We have a definition for discipleship: it describes any means of taking a person from unbelief to spiritual maturity.

It is not uncommon for me to be at a conference on “discipleship” and never hear any presentation address leading lost people to Christ – a very important aspect of discipleship. This is why I like to make a distinction between making disciples and training disciples. Hopefully, by doing so, both will get equal attention.

I also define the word “disciple” as “follower.” So whenever God uses a believer to lead a non-follower of Jesus to become a true follower, that believer has functioned as a “disciple maker.”

How Long Does it Take to Lead Someone to Christ?

Sometimes leading someone to Christ takes many months, perhaps even years. Yet at other times, it may take only a short period of time – maybe even less than an hour. Usually, the person who quickly becomes a Christian does so because he or she has already been “prepared”, having already embraced many beliefs of the Christian faith. Often, they only lack the bending of their knees – submitting to the lordship of Christ, thus becoming His follower.

Those, on the other hand, who are “unprepared” usually need much more time to investigate what we call “the gospel.” But regardless of how long it takes, the result is the same–a new follower of Jesus, a real disciple. And such a follower will be known to be so by their fruit. As Jesus said, “You shall know them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:16).

Three Keys That Helped Me Become a Disciple Maker

I would assume that some of you who hear my definition of a “disciple maker” have said to yourself, “I could never do that!”

Well, I used to say the very same thing. And after my first attempt to be a disciple maker, I was convinced (and with plenty of evidence) it was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life.

I assumed that, as an introvert, the likelihood of my being a disciple maker was very low. And after that experience, I told the Lord these very words, “I’ll never do that again!”

But for many years now, I’ve had the privilege to lead a lot of people to Christ. So what accounts for such a change?

Primarily, three things:
1) a different mindset,
2) a simple and effective strategy, and
3) a set of biblically sound and culturally relevant tools.

In the following chapters, I will elaborate on these three difference makers. But for now, trust God’s Word.

Jesus made it very clear, “Follow Me and you will become fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). If you believe God’s word, then you too can become a disciple maker! And when you do, you will never regret it.

The word “strategy” is commonly used today in sports, business, and in nearly every pursuit of excellence. “Strategy” is defined as “a plan, method, or series of maneuvers for obtaining a specific goal or result.” The need for such is no exception in disciple-making. Without an effective strategy, disciple-making quickly becomes a dream of one’s past. It is not uncommon for Christians to long to obey their Master’s great commission, yet become discouraged and eventually surrender–only because of the absence of an effective strategy.

Years ago, as a young pastor, I quickly realized that neither the people of our church nor I had an effective strategy. It seemed to me that whatever strategy we chose had to be simple. To be simple meant that it had to be easily trained and easily repeatable until it could become second nature.

Over time, three words emerged that describe a strategy that has proven to be both simple and extremely effective. Very quickly, our church embraced these three words, and they soon became common language among our people. These three words are “greet”, “befriend,” and “invite”, commonly referred to as “GBI”. This three-step strategy has not only made disciple-making easy for me, but also for thousands of others. Let me explain what is meant by these three words.

Three-Step Strategy for Making Disciples

1) Greet

This first step of our strategy could not be simpler. When training Christians in how to greet, all I need to do is model how I do it. Here it is: “Hi, my name is Randy.” I told you it was simple. The only thing I need to do is to make sure they use their name and not mine!

By “greeting”, I mean simply looking for opportunities to introduce myself to those I don’t know, which hopefully will lead to a future relationship. Obviously, this step is unnecessary with those we already know.

I think you will agree that this is certainly simple. But don’t be deceived. Of the three words describing this proposed strategy, this is the most difficult for introverts like me. For us, this is where our mindset discussion becomes important. We can do it, but it’s not natural to commonly engage with people we don’t know–unless we consider what’s at stake in not being a faithful disciple maker. And once accomplished, I always feel the process is in motion, becoming much more natural from this point forward.

