Becoming a Disciple Maker

The Pursuit of Level 5

Disciple Making

By Bobby Harrington and Greg Wiens

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 DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to the disciple makers who worked with us to develop the
Disciple Maker Assessment framework:

• Jim Putman – and Real Life Ministries.

• Bill Hull – and the Bonhoeffer Project.
• Todd Wilson - and the Exponential team.
• Ralph Moore – and the Hope Chapel Movement
• Robby Gallaty – and the Replicate Ministries team
• Monte Stark - and the Life-on-Life Missional Discipleship Team
• Dave Buehring – and the LionShare team
• Luke Yetter – and the Relational Discipleship Network.
• Michelle Eagle, Geary Tanner, Josh Patrick – and the Discipleship.org team

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 INSIDE

Introduction

Chapter 1
Why Should I Want to Becoming a Level 5 Disciple Maker?

Chapter 2
Can Any Christian Become a Disciple Maker?

Chapter 3
Why Develop an Assessment Instrument?

Chapter 4
Why Should I Assess My Disciple-Making Ability?

Chapter 5
The Spiritual Family Metaphor

Chapter 6
How Do We Apply the Results to Our Lives?

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Becoming a Disciple Maker: The Pursuit of Level 5 Disciple Making
Copyright © 2017 by Bobby Harrington and Greg Wiens

Discipleship.org pours gasoline on the fires of Jesus’ style of disciple making.

Discipleship.org brings together the leading disciple-making networks, resources and
voices. We champion reproducible practices that make discipleship an everyday reality.
For more information, visit discipleship.org.

Exponential is a growing movement of activists committed to the multiplication of

healthy new churches. Exponential Resources spotlights actionable principles, ideas
and solutions for the accelerated multiplication of healthy, reproducing faith
communities. For more information, visit exponential.org.

Healthy Growing Churches engages churches to be healthy and multiply. We have

learned this only becomes reality through churches having clear visions, relationships,
ministries, and structures oriented toward building disciples of lost people who build
disciples of others.

All rights reserved. No part of this book, including icons and images, may be
reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from copyright holder,
except where noted in the text and in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
articles and reviews.

This book is manufactured in the United States.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New
International Version, copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible
Society. All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Edited by Lindy Lowry

Cover design by Harrington Interactive Media

ISBN: 978-1-62424-012-6

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 CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION …

Discipleship.org and Healthy Growing Churches are thrilled to partner with Exponential
on this new resource. As a “discipleship-first” tribe, discipleship.org believes that Jesus
calls us, as individuals, to be disciples who make disciples and that disciple making is
the core mission of the local church.

At the same time, Exponential is a multiplication movement. At the core of healthy

Christian multiplication movements is disciple making. We believe the general or
common calling shared by all Christians, everywhere, throughout all time, is to follow
Jesus’ command that we be disciples who make disciples wherever we are!

Disciple making is the first and critical dimension of Kingdom multiplication that
Exponential refers to as 3D Multiplication (see the free eBook Dream Big, Plan Smart:
Finding Your Pathway to Level 5 Multiplication1 for more in-depth coverage of the 3D
Multiplication model). For your reference, the three dimensions of multiplication
include:

1. Disciple making
2. Capacity building for disciple making
3. Mobilization for disciple making

When these three dimensions align, we get biblical disciples that make biblical
disciples who plant churches that plant churches. We get followers who are fully
surrendered, putting Jesus at the center of their lives. When we pursue these three
areas, we mobilize a movement of missionaries to carry the fullness of Jesus into every
crack and cranny of society.

To see the percentage of U.S. churches that ever reproduce grow from less than 4
percent to a tipping point of greater than 10 percent, we need all three dimensions. The

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Exponential tribe is made up of activists for healthy church multiplication who
champion this “4 to 10 mission.” The Discipleship.org tribe is full of activists for healthy,
biblical disciple making. It isn’t difficult to see the natural synergy between these
movements.

Exponential, in partnership with ministries like Discipleship.org and Healthy Growing

Churches, is developing certified online assessment tools to measure an individual’s
strengths in each of the three dimensions of multiplication, as well as a church’s
strengths. Discipleship.org is excited to be Exponential’s chosen partner for these
disciple-making tools.

This eBook centers on the first and critical dimension in the 3D multiplication model
and provides a description of the framework used in this new tool, the Disciple Makers
Online Assessment.

Adding and Multiplying Disciples

Each of the three dimensions of multiplication represented in the diagram below has
both an “addition” element and a “multiplication” element. We can look at disciple
making through the lens of adding disciples (making converts) and reproducing
disciples (making disciples of others). The pathways for adding disciples—connecting
with people, introducing them to Jesus, and bringing them to a point of accepting Him
as Lord—are the entry point to making biblical disciples and Kingdom multiplication.

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Regardless of our specific strategies, models and approaches, we add people to the
movement of Christianity one follower at a time. We can’t change that, nor should we
try. It’s how our Founder designed it to be. The “adding” and the “making” work
together. Those far from God become disciples who give their full devotion to
becoming more like Jesus and having His fullness in them. In the process of becoming
more mature disciples, they naturally make disciples of others—multiplying themselves
in others. In chapter 1, we talk about Jesus as the master disciple maker. Disciples
who make disciples the way Jesus did are the fuel of multiplication movements.

By making biblical disciples, we become more effective at carrying the fullness of

Jesus into every corner of our communities, ultimately sending disciples to go and
multiply new churches that create even greater capacity for healthy Kingdom growth.

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 Disciple Making That Leads to Multiplication
That is our big prayer here—to see a disciple-making movement resulting in new
communities of faith. We believe that the movemental dynamic of disciples who make
disciples who plant churches that plant churches is part of the multiplication vision that
Jesus gave His disciples in Matthew 28:19-20 and in Acts 1:8:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Jesus gave His disciples (both past and present) the power of His Holy Spirit for the
ultimate purpose of disciple making that leads to multiplication.

You’re now part of this ongoing multiplication conversation. We’re thankful you’re here,
learning about disciple making. It is truly the Master’s call to anyone who says they
want to follow Him.

To get the most out of this new book, we encourage you to take a few minutes to
review Appendix A for a summary of the ongoing multiplication conversation and the
principles introduced in Exponential’s anchor books in the multiplication series,
including Spark: Igniting a Culture of Multiplication (2015), Becoming a Level Five
Multiplying Church (2016), and Dream Big, Plan Smart: Finding Your Pathway to Level 5
Multiplication (2017).

We hope you’ll soon discover and agree with us that this new book, Becoming a
Disciple Maker, is a critical resource in fueling the church multiplication conversation.

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 INTRODUCTION

In late 2016, a group of national disciple-making experts gathered to spend time

developing a paradigm by which people could evaluate their effectiveness as disciple
makers. We received input from seasoned leaders, female and male alike, and were
especially pleased to have venerable voices like Robert Coleman (author of The Master
Plan of Evangelism) and others. Those nationally known disciple makers who rolled up
their sleeves to help set the framework of this disciple-making tool included:
• Bill Hull, author and founder of The Bonhoeffer Project.
• Jim Putman, author, pastor and co-founder of the Relational Discipleship.
Network
• Robby Gallaty, author, pastor and founder of Replicate Ministries.
• Ralph Moore, author, pastor and founder of the Hope Chapel Movement.
• Monte Stark, author, pastor and director of Life on Life Ministries.
• Dave Buehring, author, pastor, and founder of LionShare Ministry.
• Todd Wilson, author and executive director of Exponential

Other facilitators were involved as well. I (Bobby) led the effort with Todd Wilson’s help.
My co-author on this book, Greg Wiens, also helped with direction, and then we
followed up with the material afterward.

With the help of these and other leaders, we have developed an objective and
validated online Disciple Maker Assessment tool. We have also written this book to
explain the tool and the way it gauges disciple makers. Our goal is to help individuals
get an accurate perception of themselves as disciple makers so that they can then
develop growth plans. We hope to encourage and inspire everyone to become Level 5
disciple makers—anyone who makes disciples who then become disciple makers
themselves. It’s a cycle. We follow Jesus and learn to do what He did.

We have both benefitted greatly from working on this tool and writing about the

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principles and practices that undergird and support it. Before we go any farther, let us
introduce ourselves. We want you to know a little bit about us, which may help you to
understand the vantage point we’re both writing from and doing life.

I (Bobby) am a lead pastor and church planter. My vantage point has been informed by
the following:
• Lead pastor (30 years)
• Church planter
• Coach and trainer of hundreds of church planters
• Founder and director of a national coaching organization for church leaders
• Leader in two national church network systems (Stadia and the Relational
Discipleship Network)
• Doctor of Ministry degree in consulting
• Author of numerous books on disciple making, including the popular DiscipleShift:
Five Steps That Help Your Church Make Disciples That Make Disciples (with Jim
Putman and Robert Coleman) and (the recently released) Disciple Makers
Handbook (with Josh Patrick)
• Co-founder and executive director of Discipleship.org

It was just over ten years ago that I came to the firm conclusion that Jesus’ style of
disciple making is the core mission of the Church.1 That awakening now informs
everything I do and led me to establish Discipleship.org.

I (Greg) have been a lead pastor, church planter, assessor, and coach. My vantage
point has been formed by over thirty-five years of experience, including.
• Lead pastor
• Church planter
• Church, school, and business consultant
• Developer of twenty-plus different assessment tools
• Assistant professor of education (University of Central Florida/Warner Southern

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 University)
• Founder and chief catalyst for Healthy Growing Churches
• Founder and chief catalyst for Healthy Growing Leaders
• Doctorate of Education in psychometrics (University of Central Florida)

I have been an advocate for relational disciple making for the better part of the last four
decades. However, at times in my life, I focused more on making disciples rather than
intentionally focusing on making disciples who make disciples. I firmly believe there’s
nothing more important today than being a disciple maker who makes disciples who
make disciples—to the fourth generation.

Some Helpful Definitions:

Discipleship.org has adopted a few definitions that many have found useful. They
create clarity and give people handles for the disciple making and multiplication
conversation. In this book, we’re using the following four simple definitions;, they are
described in more detail in the book The Disciple Makers Handbook.2

• A disciple - someone who is following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and

is committed to the mission of Jesus (Matt. 4:19).

• Disciple making - helping people to trust and follow Jesus.

• Disciple maker - a Christian who enters into relationships with people to

help them trust and follow Jesus.

• Discipleship-first (person/tribe) - those who see themselves through the

missional lens of being disciples who make disciples.

Our Goal:
Both Greg and I (Bobby) believe that establishing common markers of the varied
approaches to discipleship will be beneficial for the community of disciple-making

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disciples. We want to avoid elevating one author, method or approach to disciple
making over another and instead, create synergy among disciple makers through
creating a common language around an online tool.

