Disciple Making Culture
Cultivate Thriving Disciple-Makers Throughout Your Church
By: Brandon Guindon
ISBN: 978-1-970102-33-8
READ: June 2020
RATING: 9/10
Summary: This book is a very helpful resource to anyone seeking to build a disciple making culture. The author Brandon Guindon does an excellent job making principles clear while also offering practical content on practice. Over and over again Guindon reminds the reader that the secret isn’t in the program or the curriculum it’s in a lifestyle that emulates Jesus. Disciple making culture flows out of who we are, not what we know. There’s so much to like about this book! It’s Biblical, practical, and aspirational. There’s plenty here for a young disciple maker and an experienced builder of disciple making culture. My only small complaint is I would’ve liked more about the challenges his church overcame and how those victories built on each other…presuming they did. Highly recommend this book and I’m already using it to further flesh out principles of disciple making culture with pastors and churches I’m connected to.
Chapter titles are: Introduction Key Component 1: Biblical Foundation 1. Discover It 2. Focus It 3. Frame It 4. Adhere to It Key Component 2: Intentional Leadership 5. Live It 6. Communicate It 7. Prune It Key Component 3: Relational Environment 8. Create It 9. Fight for It 10. Model It Key Component 4: Reproducible Process 11. Train It 12. Multiply It 13. Budget for It 14. Align It Conclusion
Introduction:
“I’m writing this book to pass on to you the hope, ideas, and practical tools I have learned that can help you transform the culture of your church into a disciple-making church.” Pg. 16
“…it’s [fulfilling the Great Commission] a commitment to being something rather than merely doing something. Pg. 16
“When I have sat and talked with thousands of pastors and other Christians, I see in their eyes a deep longing to be a disciple who knows how to make disciples.” Pg. 17
“How do we live this out? It’s not just about how I live this out as an individual, but how we create a culture of disciple-making as a church, where being disciples who make disciples is who we are. I hope to inspire you to build a culture like this.” Pg. 17
“I use the term ‘culture’ in this book to mean the way a church naturally functions when they are not under pressure. Culture is not what happens in a simulated experience or in a classroom, where people can provide the right answers when prompted; culture is what happens naturally as the way things normally go.” Pg. 17
“The truth is that a follower of Jesus can grow as a disciple yet never become a disciple-maker.” Pg. 19
“Second, church leaders must understand and be committed to their mission of making disciples who make disciples.” Pg. 19
“Those he[Jesus] discipled in that culture became not just disciple, but world-changing disciple-makers.” Pg. 19
“…discipleship is the process of growth for the one being discipled, and disciple-making is the process that disciple-makers engage in when they invest into the lives of those God calls them to disciple.” Pg. 19
“In our church, we often say of disciple-making, ‘It’s not what we do; it’s who we are.’” Pg. 22
“Chasing different strategies without a clear disciple-making culture will cause leaders to implement strategies that are unsustainable, doomed to fail, or, at best, mildly effective.” Pg. 22
4 Key Components of a Disciple-Making Culture: 1. Biblical Foundation 2. Intentional Leadership 3. Relational Environments, Reproducible Process pgs. 24-27
“The biblical foundation is not just what to teach (Jesus’ message) or who Jesus was ( his identity) but also Jesus’ way of living (his method). Pg. 24
“As the leader goes, so goes the culture.” Pg. 24
Key Component 1: Biblical Foundation
Chapter 1: Discover It
“The truth is that Jesus didn’t make disciples in a vacuum; he developed a culture of disciple-making among his disciples, and that culture transferred directly to the early church.” Pg. 31
“Jesus created a certain culture among his disciples, and we must replicate that culture if we want to see the type of success the early church experienced.” Pg. 33
“Jesus frequently referred to Scripture as he laid the foundation for disciple-making.” Pg. 33
“…disciple-making requires intentional leaders who are willing to be personally committed to consistently living out the values they want to see in their church’s culture.” Pg. 34
“The relational soil that Jesus prepared was a safe, authentic, honest, and most of all, loving community…” pg. 35
“Sharing the gospel as we share our lives is both the message and the method of Christs coming together in a culture that will greatly impact the world.” Pg. 37
“The apostles did not sit down, like we often do, and evaluate common business practices or brainstorm what advertising plan might reach the community around them. In fact, we see in the early church very little effort to ‘do outreach’ in the sense that we talk about it today. The early church preached the gospel and simply lived it out.” Pg. 38
“Let’s begin with the goal of disciple-making, which is creating a culture of love.” Pg. 39
Chapter 2: Focus It
“The highest aim in Scripture is to love. The Bible focuses on no other topic more than love.” Pg. 42
How to create a culture of love: 1. Compassion 2. Inclusiveness 3. Sacrifice 4. Vulnerability 5. Spirit. Pgs 46-50
“Compassionate people love others by getting in the mess with them and walking alongside those who have deep emotional, physical, or spiritual needs.” Pg. 47
“We accept people as they are and invite them into relationship, where God transforms them and never leaves them where they are.” Pg. 48
“At the root of love is sacrifice, and if we want to cultivate a healthy disciple-making culture that exudes biblical love, we must be willing to sacrifice.” Pg. 49
“Now, more than ever, we live in a time of incredible loneliness, hurt, relational pain, and confusion.” Pg. 50
Chapter 3: Frame It
“In fact, Jesus uses ominous words to call disciples to himself, words that involve loss, sacrifice—and even death.” Pg. 51