2) Befriend

The next step is to “befriend”. By this, I simply mean to “be-friend-ly”. If a new acquaintance, this will probably mean asking questions that show interest in getting to know that person. “How are you doing?” “Where do you live?” “Are you single or married?”, etc. People love having others show interest in them. In fact, many are starving for such.

The time needed between steps two and three can be a very short period or perhaps an extremely long time. It all depends on the uniqueness of each individual situation. In fact, I will use the final chapter to address how one knows when it’s time to move to the third step.

3) Invite

This final piece of our strategy is to “invite”. At the right time, we need to offer an invitation to see if they would like to investigate what we know as the gospel–the good news. Over the years, I have discovered that there are at least three excellent options to use to help people investigate Christianity. Some disciples focus more on one than the others, which is fine. But having a good tool always ready for each of these three is extremely valuable.

Three Options for Investigating Christianity

The three options for Investigating Christianity, which I have found most useful, can be summarized by these words: “read”, “attend,” and “meet”. Let me briefly describe each:

1) Read

First, the word “read”. I think it is important for every disciple maker to have a “go-to” piece of literature to offer to those interested in investigating. Of course, such an offering has got to be energizing, interesting, and short. And I can’t emphasize the word “short” enough.

Years ago, I wrote a book designed for this very purpose. It is titled The Answer. It is subtitled “Putting an end to the search for life satisfaction”. In a very brief period, a disciple maker can be equipped on what to say to most effectively invite a friend to read. In our church alone, our people have used well over 50,000 copies of this book with non-Christians and find it to be effective in stirring an interest to investigate further. This book is just one example of many options one could use as their go-to literature to invite interested non-followers to read.

2) Attend

The word “attend” is the second option to investigate. It is used to describe an enjoyable offering to invite one’s unbelieving friends to attend as their guests. This is any gathering where they can be attractively exposed to God’s Word and God’s people. This could be a home group or a church event–and in some churches even the weekly worship service.

At our church, we offer a five-week event twice a year called “Investigative Forum” (IF). Our church people are encouraged to bring their non-believing friends to hear answers to the most challenging questions regarding the Christian faith. At the end of each session, guests can ask anonymous questions they have asked by text or email, shown on a screen. Or, they also have the option to raise their hand and ask a question publicly.

Regardless of the form of the event chosen, as long as it exposes seekers to God’s Word and God’s people (and ideally for multiple weeks), having such an event to invite friends to is extremely important.

3) Meet

The third investigative offering is to “meet”. By this, I mean meeting one-on-one to discuss the gospel and to address the questions that they, as non-believers, are asking. This approach initially feels beyond most of our abilities. However, with equipping in the use of tools well designed for this very purpose, the task becomes much simpler and doable than one would think.

The primary tool that our church and I use is called “Life Issues” booklets. These four booklets are designed to be used in consecutive weeks. Each addresses one of the four most important and often asked questions regarding the Christian faith. Each also includes sections of John’s gospel with discussion questions in the margins designed to make simple the understanding of the gospel.

So, once disciple makers have the right mindset and an effective strategy, they only lack the right tools. And I can say with deep conviction that to be effective, every disciple maker must be equipped with culturally relevant and biblically grounded tools. In the next two chapters, I will introduce you to what I mean by “culturally relevant” and “biblically grounded” tools.

But first, allow me to encourage you, who are pastors, to make sure your church has excellent options to make it easy for your people to invite non-followers to “read”, “attend,” and “meet.” Then it is just a matter of equipping them to use the tools you provide. If you need any help in doing so, Life on Life is available to help in any way possible.

In the previous video, I mentioned how, over the years of using our tools, we discovered that their relevance and effectiveness, in great part, were based upon several essential characteristics. Here are the four most important tools, in my opinion, that account for any disciple-making tools being both relevant and effective.