We also want an online tool to help Christians develop an objective assessment of

themselves as disciple makers. By establishing profiles and criteria, we create a
benchmark—an objective standard to which we can compare ourselves to the
standard of effective disciple makers today.

The practical levels we use are simple and easy to understand and apply—aligning
with Exponential’s Becoming 5 framework based on five levels of multiplication
capacity for churches.3 Our levels for measuring personal discipleship include:
• Level 1 (Subtracting from disciple-making efforts)
• Level 2 (Plateaued, neither helping nor hindering disciple making)
• Level 3 (Adding, supporting disciple making)
• Level 4 (Reproducing, personally making disciples)
• Level 5 (Multiplying, personally making disciple makers)

Each of these disciple maker levels is unique. We have found that each one has
common ways of thinking about God, people, being a disciple, the Kingdom, and what
it means to make disciples of Jesus. The more likely someone lives out the Kingdom
mindset, practices intentionality, and views their effectiveness from a long-term
perspective, the farther they move along the disciple-making scale.

Jesus is our model. Jesus is the pattern for Level 5 disciple makers. He did not just
make disciples; He made disciple makers. We both believe that becoming a disciple
maker is a really big deal. We have written this book to help you understand our online
assessment tool, use it as a map so that you can plot your progress, and pursue
further development as a disciple maker. Our passionate prayer is that you’ll aspire to
become someone who makes disciples who make disciples. We pray you become a

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Level 5 disciple maker.

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 CHAPTER 1
WHY SHOULD I WANT TO
BECOME A LEVEL 5 DISCIPLE MAKER?
A disciple maker is a Christian who enters into relationships with people to help
them trust and follow Jesus.

The concept of disciple making seems to come into vogue every few decades or so.
And then, unfortunately, the pendulum often swings between an intentional effort to
help people become new believers (evangelism) or to an emphasis on growing
disciples (sanctification). It is as if we had to choose between evangelism and spiritual
growth. As Jesus showed us in His life and teaching, reaching lost people (evangelism)
and helping disciples to grow are both part of discipleship (and disciple making).
Evangelism is the front end of disciple making, and spiritual growth is the back end of
disciple making. Both are eternally and inextricably linked.1

So making disciples must include relating to people far from Christ in a way that helps
them come to faith in Jesus and grow in that faith. Naturally, as they mature, and as
they are trained to be intentional disciple makers, they will then repeat the process with
others. Discipleship without a healthy element of reaching lost people is not
discipleship; it is training for stunted growth Christianity. And what is often thought of
as evangelism isn’t really evangelism without discipleship; it is head hunting, getting
people to make a transaction with God. Essentially, it’s simply trying to sell an
insurance policy rather than trying to help individuals cross the threshold of faith into a
redemptive and growing relationship with God in Christ.

Again, without having and acting on a burden for those who are far from Jesus,
growing in that redemptive relationship through Christ is impossible. A century ago,
people called it a “soul burden”—a burden for the souls of men and women who are
separated from Christ and are experiencing life lived on the edges. It’s impossible to
truly be transformed through dynamic faith in Christ without wanting to do life with the

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God of all creation. When you experience the transformation of your life by His love
and grace, you’re changed eternally.

Jesus Was Intentional

Almost 55 years ago, Robert Coleman wrote the book, The Master Plan of Evangelism.
It is the gold standard on Jesus’ method of disciple making. It sold multiple millions of
copies and has been translated into more than 100 languages.1 Many people do not
grasp the nuance of the title: it is not the Masters’ plan, but the Master Plan. Jesus had
a master plan; Jesus was intentional, with strategy and an end-result vision.

Intentionality is at the heart of following Jesus’ method of disciple making today. This
can be hard for some people to embrace. But we have found that disciple makers rely
on intentionality. Jesus practiced it, Paul modeled it (2 Timothy 2:2), and the
practitioners today swear by it. Intentionality is being deliberate or purposive. It is
having and following a plan; it is knowing where to take people and how to help them
get there.

Disciple making is love expressed on a journey. Jesus’ style of love is not just organic;
it is also strategic. In the material below, as you think about Jesus as a disciple maker,
make mental notes on his intentionality. Yes, Jesus was organic. But Jesus was
intentional. Disciple making is both with intentionality being primary. Jesus was
“organically intentional.” He was so brilliant at both loving people in their convoluted
life situations and in disciple making, that he embodied love and intentionality
simultaneously, beautifully and imperceptibly.

Jesus Was a Disciple Maker

As we read the gospels, we see Jesus as the master disciple maker. He spent most of

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His time and the best of His time in public ministry focused on that one thing. Jesus
was all about relating to individuals as people of value. He accepted them where they
were, but He didn’t leave them there. He loved them in spite of their foibles and
through grace guided their transformation into a God-centered life.

Peter is a prime example of this. In Matthew’s gospel, one moment we see Jesus
praise Peter for identifying Him as the Messiah, and then in the next moment He
accuses Peter of being an ally of the enemy (Matt. 16:16-23). In John 18, Jesus asks
Peter, James, and John to pray for and with Him during one of His most difficult hours.
Then a few minutes later, Jesus chastises Peter for cutting off the ear of the Roman
soldier, Malchus. In the same chapter, Peter emphatically states that he would “never”
leave Jesus, only to deny ever knowing Him that same night. But Jesus never gave up
on him. The same man who denied His master three times in a few hours became a
founding disciple maker in the Jerusalem Church.

History tells us that Thomas reproduced himself as he traveled many places and
eventually gave his life for the cause, in spite of being a doubting personality and one
who was hard to convince (John 20:27). It was Phillip who brought Jesus to frustration
when he simply couldn’t figure out what Jesus was saying (John 14:9). And in John 3,
Nicodemus seems to be slow in comprehending the theological concept of being born
anew spiritually. Martha was consumed in the details and lost sight of the important
things in life (Luke 10:38). Zacchaeus had many shady dealings in his past, but Jesus
saw his potential as an influencer of others.

Each of these men and women had their problems, and yet Jesus met them where they
were and matured them into disciples, ultimately equipping them to make disciples of
others. A person was never a dead end cul-de-sac of ministry for Jesus. He clearly saw
their potential for personal transformation, as well as transforming others after He was
gone.

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Yet Jesus didn’t love these individuals just to see their lives changed. He had a much
larger mission in mind. He desired to do what He came to earth to do—to transform
their lives for eternity, empowering and equipping them to do the same for others. In
the relatively short time that Jesus walked on earth with these faulty faithful few, He
intentionally invested in each one to help him or her nurture an ongoing relationship
with the living God—and a relationship that had a profoundly positive impact on
everyone who encountered these followers. If we follow what happened to each one,
we see that these men and women went on to be used by God to change lives for
eternity.

Jesus made disciples who made disciples. Let that sink in. Our Lord didn’t just make
disciples; He made disciple makers. He modeled what He calls us to do. Part of
aspiring to be like Him is to follow in His example, making disciples who become
disciple makers..

Jesus was clear: Unless you’re intentionally making disciples, you have not yet become
a mature disciple. It would have been absurd for Jesus’ disciples to think they were not
responsible for making disciples who made disciples. They didn’t need to put it on their
to-do checklist. No one had to hold them accountable; making disciples was as natural
as breathing. Having heard and seen their Master, they knew they must be intentionally
investing their lives in those who would also make disciples. It’s what being a disciple
is all about. The intentionality piece is big!

In the Book of Acts and the following epistles, we clearly see these same leaders
practicing discipleship wherever they went. As they explained who Jesus the Christ
was, and as people responded through faith, the early disciples helped these new
converts grow in their relationship. In turn, they helped them reproduce their faith and
life in others.

The Apostle Paul modeled this behavior so clearly in the sixteen or more churches he

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planted. He found individuals who would walk beside him—whether they were making
tents, starting small groups of followers, or sitting in jail—and help them reproduce
their walk with others. Throughout the New Testament, Paul’s name is listed with at
least forty-seven men and women that benefitted from Paul’s investment in their lives.
For Paul, disciple making wasn’t a classroom or small group experience; it was a life
experience! Discipling another was life-on-life wherever he was.

He gives us a glimpse of this disciple making in 1 Thessalonians 2:8: “…so we cared

for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only
the gospel of God, but our lives as well.” Here, we see how Paul’s passion for making
disciples of those followers in Thessalonica went much further than simply sharing the
Good News of Christ. Additionally, Paul literally lived his transformed life with them so
that they could catch how disciples live fully committed to Christ and their Lord.
Sharing his life, Paul lived, worked and simply enjoyed people. In the context of doing
life with others, he intentionally sought to convey the principles of walking with Christ
by faith and then how to transfer what he had learned to others.

No less than seven times in the New Testament, Paul tells those he was discipling to
do the same things they saw him do with them while he was with them. Wow! Now
that’s transparency and authenticity! In 1 Corinthians 11:1, his directive is simple and
clear: “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

Writing to the church of Thessalonica, Paul clearly illustrates the whole process of
being a disciple who makes disciples that makes disciples. In 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7,
we find Paul writing to the small church he started, nurtured and then left, saying, “You
became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of
severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all
the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.” Paul suggests that these followers clearly saw
in him a disciple who lived among them, and they welcomed the message, marked by
their response of becoming disciples themselves. But the process didn’t end there;

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these followers went on to become models to those who lived around them.

What a wonderful model! Like Jesus before him, Paul not only lived as a disciple with
others, he also taught this transference principle to those he discipled. The
understanding was clear that they, too, would make disciples. As Paul writes to
another one of his disciples, Timothy, he reminds him to keep this reproduction going:
“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to
reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2).

Paul reminds Timothy that not only should he make disciples, but that he should also
make disciples who can make disciples who can then make other disciples. Paul
sought to live the life that Christ modeled and taught. He exemplified this model and
infused this multiplication DNA into every follower. It wasn’t about what one person
could do, but rather the multiple generations that could result and the cumulative
impact they all would have. Throughout the Bible as well as the history of Christianity,
people who make disciples don’t just look at the short-term impact they can have in
people’s lives. They’re able to see the Kingdom expanded through the long-term
impact of making disciples who make disciples. As we will see shortly, this is how
eternity-shifting movements have been built.

Jesus, His disciples, and their followers all practiced living the life of a disciple—a life
that naturally included making disciples who make disciples. This primary practice that
Jesus taught and emulated has never changed.

We Can’t Be Like Jesus If We’re Not Making Disciples

At the beginning of my junior year of college, a guy from the apartment across the hall
shared with me (Greg) what a new life in Christ would look life if I were willing to trust
God with my life. As I confessed my sin and began a new life in faith, the Christian
campus group I was part of very naturally expected me to be part of a small group of
three to four guys who were also new and growing in their faith. I immediately became

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a part of this group that was healthy, fun and life-giving.

