.” (NIV).

QUESTION FOR REFLECTION:

What are some of the Disciple Making Practices that you are familiar with?

Tim O’Neill
National Leader, Exponential Australia