1. Tools that are designed with the belief that God does the converting, using His tool, the Bible

2. Tools that utilize multiple appointment conversations, rather than single appointment presentations

3. Tools that create an attractive forum to address the questions that non-Christians are asking

4. Tools that respect the two greatest desires of interested seekers: brevity and privacy

In this topic, I will elaborate on the first, and most important tool, and cover the last three in the next topic.

The Bible as a Tool of Evangelism:

The first thing I look for to describe the primary tool I want in my tool belt is the first characteristic. I want to make sure that tools are designed with the belief that God does the converting, using His tool, the Bible. Let me explain what I mean.

Scripture teaches that man is “dead in his trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). What can a dead man do to make himself alive? Nothing! According to Romans 3:10-12, mankind, because of his sin, has lost his ability to seek God. This means it is the work of God, not man, that brings about a person’s salvation. Now the question is, how does God bring about this work of salvation?

He does so by using His holy Word. As we read in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” In II Timothy 3:15, Paul explains that it was “the sacred writings” which gave Timothy “the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

So the Bible seems clear that God opens hearts and does so using His Word. Perhaps to help us grasp God’s use of His Word, it would be beneficial to think of God’s Word being likened, first, to a knife, and secondly, to a hook on a fishing lure. To illustrate God’s Word as a knife, allow me to use a fictitious story, and then close by illustrating God’s Word as a fishing hook using a true story.

Imagine me hating one of you and desirous of killing you (just an analogy!). I approach you from behind in the dark of the night. I throw you down and pin you to the ground, announcing to you my intention to kill you. You scream out in fear, pleading with me to release you.

I reach into my jacket and pull out a foot-long dagger. As I lift the knife to plunge it into your chest, and high enough for you to see it, you let out a sigh of relief. In doing so, you say, “Thank God!” I ask, “For what?” You respond by saying, “I thought for sure you were going to shoot me–which of course would kill me. But I don’t believe knives can hurt people. In fact, feel free to stab me. But please hurry up, I need to get home for dinner!”

So if I am an effective murderer, what would I do? Would I drop the knife in frustration and announce to you that I will return at a future time with a gun? Of course not. I know better. I would go ahead and stab you. I have often heard disciple makers say they came to an impasse when sharing Christ with a non-believer. When I ask about the obstacle, I hear, “Because they don’t believe the Bible is God’s Word.”

Why should we care if they believe the Bible is God’s Word? You see, we know that God’s Word is “sharper than any two-edged sword.” We know that it cuts and kills the power of the sinful nature. We know that God uses His Word to transform unbelieving hearts!

When I meet with those interested in investigating Christianity, I essentially say, “Let’s meet for several weeks. I’m going to ask you to do a weekly assignment. I want you to take this dagger (5 chapters of John each week) and stab yourself daily. I’ll meet with you weekly and stab you with a big sword (explaining a portion of the Gospel Story using His Word). And hopefully, you’ll die–and then come to life as a new creation.” (II Cor. 5:17). Now of course I don’t tip my hand and use those words, but you get the point.

In Matthew 4, Jesus likens His followers to fishermen. Our success as fishermen depends on having the right “tackle.” The best lures land the most fish. God’s most effective lure is two-hooked. The first and most effective hook is constant exposure to God’s Word. The second hook is constant exposure to God’s people. God delights in using His Word and His people in the process of seeing people move from unbelief to belief. Let me give you an example of the effectiveness of this “fishing hook.”

One day, I received a call from a friend named Jim who lived in another state. When I answered the phone, Jim’s voice sounded urgent. He was concerned because he had just gotten off the phone with a former business partner. His former partner, John, had called to tell Jim that he was about to take his life.

As we talked, Jim explained that he and John had parted ways some time before. John had moved to Atlanta and started a business that was in direct competition with Jim’s company. Unfortunately, John’s new business venture failed. He and his wife were on the brink of divorce, and his life was out of control.

Jim told me that John was in his Atlanta home with a pistol, about to take his own life. Before he ended it all, he wanted to make things right with his old partner. Jim assured John that, as bad as things seemed, taking his own life was not the answer.