Another expectation of this campus group was that I would share my new faith with
those closest to me. I didn’t understand it at the time, but the motivation was twofold:
those closest to me would see a difference in my life; and others would know of the
transforming power of Christ and be open to hearing about it. During the next few
weeks, three individuals I shared my experience with crossed that line of faith. Just as
Jesus expected His followers to share their faith, this campus organization expected
the same thing from me—to help others grow into their faith as I grew spiritually and
personally.

So I was barely three weeks old in my walk with Christ, and now I was responsible for
these new babes in Christ, which meant that I led a similar small group or Bible study
with these three guys. I was only three weeks ahead of my disciples in their growth, but
it didn’t really matter. It also didn’t matter that a couple of these guys were much
smarter than me. I was there to coach them in their growth. So for the next eighteen
months, I was in my group and also leading a group. Both were simply expectations—a
normal part of the disciple-making continuum.

Just as people heard and saw Jesus teach and model disciple making, they also knew
they needed to intentionally invest their lives in those who would do the same with
others. This is simply what the early church understood a disciple to be. In most
churches today, that approach wouldn’t pass theological or practical standards. Think
whatever you want to, but when I graduated in 1976 with an engineering degree from
the University of Michigan, my on-campus experience birthed in me an expectation
that post-college, I would be involved in a church where I could continue being a
disciple and making disciples.

Somehow in the West, we have adopted a model of ministry that precludes making
disciples. I experienced this personally when I left engineering to become a pastor so

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that I could have more time to make disciples. I went to seminary and found that I
wasn’t expected to make disciples. Instead, I was expected to be there for the sick and
their families, preach sermons, counsel troubled marriages, manage the budget, sit on
endless committees, run programs, and make copies of Sunday’s bulletin. As the lead
pastor, I tried to work with several churches to change this perspective. But to no avail,
I failed. I just couldn’t change the congregation’s expectations of the pastor’s role.
Eventually, I started my own church but continued to struggle with the pastoral
expectations that most churches have.

This irony of this is that Ephesians 4 is very clear about the role of leaders and
pastors—to equip (disciple) others to do the things needed in ministry. The role of
apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers (APEST) is to make heroes of
others, not be your own hero. My gifts were more centered in the apostle range, so I
didn’t fit the expectation of a shepherd or teacher common to pastors in the previous
generation. As I read this passage in Paul’s letter to the Ephesus church, it’s clear that
God gave us these gifts to equip the body and make it mature, healthy, vibrant and
multiplying.

Most church staff are not modeling disciple making. Ironically, that’s not expected
anywhere else in the church either. By eliminating both the call to and practice of
making disciples, we have essentially neutered the Church in the West. Visit any
continent in the world other than Europe, North America and Australia, and Christianity
is flourishing. In these churches, leaders and followers are not only expected to make
disciples, they naturally do it an intentional rhythm of their existence. Christianity is the
fastest-growing religion in the world because in all of the other places in the world, the
Church is freed up from ministry models devoid of disciple making.

The Core of Every World-Impacting Movement

Within the last twenty centuries, disciple making like Jesus and Paul modeled has
ignited and fueled many movements of Christendom—disciples becoming like Christ

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making disciples of the people they did life with each day. Movements aren’t made of
professional men and women fulfilling their role in the Church to keep the doors open.
True movements are made of men and women, who have a passion to be like Jesus
where they live, work, study, shop and hang out with people who will repeat the same
process. Unless you’re making disciples who make disciples of others, you’re limited in
how fully you’re becoming like Jesus.

Jesus taught and lived this mission, as did His disciples. Christianity went viral
throughout the then known world and continued until Christianity became the state
religion. Then things began to become institutionalized, and we ended up with an
irrelevant Church, much of it far from Christ and discipling. Any sort of revival took
place because God used the gifts He gave to make disciples throughout the Church.

Author and researcher Sam Metcalf has spent his life studying the movements of
Christianity. In his book, Beyond the Local Church: How Apostolic Movements Can
Change the World, Metcalf concludes that most of these movements were started by
catalytic individuals who were passionate about their cause and used the principle of
making disciples who make disciples. He writes:
“Both communism and extreme Islamic fundamentalism are evil counterfeits of
the movement dynamics deeply embedded in the Christian movement from its
very beginning. Jesus himself modeled these dynamics, and the book of Acts is
a fascinating textbook on how his followers lived them out in the first century.”2

Too often, Metcalf explains, the local church is more concerned about propagating
itself rather than reaching the world for Christ through making disciples who make
disciples. He astutely argues that to create viral disciple-making movements “...there
are usually three things that come together: 1) the right people, 2) the right structures;
and 3) the sovereign anointing of God.” 3

Carrying out Jesus’ Great Commission to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28: 18-20)

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will only happen as we become disciples who make disciples that make disciples. At
its core, this movement must be empowered by God’s presence through His Spirit—
free of the Western Church’s prevailing structures that are really just designed to
produce programs and professionals who run the programs and do ministry. Instead,
it’s up to us to look for new ways to create structures and opportunities that equip,
empower and release people to be disciples who are freed up to make disciples who
make disciples.

Living On Through the Disciples You Reproduce

One last comment on why you should want to be a disciple maker: All of us will die.
That’s a guarantee! Of course, we don’t dwell on this thought, but the reality is that this
life we’re privileged to live will terminate. We all need an exit strategy. Though few of us
think much about what will happen once we’re gone, many psychologists agree that
one of our greatest needs is a desire to live on, or at least leave a mark of significance.
The wisest of us will plan for our legacy.

Scripture reveals that in eternity, what really matters is our souls and the souls of
others. The soul work we do within ourselves lasts forever (being a disciple), and the
soul work we do in others (making disciples) will last for eternity. As many of us seek to
make a significant contribution to our world, the energy you invest in others will last
forever. Jesus paints a clear picture of this in Matthew 25, as He tells what is
commonly referred to as the Parable of the Talents. Immediately after this passage, we
find Jesus telling the Parable of the Sheep and Goats.

Matthew’s text reveals the importance of investing what we have been given in this life
to impact our eternity and the eternities of others. We’ve all been given time, talents
and treasures that we can spend in a variety of ways. Taken together, these two
parables point to the importance of investing our resources to become disciples and
care for those less fortunate. We are called to invest our resources in others who then
maximize our return for eternal purposes.

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Our hope is that reading this book will aspire you to make disciples who become
disciple makers themselves. In this way, you’ll multiply your life and legacy, ultimately
impacting generations of disciples for eternity—well beyond your personal reach.

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 CHAPTER 2
CAN ANY CHRISTIAN BE A DISCIPLE MAKER?

Jesus clearly stated His expectation that all of His followers would grow and make
disciples (Matt. 28:19-20). He didn’t select a few special individuals and set out to
change the world through them. Rather, He chose a wide variety of people of all walks
and stations in life. They all became disciples who made disciples in their own way.
They were professionals, housewives, prostitutes, tradesmen, and politicians, rich and
poor.

Not Personality Dependent

As we look at those who made disciples in the New Testament, it’s clear that disciple
making isn’t limited to certain personality types, careers, callings, or ages. We don’t
really know the variety of vocations and personality types in the New Testament, but
we know that:

• Peter—was outspoken and impulsive.

• Barnabas— was warm and accepting.
• Lydia— was a risk taker and hospitable.
• Paul— was dominant and direct.
• Timothy—was withdrawn and reserved.
• Mary— was busy and meticulous.
• Apollos— was studious and reflective.
• Titus— was organized and strategic.
• Thomas— was skeptical and detailed.
• Luke— was educated and analytical.

So often today, people qualify certain personality traits, saying that those who have
those traits are better than others at making disciples. This is a lie from the evil one.

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The enemy of our soul would like nothing better than to convince you that you can’t
make disciples because __________( you fill in the blank). Many of us have rehearsed
tapes of why we we’re not that good at making disciples. Too often, we put up
objections and excuses in an attempt to explain that God can’t use us to make
disciples of others.

Before we go any further, let’s first establish the point that you aren’t the one making a
disciple. in John 14:16, Jesus is pretty clear that disciple making is the role of the Spirit
who does the transforming work within someone. Only through the power and
presence of the indwelling Spirit does God use us to impact another. We’re simply
partnering with Him in the process. God could surely make disciples without us (He is
God), but for our benefit, He has chosen us to walk beside Him in the process of
transforming a life.

Recently, some friends we (Greg) hadn’t heard from or seen in almost thirty years
visited my wife, Mary Kay, and me. We were so thankful they intentionally sought us
out after all these years. As we sat on our back porch laughing and sharing memories
of the past, there came a point when it was obvious they had something important to
tell us. They grew serious and told us the reason they looked us up was to tell us what
a powerful impact we had made in their lives, discipling them as a young married
couple.

Their words blew us away as they recalled event after event that happened over two
years in this group we led. Mary Kay and I had been intentional about focusing on
being disciples who would make disciples that make disciples. As we listened in awe,
we were moved to tears. We all were. We had no clue the Spirit was making such
impact in their lives through us. Only after they left, did Mary Kay and I look at each
other and confess that we didn’t even remember them being in that group! That night,
they had shared so many details only someone in the group would have known, so we
knew they were in our group. But we had little memory of that experience.

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The power and presence of the Spirit is often like that. He takes our obedience and
uses it to do His work. He works in unfathomable ways unbeknownst to us. In the quiet
corners of homes and hearts, the Spirit does His transformational work. Don’t think
that God’s ability to work through you is limited to your personality or position. Most
often, He will work through or around these.

Ironically, we can both tell you that the disciples that have grown through our
investments entrusted by the Spirit occurred more through intentional relationships
than any sermon or service we led as pastors. Earlier, as Greg shared in chapter one,
we often had to intentionally make disciples in spite of being pastors. We both feel it
was often harder to make disciples as a pastor than it was as a layperson.

Unique to Your Gifts, Passions and Walk with Christ

Your ability to make disciples is not dependent on personality, position, knowledge,
education, age ethnicity, background, season of life, or your score on this disciple
maker assessment. Your disciple-making ability is not dependent on your gifts,
passions and walk with Christ. There are surely some particularities about you that
influence how you make disciples, but surely not if you make them.

Making a disciple is about communicating Christ’s transformational principles in the

context of a relationship. Simply put, you can give someone something that you don’t
have. We believe (and Scripture backs us up) that it’s best for someone to experience
the power and presence of Christ personally before the Spirit uses him to disciple
others. God surely can do it without such. But He simply chooses to work through
willing and intentional vessels; yes, often broken ones.

If your gifts are more “behind-the-scenes,” then you’ll most often find yourself working
with others in those kinds of relationships. Both of our wives, Mary Kay and Cindy, do
not see themselves as public speakers; they prefer staying out of the spotlight. In fact,

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they’ll be unhappy with us using them to illustrate this point, but they’re perfect
examples. With both Mary Kay and Cindy, you’ll often find them helping others, serving
in the kitchen, or cleaning up after special times with people we have in our homes.

