Making Disciples Who Make Disciples
An 18-Session Pathway for Following Jesus, Helping Others Follow Him, and Forming New Churches
This series is designed to help believers follow Jesus together, help others follow him, and form new churches. It moves in three stages. First, it establishes the foundations of making disciples, clarifying Jesus’s vision, mission, and approach. Second, it develops the core habits of making disciples, shaping a lifestyle that is relational, prayerful, and outward-focused. Third, it provides a simple launch plan for small groups of three to four people who are ready to begin a new gathering and take practical steps toward multiplication.
Phase 1: Foundations of Making Disciples (1–4)
These first sessions establish a clear and shared understanding of what Jesus is doing through his church. They help participants align their thinking with Scripture, embrace Jesus’s mission, learn a simple and repeatable approach to disciple-making, and identify common obstacles that often slow or prevent action.
1. Jesus’s Vision for His Church
2. Jesus’s Mission for His Church
3. Our Approach to Making Disciples (Love God and Love Others + 5 Movements)
4. Overcoming Obstacles to Making Disciples
Phase 2: Core Practices of Making Disciples (5–12)
These sessions focus on the core habits that shape a life of following Jesus and making disciples. Participants learn how to engage people in their everyday relationships, depend on God through prayer, serve others, share the message of the gospel, form simple gatherings, and help others grow. Each practice is simple, practical, and designed to be lived out consistently.
The Center
The Ongoing Commitments
6. Identify Our Natural Networks of Relationships
7. Pray for Ourselves and Others
The Five Movements
8. Serve to Meet Practical Needs
9. Seek to Find Receptive People
10. Invite to Discover the Christian Message
11. Gather to Grow in Biblical Community
12. Equip to Develop New Leaders
Phase 3: Launch Plan for New Gatherings (13–18)
These final sessions are designed for people who are already seeking to make disciples and are now preparing to come alongside a point leader to start a new Gathering. The point leader and several others form a small launch team and work together during the months leading up to launch.
These sessions are practical discussion and action guides rather than traditional teaching lessons. Each session begins with Scripture and helps the team assess where they are, identify and address obstacles, make concrete plans, and take increasing responsibility in an existing Sunday Gathering. The team then reviews what happened, learns from experience, and adjusts its plans with the help of its coaches.
The goal is not simply to complete six sessions or develop a launch document. The goal is to form a committed and increasingly capable team that can gather people, lead a biblical Gathering, care for those God brings, work together under healthy leadership, and continue making disciples and developing new leaders after launch.
Main Outcomes: Confirm the direction toward starting a new Gathering, clarify each person’s willingness to participate, identify and address obstacles, and establish the commitments necessary to prepare together for launch.
Main Outcomes: Clarify the role of the point leader and the other team members, strengthen trust and unity, establish expectations for working together, and begin sharing meaningful responsibility in preparation for launch.
15. Engaging and Invite Our Network
Main Outcomes: Bring together the team’s existing disciple-making relationships, identify the people who may become part of the new Gathering, determine appropriate next steps with each person or household, and develop a coordinated plan for prayer, care, conversations, and invitations.
16. Leading the Gathering
Main Outcomes: Learn and practice how to lead the major parts of a Sunday Gathering, including welcoming people, hospitality, the shared meal, the bread and cup, prayer, singing, mutual ministry, mission, transitions, and follow-up.
17. Teaching and Facilitating Scripture
Main Outcomes: Prepare and lead biblical teaching and discussion that is faithful to Scripture, clear and understandable, participatory, and directed toward response and obedience. Practice leading Scripture in the existing Gathering and receive feedback from other leaders.
18. Shepherding and Leading Together
Main Outcomes: Learn to know and care for the people in the Gathering, follow up outside the Sunday meeting, respond wisely to spiritual and practical needs, address problems and conflict, share leadership responsibilities, communicate well as a team, know when to involve coaches or other leaders, and continue identifying and developing future leaders.
Launch Readiness and First-Month Plan: Confirm the launch date, location, participating households, Sunday responsibilities, communication plans, first several Gatherings, coaching schedule, and plans for evaluating and adjusting after launch.