In a last-minute effort to dissuade John from pulling the trigger, Jim asked him for a favor. “Would you please call a friend of mine named Randy, who’s there in Atlanta, and talk with him?”

John agreed. Jim’s parting words to me were, “Randy, John could be dead now for all I know. But if he calls you, please get with him as soon as possible.” I assured Jim that if John called, I would promptly meet with him.

Within minutes, the phone rang; it was John. He didn’t mention that he was considering suicide, but did say he had been going through some personal struggles and that Jim had urged him to call. I agreed to meet with him at his home.

Jim had given me detailed information about John, so I had an idea of the best way to deal with him. John was a very bright man, about my age, who had made a lot of money in his industry. His home certainly reflected that success.

Throughout their relationship, Jim had tried to get John to pursue spiritual truth, but John was uninterested. Jim had been a longtime friend of noted theologian and apologist Francis Schaeffer. As a Christmas gift one year, Jim gave John and his wife an all-expense paid trip to Switzerland, which included a day to meet with Schaeffer. John returned home from his trip and told Jim, “I like that old man. I think I was able to help him.”

It was obvious to me that John was not going to be an easy person to talk to about the gospel. As I sat down with John and his wife, I asked him if he knew I was a pastor. He said “no” and expressed that he had little interest in spiritual things. I knew immediately I had just the right tool. I was certain it would be my best hope to get him exposed to God’s Word – the only hope of changing his heart.

I asked him if I could show him a brief diagram, to which he agreed. Then I talked to him about investigating Jesus. Amazingly, he said he was interested. I explained that we would focus on four questions over four weeks.

“First, how can Christians believe the Bible is God’s Word?” John shook his head, letting me know he did not believe that.

“Second, how can Christians believe that all people, including moral and religious people outside of Christianity, deserve eternal punishment?” Once again, the same look of disbelief.

“Third, how can Christians believe that, of all the world’s religious leaders, Jesus is the only way to God?” Well, when I said that, John was immediately animated and clearly had some strong opinions. In fact, I never even revealed the fourth question because of what happened next. He slapped the table and said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! You will never convince me of that one.” He pointed to a stack of books and said, “Those books on the coffee table are about Eastern religions. I’ve traveled the world looking at religions. No one will ever convince me that Jesus is the only way to God. I’ll debate that one with you right now.”

I said, “No, that’s week three.” I thought I would use curiosity, if nothing else, to keep him from ending his life!

The next week, when I arrived, his first question was, “Can we discuss that question about Jesus tonight?”

“No, that’s week three.”

Now you need to remember the primary tool I am using is Scripture; I’ve got him reading five chapters of the book of John every week. My condition upon meeting with him was that he would read a little bit every day – not all at once. (Remember the dagger.)

John kept asking about “that Jesus question,” but I told him he’d have to wait until the third week.

When the third meeting finally came, John was particularly interested. I gave him four reasons (found in booklet three) that explain why I believe Jesus is who He claimed to be. Then I said, “Okay, John, it’s your shot.”

There was a prolonged silence after which he said, “I can’t explain it.”

“What?” I asked.

“I don’t know why, but I believe Jesus is the Son of God.”

He then looked over to his wife, who had been listening all along, and asked, “What about you?” “Me, too,” she answered.

That night, all three of us knelt by their couch, and they experienced the ceremony of inviting Christ into their lives.

Time would indeed confirm that they had a new love relationship with Christ, and they both ended up joining our church. They eventually moved back to their original hometown, where John went back into partnership with Jim. The last I heard, they were members of the same church where Jim serves as an elder.

Why did John and his wife come to faith? Because God did the converting, using His best tool, the Bible. I was glad I had a tool that focused primarily on God’s Word, which I could rely on to accomplish the desired outcome.

Now you hopefully understand the secret to effective disciple making – constant exposure to God’s Word and God’s people. When you find a tool that incorporates both, you have found a powerful tool.