However, God has used each woman to impact many people. Some are young people
who have either stayed with us for a few months or others who have met with us from
time to time. When people stay with us, Mary Kay and Cindy do as Paul did; they share
their life and the gospel as well. People see them living out Jesus’ words and loving
others through their gifts. They share naturally in context of the relationships that God
brings them.

Mary Kay’s and Cindy’s methods stand in direct contrast to our methods. Greg and I
are much more upfront and love working with individuals that desire to be used of God
to do leadership things. Though our methods differ greatly from our wives’, we work
well together. We are keenly aware of these differences, so we disciple differently in
various arenas. One is no better than the other—just different.

We chose Mary Kay and Cindy as examples because too often people who are not
gifted in strong teaching or leadership gifts feel inadequate as disciple makers. In the
remaining sections of this book, we talk about the different levels of disciple making.
The goal of using these levels is not to label and/or judge. Rather, we want to help you
assess and understand where you are as a disciple maker so that God can use you to
a greater degree in expanding His Kingdom.

It doesn’t matter what your gifts are; you’re called to make disciples. The challenge will
be different for each of us. We guarantee that regardless of your position, gifts,
education or stage in life, you will struggle with prioritizing your life to make disciples
and not just do church work. But you can do it!

For example, pastors of large churches will struggle with setting priorities over the long

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term to continue pouring into leaders to make disciples. There is a great temptation to
only disciple those who can benefit the church whom you serve. We know. We’ve been
there. But often, leaders who become disciples of Jesus who then make disciples will
be called of God to do that elsewhere. Think Barnabas and Paul (Acts 13). If and when
that happens, we must release these leaders to such places. This is multiplication.
We’re not just planting churches or sites, but rather, discipling people who can make
disciples of others who can then lead churches in multiplication.

The goal of multiplying churches isn’t simply having more institutional churches on the
corners of our communities, but rather to have more bodies of Christ that are
committed to, and are practicing, disciple making. Are you discipling people who have
the time and interest in making disciples of Christ? That is effective multiplication. in his
book, Becoming a Level Five Multiplying Church, Exponential Director Todd Wilson
looks at why and how disciple making is core to Kingdom multiplication.1 Disciple
making must be the backbone of churches that are growing and multiply.

Try reading Acts and the Epistles through the eyes of Paul. He poured into a large
number of men and women, yet most left him to be involved in other ministries. Some
had conflict with him; some turned on and even hurt him. At the end of his life, in the
last chapter of 2 Timothy, Paul asks Timothy to bring Mark and to come to him. We
don’t know if they ever made it to Paul, but it’s no surprise that during his final days on
earth, Paul would want to be with those he had invested in and in whom he had
multiplied himself. This kind of reminds us of Matthew 28 when Jesus called His
disciples to Himself.

Making disciples of individuals is not an easy endeavor; nothing that changes this
world ever is.

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 CHAPTER 3
WHY DEVELOP AN ASSESSMENT TOOL?

Disciple makers struggle to find common markers and common vernacular to describe
the process of disciple making. This was the goal in developing a commonly available
assessment tool focused on disciple making. Establishing a common vernacular and
common markers of the varied approaches to discipleship will be beneficial for the
community of disciple-making disciples. Our online tool is designed to help Christians
develop an objective assessment of themselves as disciple makers. By establishing
profiles and criteria, we create a benchmark—an objective standard that helps us
compare our standard with that of today’s effective disciple makers.

Once you establish a base level, you’ll be able to assess ways to grow and improve.
Essentially, you’ll gain a sense of the necessary resources for helping you on your
journey to become the best possible disciple maker. That is the ultimate goal for
developing this tool—to help each person in his or her journey make disciples as Jesus
made disciples who then made disciples.

The online assessment offers five basic levels that are not as much theological in
orientation (Kingdom, church, etc.,) as they are practical and measurable. This is an
important point. We’re not saying our model is taught in Scripture. Rather, it’s a model
that we find to be in step with what the Bible teaches. The distinction is important.

We have followed the general outline that aligns with Scripture, but our assessment
tool is more descriptive of what we find practically in the lives of disciple makers today.
We think you’ll find it helpful and biblical, but we would not bind it on others as God’s
standard. Again, this is not to say that our model lacks theological support—far from it.
A deeper analysis shows that our model has much in common with the disciple-making
practices described in the Bible and by Jesus Himself, as the discipleship scholar

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Robert Coleman laid out many years ago.

Five Disciple Maker Profiles

The goal of this assessment tool is to help you determine your personal level of
maturity and competency in being used by God to effectively build up others in their
relationship with Christ, and to develop their own ability to do this with others. This is
what the Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy to do when he wrote: “And the things you
have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who
will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim. 2:2). This is commonly called the process
of making disciples who make disciples.

This tool measures your level of effectiveness in making disciples. Once you
understand where you currently are in this lifelong process, you can intentionally grow
in ways to improve your effectiveness on this journey. Our goal is to help each person
become a better disciple maker throughout his or her life.

For simplicity, we have developed this tool so that most individuals will fit into one of
the five disciple maker profiles. These profiles are practical and measurable ways of
classifying where you are in the process. The five stages are not intended to be a label
that describes you as an individual, but rather a brief snapshot of five levels of behavior
described in this assessment tool. For simplicity’s sake, we grouped these behaviors
into five categories to help you understand and apply them.

The Five Levels of Disciple Making

Level 1—These disciple makers demonstrate the behaviors of people who are
not passionate about growing in their relationship with Christ through
obedience to Jesus’ disciple-making call. They don’t personally or intentionally
focus on helping others grow in their relationship with Christ, and they don’t
help others make disciples. They may actually have a negative impact on

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disciple making because they allow the world to have a greater impact on the
people around them than they do for the cause of Christ.

Level 2 – The behaviors of this group describe those who identify with Christ
but are not yet growing in their relationship with Him. Similar to Level 1, they
are not personally making disciples. However, they do help in disciple-making
efforts by attempting to be a regular part of group meetings or gatherings that
involve others who are growing and becoming disciples. The behaviors of
these men and women prevent disciple making from progressing as quickly as
the next three levels (3, 4 and 5) because those assessing at Level 2 don’t
seek to intentionally influence others for spiritual growth.

Level 3 – These behaviors describe disciple makers who intentionally advance

the disciple-making efforts of others by serving and aiding in the group
activities and gatherings of the body of Christ. They are loyal to their local
church, His body and to the leaders who promote disciple making. They are
personally growing in their relationship with Christ and can be described as
spiritually minded individuals who know what they believe. They can be
depended on in groups and gatherings for the cause of disciple making and
may personally make small steps toward making disciples of others and
inviting others into the disciple-making activities of the church.

Level 4 – These behaviors describe disciple makers who are intentionally

growing and are actively making disciples. They personally invest in
relationships so that they can make disciples and assist in others’ disciple-
making efforts as well. They are committed to the process of disciple making
personally, do it themselves, and join with the leaders of their church or para-
church organizations to lead people and groups. They live to see disciples
made through their efforts.

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 Level 5 – The behaviors of this disciple maker describe someone who is a
mature disciple maker—intentional and effective at raising up not just new
disciples, but also new disciple makers. Those assessing at Level 5 have a
long-term view of God’s Kingdom, well beyond the level of their own influence.
They live to develop individuals who will make disciple makers who will then
make other disciple makers, many of whom they will never meet. They are fully
engaged in igniting and fueling disciple-making movements within their church
or fellowship of churches.

Each level of these disciple makers is unique; their practices vary greatly. But they all
have common ways of thinking about God, people, being a disciple, the Kingdom, and
what it means to make disciples of Jesus.

Intentionality Matters
Bill Hull is a leader who has given his life to mastering disciple making. He has written
more than twenty books on the topic and has established two international networks
that help leaders implement disciple making in their ministries. He is one of the leaders
who has helped us develop and test this online assessment, as well as contributed his
insights to this book. After reviewing the assessment, he asked us to clarify something
for our readers that many, especially younger people, might find to be a helpful insight.
He stressed the need for intentionality.

If we want to truly love people like Jesus did, Bill said, we will learn to practice
intentionality. Our commitment to Intentionality expresses our love for whomever we’re
praying for and discipling. In fact, it seems to be the biggest difference maker between
those who just aspire to making disciples and those who actually do it effectively. This
online assessment will help you gauge how you’re doing at embracing intentionality as
the Spirit’s primary way for making disciple. God’s Spirit works through us, helping us
to use our minds and develop wise strategy.

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We anticipate that there will be people who may initially dislike the fact that we have
identified and defined “levels” of disciple making. Or they may dislike the fact that we
categorize, organize and prioritize disciple making. We encourage you to resist the
urge to reject intentionality. Embrace that principle. This assessment tool will help you
examine and evaluate yourself and then help you find and employ the best next-step
plans—helping you become more effective at championing the greatest cause on
planet Earth.

The Mathematics of Impact

We can view and understand these profiles by looking at their mathematical impact,
which means we frame the tool through the lenses of subtraction, addition, and
multiplication. For example, at Level 1, a disciple maker actually has a negative impact
on the cause of disciple making. Stated differently, the cause of Christ often loses
because of their influence. They either give a bad name to the cause of Christ, or their
influence is the same as the world’s. These are the undeveloped Christians, those who
do not act like they know Christ. Their lives often show no fruit. They may be called
hypocrites and fakes. They subtract from disciple-making effectiveness.

But now let’s now go up to say, Level 3. Here, we find disciples who help add disciples
and add to disciple-making efforts. They are supportive, hard-working members of a
local body or para-church. They help add people to the Kingdom because they provide
a place for others to come and receive influence from disciple makers in groups and
gatherings (for example, church services). They are the people who get there for the
services, make it to the small group or class meetings, serve, help, and can be counted

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on to support the leadership of group disciple makers. They also are likely to invite
their friends and acquaintances to church. Not only will they work hard, they will also
provide financial and personal support for disciple-making activities. Their efforts help
add disciples and help disciples grow.

Now let’s jump to Level 5, which is all about multiplication. These disciple makers have
become so effective that those they raise up become disciple makers. Their disciples
train and readily transfer what they’ve learned to other disciples who, in turn, take the
same practices that have been passed on to them and replicate what they have gained
with others. This is the ideal that Jesus established with His disciples. They became
disciples who made disciples who made disciples. Their efforts have a multiplying
effect.

In practice, these levels of subtraction, addition, and multiplication will overlap and
blend because we’re dealing with people. All of us are complex individuals. Those
complexities don’t go away in our lives as disciples and disciple makers. There can be
spurts of growth and influence and then periods of decline and waning influence.

The boundaries may not always be clear. Between a negative impact on disciple
making (Level 1) and adding to the disciple-making efforts of others (Level 3), we can
plateau as disciple makers (Level 2). Or between adding to disciple-making efforts
(Level 3) and being a multiplying influencer (Level 5), someone may just be a faithful
disciple maker who reproduces disciples yet their disciples never become disciple
makers themselves (Level 4).

