Getting Started with Discipleship Ministry: A 10-Step Practical Guide

Pretty much every pastor knows that discipleship is the primary mission of the Church of Jesus Christ.

But just because someone has attended church for 20 years, doesn't mean that they have been discipled. Haven't we all been blown away by how spiritually immature people can be who have been going to church for years?

Clearly, discipleship is going to take intentionality, not just "go to church services every Sunday."

But lots of questions remain:

• But how can a church get started with discipleship ministry?

• How can a pastor lead a church to transition toward thinking of discipleship as the main thing?

• How can you lead your church board to value discipleship?

• How can you fund discipleship ministries in your church?

A Guidebook for Starting a Discipleship Ministry at your Church

I've written a 10-session series of blog posts about how to get started. It's basically a the length of a short book. (in fact, I've published it at Amazon!)

In this series of posts, I capture and process lessons I've learned from 20 years of serving as a pastor of one single church. It's a compilation of all the lessons and principles I've discovered as the founder of NewStart Discipleship, which serves churches across America who are getting started with discipleship ministry. It all started with the NewStart Discipleship Journal, which I published several years ago. If you like, you can check out a copy of that for free right here:

Getting Started With Discipleship is not really a theological textbook. There are other books that can help you with the theology of it. Instead, it's an action plan for leading change in your church to help your local body of believers to be more intentional about discipleship ministry. I'm not here to spend a lot of time arguing with you about what a disciple is, or how discipleship is different from salvation.

I'm here to help you actually make disciples!

Table of Contents:

This section serves as a home to all the key pieces of content in this blog series on discipleship ministry. Each link leads to a long (sometimes 3,000 words!) chapter on the topic at hand.

Section 1: Discipleship Plan: Getting Clarity

Session 1: Discipleship Plan: Developing a disciple-making mindset

Session 2: What Is A Disciple? Getting clear on what you’re trying to produce.

Session 3: Discipleship Pathway: How to create one that's crystal clear.

Session 4: Discipleship Planning: Plan your communication.

Section 2: Discipleship Strategy: Taking Action

Session 5: Discipleship Strategies: How to Get Your first 3 Disciples

Session 6: How to Use Your Worship Service to Promote Discipleship

Session 7: Disciples Who Make Disciples: Planning to Multiply

Session 8: Disciple-Maker Assistant: How to Recruit a Discipleship champion

Session 9: How to Convince Your Church Board to Move Forward On Discipleship

Session 10: How to Find a Discipleship Partner (Think Who, not How)

Getting Started With Discipleship Ministries - Video Workshop

Do you prefer to learn in a video workshop format? Purchase the workshop instead! Featuring:

• an instantly downloadable 36-page workbook

• print copies for other key leaders in your church

• 10 practical video coaching sessions

• specific action items for each session

Purchase the Workshop