But there are other important characteristics you want to look for as you select your tools. In the next topic, I will discuss three additional ones.

Over five decades ago, as a fourteen-year-old new Christian, I was invited to be part of a small group of fellow students who would meet together weekly. I had no idea what the young adult leader meant when he invited us to take a journey with him in what he called “discipleship.” But over the next two years, I learned not only how to grow in maturity as a Christian, but also how to lead non-Christians into a relationship with Jesus.

 Years later, after planting a church and pastoring it for over 42 years, I believe it is safe to say that Perimeter Church, throughout most of those years, has been best known for its life-transforming ministry of discipleship. And it is equally accurate to say that “discipleship” has been the single greatest passion of my personal ministry.

At the time of this writing, I am now beginning my 54th consecutive year of what I call “laboring in the lives” of a small group of men. Over these years, I have watched countless men mature in their faith and become better equipped for daily life and ministry, then go on to do the same with others. During each of these years, I have personally been blessed, even as an insecure introvert, to lead many people to Christ through life-on-life relationships.

Who is this guide on training disciples for?

Most of you do not know me personally, but if you did, you would quickly discover that I am very average when it comes to intellect and natural abilities. I truly believe that if you were to get to know me well, you would become convinced that if I could become effective at discipleship, then you can as well.

As you read, it will become apparent that the tools presented are designed for anyone’s use, even those of us who are not naturally extroverted and abundantly gifted. In fact, I am reminded and encouraged by Paul’s word to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 2:3-5) when he said, “And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

And let me say a word to pastors who are reading this. Regarding our church’s ministry of discipleship, I can say with integrity that this is not a one-church phenomenon. For the past dozen years or so, we have coached hundreds of churches through our discipleship training process, both nationally and globally. These churches are extremely diverse regarding size, denomination affiliation, and theological backgrounds. These churches have the same story to tell as Perimeter, and many of their stories far surpass our own story.

Two Important Concerns:

I am personally still learning more each year about both making and training disciples. With the realization that I am still a learner, I would love to share with each of you some of my life learnings. But before I conclude this introduction, I need to close with two personal concerns:

1) That you might mistakenly hear me say that I believe I (or any of the men and women who are part of our Life on Life staff) think we have it all correct, perfectly put together. Nothing could be further from the truth. As you have already heard in this introduction, “discipleship” covers anything and everything we do that truly helps people become followers of Christ and/or advance in their journey of following. We do believe certain often-neglected biblical principles make discipleship more effective. Please know we are simply sharing our insights regarding these principles for your consideration.

2) That you might mistakenly hear me say that our model for discipleship is THE model that everyone needs to use. We know that God works through these same principles in many differing expressions. And beyond the principles that Life on Life espouses, there are many different approaches to discipleship that God is richly blessing every day.

So I hope you find what I share in these guides to be helpful and know that they are intended to be “first steps.” And don’t forget, for the full picture, you can view our guide on making disciples as well.

As I continued to consider the need for hitting the target of training disciples to be mature and equipped followers of Christ, a second challenge entered my thinking–“What is a mature and equipped follower of Christ?”

After numerous hours of sitting silently in that mountain home, I began to realize that though these words “mature” and “equipped” occur many times in Scripture, the Bible never defines them. However, I assumed that with a healthy knowledge of God’s Word, one could adequately compile a description of the characteristics of such a believer based on God’s Word. So I took on that endeavor.

Qualities of a mature & equipped follower of Christ:

Here is the description of a mature & equipped follower of Christ I came up with after hours of thought, then, and numerous edits since:

• is living consistently under the:
  • control of the Holy Spirit,
  • the direction of the Word of God,
  • and the motivation of the love of Christ,
• has discovered, developed, and is using their spiritual gifts,
• has learned to effectively share their faith in a winsomely engaging way,
• gives evidence of being:
  • a faithful member of God’s church,
  • an effective manager of life, relationships, and resources,
  • a willing minister to others, including “the least of these”,
  • an available messenger to non-Kingdom people, and
• demonstrates a life characterized as:
  • gospel-driven,
  • worship-focused,
  • morally-pure,
  • evangelistically-bold,
  • discipleship-grounded,
  • family-faithful, and
  • socially-responsible.