The following image illustrates the overlaps and the five levels of disciple making:

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 Leve1: Subtracting // Level 2: Plateauing // Level 3: Adding
Level 4: Reproducing // Level 5: Multiplying

Let’s get practical. For example, let’s envision someone who fits into Level 3. Look at
the following five bullet points that could characterize Level 3 disciple making (Note
that because of the overlaps we just discussed, not all will apply to every person at
Level 3):

o The disciple maker’s mindset is truly oriented to God’s Kingdom (he is a

spiritual young adult).
o The disciple maker may have personally made efforts to disciple others
but without much effectiveness.
o No one has intentionally trained the disciple maker in how to personally
disciple others.
o The disciple maker supports disciple-making efforts by serving and
financially providing resources for others who are making disciples.
o The disciple maker will help, support, and do what she can for the
Kingdom of God.

The Disciple-Making Profiles (Levels 1-5)

We can describe each of the five levels of disciple making by identifying and defining
certain attributes or characteristics that work together to reveal five separate profiles.
Our team of national disciple-making leaders met, prayed and labored over describing
each level to help distinguish and separate it from the other four. This wasn’t always

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easy. We also fully appreciate that everyone will not agree with every characteristic.
However as we went through many revisions, we found that the following bulleted
characteristics do provide a place to begin understanding each of the five levels of
disciple making.

The characteristics are our attempt to behaviorally, attitudinally or spiritually describe

each level so that anyone can clearly understand which profile they would fit in based
on the specific lists of characteristics.

Level 1 Profile:
• Claims conversion, but shows no or little fruit of it.
• Shows little biblical or God impact in their lives.
• Is uninformed about the faith.
• Exhibits a lack of obedience.
• Demonstrates a lack of Christlike character.
• Doesn’t serve in the church.
• Has a consumer mentality.
• Has no personal ministry.
• Has no accountability, intimate transparency or relationships.
• Seeks little to no communication with God (prayer).
• Shows no life of repentance.
• Loves the world more than Jesus (demonstrated by their actions, though they
won’t say it).
• Is a poor example of a follower of Christ.
• Is a Christian by self-identification but not a disciple.
• Wrong scorecard messes up their life and the lives of those around them.

Level 2 Profile:
• Is self-centered but wants to grow some and may be involved in a church or small
group.

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 • Thinks about himself first, then others.
• Has a poor discipline for godliness.
• Knows very little of God’s heart.
• Is biblically illiterate.
• Views the world from a human perspective.
• Views others from a worldly perspective.
• Has no personal ministry using his gifts.
• May go to church, but is a spectator, not a participant.
• Shows a consumer mentality (they come to church to receive rather than
contribute).
• Lacks healthy relationships, which causes conflict and division.
• Focuses on himself but wants to get closer to Jesus.

Level 3 Profile:
• Desires what God wants.
• Is growing in relationship with Christ.
• Is committed to Jesus and His Church.
• Simply does not know how to make a disciple of another person.
• Is motivated to make disciples but lacks confidence and competence.
• Is viewed as a fruitful Christian.
• Has a lack of reproduction in personally making disciples of others.
• May have some quiet disappointment in their inability to make disciples.
• Is involved in programs but lacks intentional disciple-making relationships.
• Supports their church and its institutional needs.
• Discipleship is a defined small group study rather than a lifestyle.
• Needs a church to help others grow.
• Practices various disciplines that encourage her own growth in Christ.
• Seeks to be a good model of a follower of Christ.

Level 4 Profile:

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 • Focuses on Jesus and what He desires.
• Enjoys helping others spend time with Jesus through studying His Word.
• Believes and practices disciple making.
• Reproduces the life of Jesus in one or more people at a time.
• Practices grace-centered accountability in her relationships.
• Demonstrates a bias to “yes,” meaning she encourages her disciples to try new
things.
• Loves others as they are but influences them to be more than they were.
• Understands the reproducing process and practices it.
• Shows others how to obey the teachings of Jesus.
• Has a good working knowledge of the scriptures.
•Creates “life space” or “margin” to be a disciple maker:
-Time
-Energy
-Resources
• Trained in disciple-making models that work (evangelism and discipleship).
• Has a strong personal desire and commitment to serve as a disciple maker.
• Thinks about reproducing themselves through others.

Level 5 Profile:
• Focuses on long-term Kingdom impact through multiple generations.
• Builds intentional relationships with others who will build disciples of others.
• Has a fluid working knowledge of Scripture.
• Coaches others.
• Humility, obedience and servanthood are modeled in those they invest in.
• Trains those they disciple to be spiritual parents.
• Lives a transparent life with those they disciple.
• Driven by Kingdom love, which causes great sacrifice.
ª Uses the “imitate me” model, like the apostle Paul did.

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• Has a reproducible mindset that allows everything they teach to be replicated by
others.
• Is explicit about the process they use to make disciples.
• Champions others who make disciples.
• Builds a leadership pipeline of disciples who make disciples.
• Lives strategically to make disciples who make disciples.
• Has the freedom to live accordingly.

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 CHAPTER 4
Why Should I Assess My Disciple-Making Ability?

So why would we create a tool to assess your disciple-making ability? More

importantly, why should you spend the time to take (and act on) the assessment? In
conducting assessments for more than twenty-five years, there’s one thing that I (Greg)
have learned about helping people understand their unique attributes through these
assessment tools:

You can never figure out where you want to go unless you first know where you are.

In other words, you need clarifying perspective. Each assessment we create is

designed to help you understand your reality. Well-designed assessments provide
psychometrically valid insights to help individuals fully appreciate who they are now.
Once there, it’s feasible to determine where to go and how to get there. Without
exception, assessments help you see yourself more realistically.

It would be foolish to set out driving with no sense of where you are or where you want
to go. Think about your GPS and how it gets you to where you want to go. A GPS must
first locate your current position and then locate the desired address or location. Only
then can the GPS plot the specific steps that you must take to get to your destination.

In life, you may have different options to get to where you’re going. It may surprise you
to learn that what helps in putting together a path to your preferred future is knowing
where you have been. For this reason, the Disciple Maker assessment evaluates your
past, present and future aspirations as three separate perspectives.

Recently, I (Greg) was coaching a pastor who was struggling with his fear of failing to
be a successful disciple maker. As it turned out, this pastor’s fear was rooted in family

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history so I reminded him of the importance of understanding our past before plotting
our future. In other words, in your pursuit of becoming a disciple maker it’s helpful to
understand where you’ve been. Of course, this assessment is not about understanding
“how” you developed your past disciple-making behavior; that’s beyond the scope of
this book and/or tool. We are only evaluating actual behaviors from your past.

Measuring disciple-making levels is not an attempt to guilt anyone, but rather an

opportunity to take an honest look at yourself. As with any assessment, “fudging” or
painting a rosy picture of a past that really didn’t exist does no one any good. When
you’re honest about where you’ve been, you can then better evaluate where you
currently are. Let me suggest that if you want to be someone who will consistently
improve as a disciple maker, you need to know not only where you are, but also where
you have been in regard to individual goals.

Understanding where you’ve been (past) enables you to figure out

where you are (present).

A few years ago, I (Bobby) spent time with a key leader in our church who had a deep
passion to become a better disciple maker. We actually fasted and prayed together,
asking God to bring just the right person into Kevin’s life so that he could lead them to
Christ and help them to grow in Christ (remember, disciple making is both evangelism
and sanctification). Kevin was a Level 3 disciple maker—supporting, tithing, and
serving in our church. His desire was strong, but desire wasn’t enough. He needed to
understand the specifics of what you do as a spiritual parent (Level 4). Objective
assessments like this tool not only help people understand where they’re currently at,
they’re also training tools to help people discover pathways forward. This assessment
can open your eyes to attitudes, perspectives and strategies that you can develop.

As I (Greg) worked on developing this tool, I realized that I have gone through seasons
of life where I made disciples; other seasons where I made disciples who made

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disciples; and finally some seasons where I actually have made disciples who made
disciples who then made disciples. These realizations were important in helping me
understand my past practice of making disciples because now I can better understand
where I currently am in making disciples and why.

This “past” perspective also helps me plot out a path of what I need to do to be where
I want to be. Whether you’re new to the Christian faith or have years of experience to
lean on, reflect on your predominant behaviors for the last two to five years as you take
the assessment.

Understanding where you are (present) enables you to figure out how to get to
where you want to be (future).

To determine your current perspective, as with your past, the assessment evaluates
your behavior in disciple making over the course of the last twelve months. Most of us
tend not to separate our beliefs from our behavior, but these are two very different
constructs for all of us. As you respond to the items within any assessment, make sure
you answer based upon your behaviors—what you’ve actually done rather than what
you believe.

Most of us believe in the Church. Specifically, those of us who are devoted Christ
followers should be known as disciple makers. However, very few actually practice this
as a way of life through our behaviors. The only way we can address behaviors in a
positive and proactive manner is to acknowledge where we are, both in the past and
currently. There is a huge difference in belief and behaviors—what we aspire to do
versus what we actually practice. Ironically, when you Google the difference between
practices and beliefs, you get more than 29 million hits with the large majority of them
associated with religious beliefs. You must get honest about where you are, and the
gap between your present and where you want to go.

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 Understanding where you want to be enables you to move in that direction
(future).

In this assessment, we’ll ask you about your future or aspirational behavior as a
disciple maker. What behaviors would typify your life as a disciple who makes disciples
that makes disciples? Assessments ask about typical behaviors as an opportunity to
take an introspective look at yourself, so it’s important to respond based on what your
heart desires. Avoid answering based on what others want for you; think hard about
what you really desire. Trying to please others won’t really be enough motivation to
cause you to change, much less reorient, your life. Answering in a manner that isn’t
rooted in reality is just not helpful.

In regard to your future perspective and the level you aspire to be: Most of us reading
this book probably have some concept of our calling to make disciples. We may not
have understood our need to make disciple makers until now, but most of us knew we
should at least be making disciples. We may lack the internal discipline and the know-
how. That’s okay. Life is messy. We don’t always respond the way we desire. It’s truly
God at work in and through us who produces a disciple who makes disciples. Our role
is to aspire to Level 5 and then cooperate with the Holy Spirit to get there.

Aspiring to Level 5
In the early beta testing of the online tool, we discovered a surprising insight. Less than
25 percent of the respondents aspired to be Level 5 disciple makers! Included in that
number are many people in ministerial and pastoral positions. We were surprised, but
then after conversations between all of us (Greg, Bobby, and Todd Wilson), the number
began to make sense.

The truth is that it is a big step for everyday Christians—and even those in ministry—to
aspire to turn desire into actions and become personal disciple makers who make and
multiply disciples. Once a leader or a church leadership teams starts to emphasize the

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importance of personal disciple making, getting people to embrace it as a focus
(something they practice) requires a lot of teaching, love, and coaching. Most of our
respondents felt good about aspiring to just become disciple makers. To them, that
represented a big change in their perspective and focus.

But we want to encourage everyone reading this book to go one step further and
pursue Level 5 disciple making. Exponential likes to call them Level 5 multipliers or
“hero makers.” When we make disciple makers (Level 5), we become “hero makers.”
Those who make disciple makers change the lives of the people they’re discipling for
eternity. They are making people who will be heroes in eternity.

It is aspiring to be like Jesus. Jesus spent the most important time in His ministry not
just making disciples, but making disciple makers out of James, Peter, John, and the
rest of the twelve. Those who make disciple makers are imitating Jesus. There is no
higher calling.

Evaluating the Results

Once you’ve invested time to take any assessment, you need to spend time reviewing
the results. Most assessments will give you a summary page that’s designed to help
you investigate options for improvement.

Assessments are not all created equal. This disciple-making assessment has been
vetted and is psychometrically valid (applying stats and mathematical techniques to
psychological testing). Our hope, our desire, is to help you grow to become more
effective by understanding where you were; where you are; and where you want to go
in becoming a disciple maker. This assessment is a good start to this lofty and
Kingdom-expanding endeavor.

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 CHAPTER 5
THE SPIRITUAL FAMILY METAPHOR

As leaders dedicated to the cause of making disciples, we look for multiple ways we
can help you understand our assessment tool. For this comparison, we went back to
Scripture. As we mentioned earlier, we want to be careful not to bind our model on
people, as though it’s biblical doctrine. Yet at the same time, we can draw language
from the Bible that matches a physical reality in the world—a metaphor that people can
easily associate with and understand. The Bible describes people at different levels of
spiritual development using the analogy of family: from infants to children to parents.

In his book, The Disciple Maker’s Handbook, Bobby (and his co-writer Josh Patrick)
include a chapter that maps out the disciple maker’s growth journey.1 We encourage
you to read that book. Discipleship.org has identified the five levels of Christians and
the spiritual family references that match each level.

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This developmental concept is new to many, especially to those who have been taught
that salvation is a one-time event or to those who have not been taught the biblical
understanding of development and growth. It is a vitally important framework in
disciple making and the core reproducible process used by Jim Putman and other
leaders in the Relational Discipleship Network.2

As we introduce this family concept, we want to make two things clear. The previous
illustration presents a clear, linear progression of growth. But as we talked about in
chapter 4, it doesn’t always work this way in real life. The discipleship journey may not
be linear; at times, it’s up and down, back and forth. It often looks either very messy or
stagnant. And no two journeys are the same. This illustration is useful in that it clearly
outlines the growth process. We can see general principles at work, but the contours
of each person’s journey with Jesus are sacred and one of a kind.

Second, someone can be an infant and still have a very significant impact as a disciple
maker shortly after becoming a Christian. If someone is disciplined and responsible
with habits of commitment and follow up, an infant can appear to be a spiritual young
adult, even parents. In a strictly mathematical model, infants can positively influence
disciple making right away. But the key thing that matters, over the long haul, is inner
transformation. Just like physical children can act beyond their maturity level for a
limited period of time, those who are spiritually young can do the same. We can expect
this. However if we expect this to be the norm, there will be problems.

Someone who has developed a love for God and His Kingdom over time will serve not
just out of responsibility and good character—they will serve from a transformed heart
and mind. Their service won’t be based just on skills—but also the development of a
mindset and heart for God. Because such growth has come from the Holy Spirit, truly
mature people are less likely to impose immature or unwise standards on those they’re
discipling.

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Keep the family model in mind as you read the rest of this chapter. We’ll start with
spiritual infants and then move on to describe the development of disciple makers up
through being parents and grandparents. A grandparent, as we’ll see, has multiple
generations of disciples and disciple makers. We can often find an organic correlation
between the disciple maker levels and the spiritual family:

Spiritual infants = Level 1 disciple makers

Spiritual children = Level 2 disciple makers
Spiritual young adults = Level 3 disciple makers
Spiritual parents = Level 4 disciple makers
Spiritual grandparents = Level 5 disciple makers

The single biggest predictor of development from levels 3 to 4 and from levels 4 to 5 is
intentionality. Let us be like Bill Hull and stress that word again: Disciple makers are
guided by intentionality. When we’re intentional, we’re deliberate or purposive.
Intentionality requires us to have and follow a plan; it’s knowing where to take people
and how to help them get there. Yes, God’s Spirit is at work in and through the
process, however intentionality opens the door for this transformative process to take
place.

Stage One—Infant (Lacking Knowledge)

Spiritual infants are newborn Christians (Heb. 5:12–14). Just like babies need to be
cared for and given milk, spiritual infants need lots of care. They’re not yet ready for
solid food. They don’t have in-depth spiritual knowledge, developed habits, and
maturity. They don’t have the capacity to make disciples of others from a spiritual
foundation. They can learn skills and processes, but they will not last without internal
growth.

When people are spiritual infants, their words and actions reveal the truth of who they
are. You often hear one or more of the following from infants:

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 • God wants us to be tolerant and accepting of everything and everyone.
• Jesus, Allah, Buddha, and Karma are all talking about the same principles.
• I had no idea the Bible said that!
• I want to be a good Christian, but I don’t want to leave my former life
behind.
• I don’t really have time for church, and I’m too busy to be involved.

I (Bobby) just received my first grandchild into the world. Wow, what a great joy! But I
had forgotten how much care and attention an infant requires. I spent a whole day
watching him recently, and it just about wore me out.

In the same way, it’s a great joy to see a newborn spiritual infant. But we easily miss
that they, too, need a lot of care and attention. They need protection, nurturing and
guidance. They need someone to show them what the Bible teaches and how they
should now live. They need role models that they can respect and follow.

If spiritual infants are nurtured and guided in the context of relationship, then they can
grow. That’s why we need to commit to the hard work of parenting. Infants especially
need disciple makers whom they can respect and can model their lives after.

Stage Two—Child (Self-Focused but Growing)

In 1 Thessalonians 2:10–12, Paul describes himself as a spiritual father dealing with his
children—encouraging, comforting, and urging them to live lives worthy of God. People
in the “child” stage are growing in their relationship with God and beginning to grow in
their relationships with other Christians. But like all children, they are naturally self-
centered. And they continue to need considerable nurturing and guidance.

For disciple makers, this stage is important to understand. God designed human
beings so that they grow up through the childhood stage. As a child develops, it’s

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necessary for his or her development to go through this period with a high focus on
personal needs. It helps children differentiate themselves from their parents and sets
them up for young adulthood, where they can naturally become more focused upon
others.

Disciple makers can be easily frustrated by the self-focus of spiritual children. For
example, children often only want to be in a small group if they can get something out
of it. They can focus on their desire for good preaching, programs, and praise and can
come off as consumers of religious goods and services.

This posture should not surprise us. Children are like that. We need to be careful that
we avoid becoming judgmental when spiritual children act like children. It‘s natural for
a Christian to process through a childhood phase on the way to becoming a spiritual
young adult or parent. Of course, we challenge this behavior, but we do it with love and
grace. Some will respond to our guidance and direction. Others will not.

Remember, when we understand that growth as a disciple is a journey and a process,

we can have appropriate expectations of those we’re discipling. At this stage, you
might hear someone say:
• The pastor’s sermons aren’t feeding me.
• I would love to attend church regularly, but I don’t have time.
• I don’t really want to go to small group because I would like friends who are
more like myself.
• I can’t believe that a good God would allow such pain to come into my life.
People in this growth stage need to learn to do the right things for the right reasons, no
matter how they feel. This is where a person will begin to experience some growing
pains and may at first be tempted to avoid pain or conflict. They may be emotionally
immature as well. Discipling someone involves modeling maturity and teaching him to
cultivate a servant’s versus self-centered heart. Once a true Kingdom focus and a
servant’s heart begin to develop, he moves into the young adult phase.

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 Stage Three—Young Adult (Kingdom-Focused)
In 1 John 2:13–14, we find a description of spiritual young men. John tells us that they
have overcome the evil one, and the Word of God abides in them. This is a big step In
Kingdom effectiveness,. Spiritual young adults are recognizable because they’re
shifting from self-centeredness to being God-centered and others-centered. In this
stage of spiritual development, it’s a joy to disciple people. The Spirit is transforming
their hearts, and the Kingdom of God is real to them.

When I (Bobby) served as a lead pastor in Calgary, Canada (my home city), I had the
privilege of leading a middle-aged man named Greg (not Greg, my co-author) to faith in
Christ. I was amazed at his earnestness for the faith. We often studied the Bible
together, met for lunch, shared our lives, and became good friends. Over time, I saw
Greg grow.

I will never forget the day that it hit me how much he had grown spiritually. He and his
wife had arrived at our Sunday gathering early. He was there to serve. His whole life
was revolving more and more around service.

One day I was down the hall from where Greg was, and I overheard him talking to his
wife. He gave her a report on all the things that were going on in the church and then
he said, “Isn’t it great how things are going and everything that’s happening in the
church?” Greg was now a young adult. And I was grateful to watch his journey.

Here are some things you often hear people say at the young adult stage:
• I am so grateful for all that God has done for me.
• I really want to make a difference and for my life to count for God’s
Kingdom.
• I find it such a joy to financially support my church and give back to God.

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 • Ben and Tiffany weren’t at our group last week; I’m going to find out if
they’re okay.
• I wish I could hear more sermons to grow.
• I plan to be at church, and I will help with whatever they need.

Young adults are a joy for church leaders. But please note, it’s easy for church leaders
to rely on such people for their support of the church and her programs. We rely on
these people and unconsciously keep them in their place of service. They can often get
so busy doing things at church that they do not have or make time to develop to the
next level and become personal disciple makers. If they don’t grow to the next level
after years of serving, they will often become stunted and unfulfilled.

Stage Four—Parent (Intentional Disciple Maker)

Physical parents will often state it as a fact: There is just nothing like parenting to help
you grow up. And nothing gives people more joy than their children and seeing them
do well. In Galatians 4:10, Paul describes what it’s like to be a spiritual parent. He calls
the Galatians his “dear children,” describing his longing and pains, “until Christ is
formed” in them. No one parents accidentally. Parenting requires forethought and
guidance—and, most importantly, intentionality (there’s that word again).

A parent understands their children’s needs, and they find ways to meet them. They do
this personally and relationally. I (Bobby) helped a young man named Kevin learn about
disciple making and then guided him through the process of leading his friend, Glen, to
place his faith in Jesus. It was a great day!