I realize that in reading this description, one might immediately respond, asking, “And where is this king or queen of glory?”

I would never suggest that such a Christian is “fully” mature or equipped in any of these descriptions. What I am suggesting is that, were you or I to say someone is totally void of any one of these descriptions, we would have to conclude this person is not mature and/or equipped.

For instance, what if someone met all these descriptions except living under the control of the Holy Spirit, the direction of the Word of God, etc.? I would have to conclude that this person should not be considered a mature Christian.

Though I realize there is no description that is going to be “the” description or a perfect description, I do believe it gives an adequate one to define our target, enabling us to determine how well we are accomplishing the task of hitting our goal.

Which plan will help you achieve your goals in training disciples?

Now, assuming our goal is to make mature and equipped followers of Christ, and assuming we have arrived at an adequate description of such a believer, now there’s just one last challenge–figuring out how to hit that target. Little did I realize how difficult that challenge would be.

I was pretty aware of, and our church was practicing, the typical church’s plan for helping believers with their spiritual formation. But I had to honestly evaluate whether that plan was working.

So what is the typical plan used by churches? I will address that in the next chapter, as well as why this plan is not working.

After a week in the mountains seeking the answer to what it would take to make mature and equipped followers of Christ, I came home empty-handed. When I met with our elder team to whom I reported, they agreed that my assessment regarding our church was accurate. When asked what the answer was to our dilemma, I had to plead ignorance. I had racked my brain and had no idea of the solution. Their response was clear–“We will provide for you whatever resources are needed, but you need to find the answer.”

My involvement with pastors of great churches around the country told me that they were in the same dilemma. I was becoming hopeless in finding an answer until one morning, while meeting with our staff. I had once again asked if anyone had any new ideas or thoughts as to where we could go to find a solution.

How Did Mature and Equipped Believers Become Mature and Equipped?

One of our staff members had an insightful idea. “What if we put the names on a board of all those in our church that we believe meet the description of a mature and equipped follower of Christ? And what if we were to go to them and ask how they got there? Perhaps we would find a common pathway.”

With that suggestion, we started the exercise. After writing names on the board, we had a long list of men and women. It was then that someone shared an observation. “Look at how many of the men who are on the list have been in your small group, Randy. Are you doing anything different in your group than we are doing in ours?”

In response to the question asked by our staff member, I initially pushed back. After all, I had more experience leading small groups than perhaps any of our members. And for sure, I had more theological training. (But I did know that it wasn’t that I was working with the “cream of the crop” spiritually. In fact, to a great extent, those names on the board who had been in my groups were men I had led to Christ, coming out of moral and relational messes.) And now, only a few years later, they were becoming elders and other leaders of our church.

But I knew I was leading my group differently from the other people. I was merely doing with my men what my spiritual mentor had done with me. When our staff asked what I was doing in my group, I gave the five words that outlined the content of my group meeting. These words formed an acronym (T.E.A.M.S.) which made for easily remembering. Those five words are: Truth, Equipping, Accountability, Mission, and Supplication.

In the next video, I will explain each of these five ingredients. But for now, let me simply say that the usage of these elements has become the operating system of our discipling ministry, which has given birth to what we call “Life-on-Life Missional Discipleship”.

Defining The Approach to Training Disciples

We define this approach to making and training disciples as:
“Laboring in the lives of a few with the intention of imparting one’s life and God’s truth in such a way as to see them become mature and equipped followers of Christ, committed to doing the same in the lives of others.”

After embracing this approach to discipleship churchwide, I can now say with full integrity that it is the single greatest decision we have made in the history of our church.