Just as encouraging is the way that Kevin invested in and guided Glen in the months
and years after Glen placed his faith in Jesus. For several years, they met every Friday
morning to study the Bible, share their lives, and pursue Jesus together. Kevin met
Glen at the point of his need and then guided him, step by step, in the journey of

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becoming more and more like Jesus. Without a spiritual parent like Kevin, I don’t think
Glen would be where he is today.

The following statements characterize the parent stage:

• I think Susan may be ready for me to help her make the decision to follow
Jesus. I want to ask her to study the Bible with me at lunch.
• I’m burdened for my neighbor. I want to invite him to start meeting with me
and join the new men’s group I’m forming.
• I’m so happy to lead my group and make disciples. We’re going to baptize
a new member of our small group tonight!
• The most important discipleship is with my kids. I need encouragement and
accountability so that I make it a priority to help them memorize Scripture
this week, as we planned.
• I may be the most important person to influence my granddaughter for
Jesus. I love meeting with her every two weeks for Bible study.

To become a parent, we often need someone to disciple us in disciple making. But

that’s not always the case. Many people become spiritual parents by committing to
being one, finding the tools for it, and then just doing it, learning as they go. They
already have a heart for God. But they need practical models, easy-to-use tools, and
reproducible systems. They will also do best with encouragement and ongoing training
to help sharpen and hone their skills. The hallmark of a spiritual parent is their
intentional mentoring, coaching, and teaching of others. They leverage their influence
to help others—ultimately making an eternal difference.

Stage Five—Grandparent (Multiplying Disciple Makers)

Jesus’ original intent is that His disciples would make disciples who would make
disciples—with a multiplying movement that reaches into every people group on the
earth (Matt. 28:19-20). This is Level 5 disciple making. The Book of Revelation pictures
Jesus’ mission as a fully accomplished reality at the end of history:

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 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could
count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne
and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm
branches in their hands (Rev. 7:9).

John’s vision is one of legacy. It motivates us to become not just spiritual parents, but
also spiritual grandparents. With God’s help and empowerment, Level 5 disciple
makers have multiplied their disciple-making efforts well beyond themselves to people
they didn’t directly disciple themselves.

In 2 Timothy, Paul encourages Timothy to follow his example and become a spiritual
grandparent:

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust
to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others (2 Tim. 2: 2).

Again, Paul is directing Timothy to not just disciple reliable people. Timothy is to
entrust the teaching he received (from Paul) to reliable people, so they can teach
others. Paul actually pictures disciple making to the fourth generation in this text: Paul
is a great, grandparent, who helps Timothy become a grandparent, who helps parents
(reliable people) to disciple others!

In many ways, this is an ideal picture for those who are in part-time or full-time ministry
as part of a disciple-making church. We personally make disciples, but even more than
that, we devote much of our time to making disciple makers who make disciples. At
this level, the influence and impact of our ministry extends beyond our direct influence.
We move from adding people that we disciple (spiritual parent) to multiplying disciple
makers (spiritual grandparent).

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The following statements characterize the grandparent stage:
• I’m praying that God will show me who I should invest in and raise up to be
disciple makers in this next season.
• I’m so happy to hear that Michelle is going to baptize another person from
the group that she’s leading. That was our dream when I first started meeting
with her a few years ago!
• I’m overwhelmed with thankfulness when I find out about people I don’t
personally know who have been raised up to become disciple makers by
disciple makers I do know.
• My biggest joy is when I hear about multiple generations of disciple makers
who were influenced by those I was blessed to disciple and influence.
• I look forward to hearing from Jason. I‘m excited to hear about the people
God is using him to reach in the disciple-making works he has started since
we sent him out.

As we said at the beginning of this chapter, there is often an organic correlation

between the stages along the spiritual journey, from infant to grandparent, and the
disciple-maker levels, from Level 1 (subtraction) to Level 5 (multiplication). But people
are not totally predictable. Some can develop disciple-maker habits at an early spiritual
stage, and some can be devout followers of Jesus who never mature past the
childhood stage. A person can progress at one level through the steps in a few years,
but then regress backward.

But we have found, over time, as a general path, there is a correlation between the
spiritual family development phases and the five levels. This is good news! It means
that spiritual growth, over time, should lead people to become more and more like
Jesus. And Jesus, more than anyone, was a committed disciple maker.

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 CHAPTER 6
HOW DO WE APPLY THE RESULTS TO OUR LIVES?
One of the most important keys to the Disciple Maker Assessment tool is that it is for
self-assessment. When we’re honest with ourselves, nobody knows us better than we
know ourselves. Ideally, we will want to assess our own development in a biblical way.
In this way, it’s not a judgmental or critical experience, but rather an honest
assessment to help us grow. Then we can get information, training and coaching that
nurtures us in our development to the next stage as disciple makers.

The results of an assessment should not be seen as good or bad results. It’s just a
gauge on the natural path of growth. For example, a child should not feel bad because
they’re a child. Childhood is the stage that comes after infancy; it is a bridge to
becoming a young adult. If fact, we often tell children not to grow up too fast. In a
similar manner, we want to assure newborn spiritual infants and children that they’re in
a natural stage of growth—unless they have become stuck in that stage for many years
(which should be addressed). If they’re healthy, and if they grow, as they should, they
will move to the next stage.

To help with your growth, we recommend the following steps. Pursue them prayerfully
and in partnership with others. In the ideal, an experienced disciple maker will guide
you through this process.

1. Take the online inventory to assess and understand the level you’re at as a
disciple maker.
2. Become familiar with the five levels of disciple making and the correlated
spiritual family development path described in this book (and in The Disciple
Maker’s Handbook1 and in the book Real Life Discipleship Training Manual).2
3. Listen to the input from mature disciple makers to help you accurately assess
yourself. Seek reliable voices as much as possible to get an objective view.

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Once you’ve determined where you’re at in your development as a disciple maker, you
can then prayerfully get more resources and coaching and develop a plan for your
growth. Make no mistake: You’ll need help. Proverbs 15:22 says, “plans fail for lack
of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Get help from those who can walk
with you and speak into your life.

The good news is that there is a growing number of resources and organizations that
can help you in this pursuit. These resources and networks are too many to list, but we
can recommend the following leaders and websites to you (see Appendix B). They
have participated in the ministry of discipleship.org and helped us create the online
assessment tool. They will also have helpful resources. There are also many other
voices and resources available through Internet searches.

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 Endnotes

Introduction
1
Jim Putman and Bobby Harrington, with Robert Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five
Shifts that Help Your Church Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Zondervan, 2013).
See also, Bobby Harrington, Relational Discipleship is the Core Mission of the Church
(Discipleship.org, 2013).
2
As described by Robert Coleman in his book, The Master Plan of Evangelism
(Fleming H. Revell, 1962). This book is the gold standard for analysis of Jesus’ disciple-
making style.
3
Todd Wilson, Becoming a Level 5 Multiplying Church (Exponential Resources,
2016).

Chapter 1
1
See Bill Hull and Bobby Harrington, Evangelism or Discipleship: Can They
Effectively Work Together (Discpleship.org, 2014).
2
Metcalf, Sam. Beyond the Local Church: How Apostolic Movements Can
Change the World, InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition. (p.168).
3
Ibid., p. 170

Chapter 2
1
Todd Wilson, Becoming a Level 5 Multiplying Church (Exponential Resources,
2016).

Chapter 3
1
Coleman, Robert. The Master Plan of Discipleship, (Fleming H. Revell, 1962).

Chapter 5
1
Bobby Harrington and Josh Patrick, The Disciple Makers Handbook
(Zondervan, 2017).
2
See Avery Willis, Jim Putman, Brandon Guindon, and Bill Krause, Real-Life
Discipleship Training Manual: Equipping Disciples Who Make Disciples (Colorado
Springs: NavPress, 2010).

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Chapter 6
1
Bobby Harrington and Josh Patrick, The Disciple Makers Handbook
(Zondervan, 2017).
2
Avery Willis, Jim Putman, Brandon Guindon, and Bill Krause, Real Life
Discipleship Training Manual: Equipping Disciples Who Make Disciples (Zondervan,
2017). This manual is the most helpful tool we have found for training disciple
makers. There is no substitute for working through this manual to help you know
how to disciple people in practical terms. At Harpeth Christian, we require all of our
small group leaders to work through this manual and be thoroughly trained in the
process and journey of discipleship.

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 Appendix A

KEY MULTIPLICATION CONCEPTS

Three Key Multiplication Challenges for the Church

1. A growing number of leaders are questioning the quality of our disciple making in the
local church. We are not producing an army of fully devoted and surrendered
disciples who will go and start new churches as the fruit of disciple making.
2. Multiplication strategies are by far the minority to addition strategies. Most churches
value and default to addition cultures, opting for accumulating more attendees, staff,
larger facilities, more sites, etc., rather than creating a culture of releasing and
sending. We are building addition capacity, but not multiplication capacity.
3. The church is one of the best mobilizers of volunteers for service. However, these
mobilization strategies are most often focused on feeding the growth of addition
capacity rather helping people live deployed within the sweet spot of their unique
calling. We catch and consume rather than develop and deploy.

Add and Multiply

At the core of healthy Kingdom growth is disciple making and sending capacity—
disciples who make disciples planting churches that plant churches. Below are key
concepts:

• Add and multiply disciples: We add one spiritual infant at a time while we make
and multiply mature, biblical disciples who reproduce.

• Add and multiply sending capacity: We increase our local capacity for making
biblical disciples while also creating Kingdom capacity for implementing new
environments and contexts for biblical disciple making beyond our local church. Our
ability to make biblical disciples is the core ingredient needed for increasing sending
capacity.

Healthy New Testament culture should occur at the intersection of addition and
multiplication. Both must work in tandem. Because we win people to Jesus one by one,
we must have a local or “micro” strategy that is reproducible and works at adding the
next one. At the same time, we must intentionally have a “macro” strategy for multiplying

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our impact beyond our local context. The macro strategy recognizes that the most
powerful way to multiply is to create new churches that become platforms for addition at
the individual believer level. Macro results provide new contexts and frontiers for micro
strategies. Local and global in harmony. The two must work synergistically with the
adding, thereby fueling the multiplying.

If our aligning values and core elements are off center, we see the opposite of both
disciple making and sending capacity. Instead of adding and making biblical disciples
who reproduce, we make cultural Christians who need to be consistently entertained
and fed. Instead of multiplication growth (release and send), we get addition growth
(catch and accumulate).

Possibly the single-largest obstacle to multiplication occurs when we position addition

activities (new programs and ministries, new facilities, small groups, outreach events,
church wide campaigns, etc.) as our primary strategy for growth, rather than seeing
these activities as a supporting element to healthy biblical growth and multiplication.
Though we increase our effectiveness at adding to our numbers and breaking
organizational growth barriers, we unfortunately may be building bigger and bigger
holding tanks for cultural Christians.