And now, after training churches in 20 countries across 6 continents and churches all across America, we can say with confidence, it is not a single church phenomenon. Church after church is giving testimony of the same impact in their church as we have experienced at Perimeter Church. So in the next chapter, I will explain the “operating system” of life-on-life, which we call T.E.A.M.S.

Obviously, during these early years of the church, I was practicing T.E.A.M.S. (without the use of the acronym). But I had never realized the advantage this approach was having compared to other small groups.

Great insight came to the answer of this question several years later while meeting with the same group of pastors from around the country. This meeting was sponsored by Bob Buford of Leadership Network. Bob had invited us to Colorado to be resourced for three days by Ken Blanchard, a noted business leader, author, and, years later, the head of “Lead Like Jesus.”

Situational Leadership Paradigm

When asked by one of the pastors what he attributed the success of his many books and companies, his reply got our attention. He said, “Oh, that’s simple. Every company I build and every book that I write is based on my situational leadership paradigm.”

Ken then went to a large board and explained as he drew. He put the following on the board.

He explained it, suggesting that when you hire a new employee, you initially have to give “directives”–where your office is, how to use the equipment in the office, how you … when you … etc. He went on to say, “But if you are still giving directives months down the road, you’ve failed as a leader.” He then explained how you must move from directing to coaching. The employee watches you. You watch the employee. You give feedback. The employee asks questions, and the employer coaches the newcomer into effectiveness.

Ken explained to us that at some point, it’s time to be near for “support,” but not daily “coaching.” Just being an email or phone call away is important to address that rare and unusual situation that arises. But at some point, the leader needs to “delegate” full responsibility to the employee. He or she is now good to go on their own–in fact, qualified to give the same leadership he or she had received to a new employee entering the ranks.

After relating this to the need of the church in helping our members, he made a statement that I will never forget. He said, “Never, never take your church’s people from directive to delegation. Always coach and support them first. Because if you skip coaching and support, you will produce disillusioned learners.”

Disillusioned Leaders and the Church

Then he said, “By the way, I know of no organization as notoriously guilty of producing disillusioned learners than the church!”

My observation is that this is so true.

Remember my story of asking pastors at Pastor’s Conferences to write down their four or five best offerings that helped their people in spiritual formation? Check them out–virtually all, if not all, are ministries of “directing”. As important as these are, they are not sufficient without “coaching” and “support”!

How T.E.A.M.S. Develops Leaders

Let me now end our story involving Ken Blanchard. By then, we were numerous years into embracing T.E.A.M.S. at our church. When I was listening to Ken speak, and as I observed his presentation of his “situational leadership”, I could now easily answer the question as to why T.E.A.M.S. used with life-on-life relationships is such a difference maker.

The diagram below illustrates the answer:

Directing is the same as “Truth”. Coaching is the same as “Equipping”. Support is the same as “Accountability”. And delegating is the same as “Mission.” Just add “Supplication” and you have the operating system for spiritual formation.

I admit that this comparison is not a perfect one. When I overlay our term “mission” over Ken’s term “delegate”, I don’t want to be confusing. Ken uses “delegate” to refer to the last step in training or developing leaders. Life on Life uses “mission” to refer to embracing Jesus’ mission in both word and deed. So in reality, each term in Ken’s leadership paradigm applies to all aspects of learning and development–whether it be the doctrines of suffering, how to personally worship, or how to take on the “mission” of Jesus.

So let me conclude with this summary thought. If you have the right leader (a mature and equipped follower of Christ), who labors well in the lives of a few hungry followers (life on life), with a gospel-centered, biblically-based, well-thought-through curriculum, and an effective “operating system” like T.E.A.M.S., you have a formula for building strong spiritual leaders.

By the way, this is the description of the model of Jesus and how He trained His handful of disciples. He marked them, and they in turn marked others, and through discipleship, He has marked the world. I think that’s God’s great plan.