A Framework and Vocabulary for Multiplication

In Becoming a Level 5 Multiplying Church, we introduced a framework and vocabulary

to help guide the multiplication conversation. Specifically, we focused on five levels or
cultures of multiplication in churches:

Level 1: Subtracting Approximately 80 percent of U.S. churches are subtracting

(attendance is decreasing) or have plateaued. These churches live in a survival/scarcity
culture that makes it difficult to even think about multiplication.

Level 2: Plateaued Churches that are plateaued demonstrate some characteristics of

both subtraction and addition cultures. Their thinking lies in a state of tension between
scarcity and growth.

Level 3: Adding Approximately 15 to 20 percent of churches find themselves here. In

addition-growth churches, attendance is increasing. Many are often externally focused,
making an impact in their surrounding communities, and many have added multi-site
venues. For this framework, we intentionally defined churches that have a strong

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addition-growth culture, yet are not aggressively multiplying, as Level 3 churches. Most
of the largest and fastest-growing churches that make our “envy lists” are actually Level
3 churches.

Level 4: Reproducing At this level, approximately 4 percent of U.S. churches

reproduce programmatically as part of their growth. While they may aspire to be a
multiplying church and may even be making progress in that direction, too often the
tensions and forces pulling them back to Level 3 limit their ability to move more fully to
Level 5. Because multiplication is not yet strongly embedded in their DNA, it won’t
happen spontaneously without programming.

Level 5: Multiplying Currently represented by less than .005 percent of U.S. churches,
multiplying churches focus more on sending and releasing than catching and
accumulating. They plant churches as a regular part of their existence. Level 5 church
leaders see their church through a Kingdom lens. Their burden is more for Kingdom
capacity than for local church capacity.

Creating a Multiplication Culture

Our core values and convictions are always transforming our thinking into action. The
key question is, “What culture are you creating?” Are you developing a subtraction,
survival and scarcity culture (“We will [fill in the blank] after we grow or can afford it”)?
An addition culture focused on an insatiable drive for breaking the next growth barrier

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(“Where is the next one?”)? Or are you bucking the norm and creating a multiplication
culture (“Thy Kingdom, not my kingdom”)?

Currently, the prevailing growth culture in today’s churches is addition with most leaders
measuring their success by weekend attendance growth.

In Spark, we looked at how culture is created through the alignment of three factors:
core values, narratives, and behaviors.

Here’s a quick synopsis:

• Our core values reflect what we really care about deep down. They are the things
so important to us that they shape our thoughts and our actions. Our values overflow
to shape the words of our mouth (our narrative) and the actions of our hands (our
behaviors).

• Our narratives are shaped by the language we use, the stories we tell, and how
frequently we talk about and celebrate the things most important to us. Our
narratives inspire others to embrace our values and engage on common mission
with us.

• Our behaviors are the things we actually do, including how and where we invest
the time, talent, and financial resources entrusted to our care.

Rethinking the Operating System

The prevailing operating systems that give us church growth are falling short of giving
us church multiplication. The operating system (the OS) in your computer or smart
phone provides the platform for the launch of thousands of possible applications.
Basically, the OS determines if you can run certain apps.

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Right now, our operating system in the Church is perfectly aligned to give us what we’re
getting. The current system sets its sights on accumulation and addition growth. And
while we are adding, we aren’t adding in a way that produces the transformation needed
for multiplication. Instead, the best pathway to a multiplication culture is built on the
foundation of disciples who mature and make additional disciples. The bottom line is
that we need to rethink our current operating systems and become courageous leaders
willing to discover and embrace new systems that set us up for multiplication.

Internal and External Tensions

The journey toward multiplication is filled with external and internal tensions. Regardless
of your church’s current level of multiplication, you will have tension. In Spark, we
highlighted nearly 20 different multiplication tensions that churches might face in moving
from Levels 1, 2 and 3 to Levels 4 and 5. However, nearly all of those tensions find their
roots in three common factors: our motives, our measurements and our methods. Below
is a short description of each one:

• Tension of motives (here or there?): This tension is rooted in our definition of

success. Is our vision limited to accumulating and growing larger here (where we
are), or is it balanced with an equal focus and passion for sending there (the next
church)? All leaders live in the tension between being here and being there, with
almost everything pulling them toward here. To move through this tension, we must
embrace and become passionate about the value of multiplication. We must balance
here and there.

• Tension of measurement (grow or send?): This tension is rooted in where we

prioritize our focus: Where do we focus our time, talent and treasure? Growing here
or sending there? The same staff and finances that can help us grow here are the
ones needed to send there. As our local platform increases, our capacity for even
greater sending grows.

• Tension of methods (safety or risk?): At the core of this tension is how we

allocate our time (activities), talents (leadership), and treasures (finances) to building
local and Kingdom capacity. What will we actually do and what hard decisions will
we make to become a Level 5 multiplying church? Good intentions will not move you
from Level 1 to 5.

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To overcome the Level 3 addition-growth scorecard, we must embrace new motives,
measures and methods and be courageous change makers.

Pathways to Multiplication

If you’ve completed the free online Becoming Five assessment, you already have a
pretty clear idea of your starting point and your desired destination. If you’ve not yet
taken the assessment at becomingfive.org, we strongly encourage you to stop now and
complete it before you continue. It takes less than 30 minutes to finish, and results are
available immediately.

The assessment gives you a score (Level 1-5) and a pattern representing your past,
present and future. For example, if your pattern is 2-3-4, you were a Level 2 church in
the past, a Level 3 church today, and you aspire to be a Level 4 church in the future.
The “3-4” numbers (your current level of multiplication and your future aspiration for
multiplication) indicate your pathway. We’d say your pathway is from “3 to 4.”

If you’re a new church, the assessment gives you a score (1-5) reflecting your
aspirational level of multiplication. Because you’re new, you don’t have history to
establish a pattern. You’ll score something like “0-0-5.” This means you’re a new church,
and you aspire to become Level 5. Your pathway is “New to 5.” The six pathways to
multiplication include:

Core pathways

• Level 3 to 4

• Level 4 to 4+

• New to 4

• New to 5

• Level 1 or 2 to 4

Derivative pathways - These pathways either “derive” or find their context using specific
elements of the core pathways; or they are pathways we have yet to fully understand
and discover:

• Levels 1, 2, 3, or 4 to 5

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For more on the characteristics of each pathway, check out chapter 6 in the FREE
eBook Dream Big, Plan Smart: Finding Your Pathway to Level 5 Multiplication.

A Few Findings About Pathways

Based on everything we know and have learned so far, the journey to Level 5 requires
revolutionary change—not simply evolutionary progression. While we’re uncertain if
existing churches can make the radical, revolutionary changes necessary in their
operating systems to become Level 5, we are certain of these things:

• New churches that are unconstrained by old wineskins and willing to lead
revolutionary change can become Level 5.

• Existing churches can programmatically become Level 4, and even 4+

(aggressive and vibrant version of Level 4) churches.

• Level 3 churches represent a strong and significant resource base and influence
in the U.S. church. Seeing these churches embrace a new and better scorecard via
the journey to Level 4 is a game changer. Every 1 percent increase in churches at
Level 4 represents huge Kingdom impact. We need to see Level 4 become the new
normal in churches. Level 3 churches are the best place to start.

• Level 4 churches are perfectly positioned to coach and mentor the next
generation of church planters on the pathway to Level 5. Level 4 churches are
resourced and positioned to become incubators and research and development
(R&D) platforms for experimenting with new operating systems for Level 5
multiplication. These churches can champion Level 5 activities, however they’ll need
to unbridle them from the prevailing structures and controls. These churches will
need to be true R&D projects with significant freedom, flexibility and autonomy to
experiment (and even fail).

Looking Ahead

The strong addition culture that pulls a Level 3 church toward greater levels of addition
growth is the very culture that inhibits a church from moving to greater levels of
multiplication (Levels 4 and 5). The financial and leadership resources required to feed
Level 3 are the same resources needed to fuel multiplication in Levels 4 and 5. When
this tyranny of the “or” emerges, addition growth usually wins out over multiplication.

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You’re likely reading this book because you instinctively know down deep that
something is wrong with the values, narratives and behaviors that have proven
successful in our generation for building a successful addition-focused church. Like
thousands of other church leaders and a growing number of your peers, you may be
experiencing a discontent or even a crisis of faith that’s hard to articulate.

If you’re ready to learn what it takes to travel this multiplication pathway and be inspired
by the stories of transformation that accompany a bona fide Level 5 Kingdom
movement, the following list of resources is for you!

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 About the Authors

Bobby Harrington is the executive director of Discipleship.org, a national forum and

ministry that advocates for Jesus’ style of disciple making. He is the founding and lead
pastor of Harpeth Christian Church (by the Harpeth River, just outside of Nashville, in
Franklin, Tennessee). He is a Bible teacher, an experienced church planter, coach of
church leaders and the author of several books on discipleship, including the popular
title DiscipleShift (with Jim Putman) and the recently released book, The Disciple
Makers Handbook (with Josh Patrick). Bobby has studied at such places as the
University of Calgary and Regent College (in Canada), Asbury Seminary, Harding
School of Theology, and Princeton Theological Seminary. He has won camel races in
Jordan, cliff-dove in competitions near Fish Creek, Alberta, played chess tournaments
in Russia, and he has talked to those who have talked to Elvis (all this may not be true).
He has a Doctor of Ministry degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He and his lovely wife Cindy (that IS true) treasure spending time with their friends,
grown children, their spouses, and their grandchild.

Greg Wiens has been assessing leaders and organizations for over 35 years. He has
worked with a gamut of organizations ranging in size and interest from Fortune 100
companies and public schools, to small non-profits and churches. His forte is
leadership, and his passion is to see the Kingdom expanded through helping leaders
understand their unique wiring and their A-Game. He has pastored and planted
churches as well as founded a number of organizations. He currently leads two
missionally focused organizations: Healthy Growing Churches and Healthy Growing
Leaders committed to engaging churches and leaders to multiply. Additionally, Greg has
developed more than twenty different assessments for organizations, such as
Exponential, World Vision (U.S. and International), ECO and the CHOG. He has also
consulted and trained these organizations. He is the founder and chief catalyst for
Healthy Growing Churches, an organization that works to multiply healthy churches and
leaders through assessments, consultations and partnerships. Greg’s vision and

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catalytic leadership provide the unique formula that HGC uses to transform churches
and their leadership. Greg’s knowledge and expansive experience in both assessments
and leadership, coupled with his pastoral background and understanding of church
structure, truly allow HGC to provide a personal and detailed recommendation.
Churches in sixteen countries and thirty-five states have benefited from Greg’s counsel
on leadership refinement, church planting, church health and leadership assessment
and development. Greg has co-authored two books: Dying to Restart. and Daring to
Disciple, both to be published in 2017.

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