“What Jesus offered his followers was much more than just an opportunity to come listen to a great teacher; he shared his life with his disciples and invited them into a culture that changed their lives.” Pg. 52
“So as a group, we all worked hard to define and then live out what we meant when we asked others to join us in cultivating a disciple-making culture within this new church plant My job as lead planter was to ensure this happened. I needed to frame the biblical foundation for our culture by establishing a biblical context with clear, unified definitions.” Pg. 53
“As you begin to frame a new disciple-making culture at your church, people will feel like you’re handing them a new playbook. That’s okay; in fact, it’s normal.” Pg. 54
[response from a pastor looking for help.] “‘You’ve defined a disciple. Yeah I get that, and we as a group have already done that. I want to understand what systems or curriculum you are using that have helped you grow so fast.’…” Pg. 56
“We as leaders often make huge assumptions that once we say a term, or even preach about it once or twice, then our teams, leaders, and members should have the concept locked in forever. But nothing could be further from the truth.” Pg. 57
“But leaders have to be able to articulate a clear definition and personally live out that definition to properly frame a culture of disciple-making.” Pg. 57
“So when he gave the Great Commission to his disciples, they knew and had context for exactly what the call to follow Jesus meant and how to accomplish it.” Pg. 58
“Dave’s story is common among church leaders today: they often want strategy, tactics, and curriculum, but what they really lack is a culture of disciple-making.” Pg. 59
“The two terms leaders must start with are ‘disciple’ and ‘gospel.’” Pg. 59
“Before we can effectively cultivate a Jesus-style disciple-making culture, we need to ensure our gospel comes from Jesus and nowhere else….A healthy culture needs unity around critical terms. This is not just terms like ‘gospel,’ ‘disciple,’ and ‘discipleship,’ but also terms like ‘relationship,’ and ‘small groups.’” Pg. 60-61
“The gospel you preach determines the disciples you make.” Pg. 61 -Bill Hull
“Part of the reason we have trouble making disciples in the church, they conclude, is that many people don’t even believe that’s what they signed up for when they accepted the Good News of Jesus.” Pg. 61
“We face an enemy who wishes to destroy us, and his choice weapon is to confuse the language as he sows seeds of discord at the thought level. For a healthy culture of disciple-making to exist, we must have clear language.” Pg. 61
“it’s not just framing it that counts, though; it’s also sticking to how we frame it, which can be even more challenging.” Pg. 62
Chapter 4: Adhere to It
“As a reminder when we talk about culture, we’re talking about the consistently observed characteristics of a group, not what you see when you catch people at their best, or conversely, when you catch them at their worst.” Pg. 64
“The challenge for our church and for yours, once we have clearly defined values, is being clear about how to walk out these values in our particular context.” Pg. 66
4 Step process to adhere to biblical foundations of disciple making:
1. Articulate disciple making values clearly and consistently.
2. Teach and equip leaders to live out those values.
3. Inspect the outcomes to see if the values are actually being lived out.
4. Celebrate when your values are displayed. Pg. 67
7 Essential Values…pgs. 68-72
1. Abide in Christ
2. Reach the Lost
“Look for opportunities to invite the lost into relationships…The ‘build it and they will come’ mentality is not what Christ modeled. Be willing to invite and ‘go after’ the lost.” Pg. 69
3. Connect the Unconnected
4. Chase the Strays
5. Shepherd Toward Spiritual Maturity
“We teach and instruct those we disciple so that they can, in turn, disciple others. Our goal for shepherding is spiritual maturity, which means that those we disciple are growing in their ability to love God and others.” Pg. 71
6. Release them to Disciple
7. Function as a Team
“We aim to build a biblical culture, not a socially popular culture, and this goal requires biblical principles.” Pg. 73
Key Component 2: Intentional Leadership
Chapter 5: Live It
“The culture of any organization is driven by the actions of its leaders.” Pg. 81
“Cultivating a disciple-making culture cannot be programmed; it must be lived out.” Pg. 82
“We cultivate culture more by how we live than by what we say.” Pg. 82
“Like Jesus and the early church, we must focus on disciple-making as ‘who we are,’ not just ‘what we do.’” Pg. 83
3 Critical Principles to live out disciple making culture: pgs. 84-87
1. Intentional Leaders Must Go
“Intentional leaders must be willing to go, to be proactive and lead the way. Leaders must first serve others, love their community, and share the gospel through action before they expect the church as a whole to do those things. We cannot ask someone to do something we are not willing to do. We cannot delegate ‘going’ to others. While we release others to go, we never graduate from it ourselves.” Pg. 84
“Emotions welled up in me as I saw these men caring for their friend and being the ministers Jesus called them to be.” Pg. 85
2. Intentional Leaders Must Be
“…what tends to happen is that churches become programmatic. We focus more on ‘pulling off’ programs than on being who God has asked us to be all the time.” Pg. 85
“If we focus on culture, people will run to opportunities all day because that is what has been modeled for them.” Pg. 86
“That’s what disciple-making culture looks like when it is who we are not just what we do.” Pg. 86
3. Intentional Leaders Must Help People See
“Those in our church are no different than the fishermen with Jesus: they need to see what disciple-making looks like.” Pg. 86
“They must see it in your life. It’s not just about action, though; intentional leaders must also use words to communicate this lifestyle…” pg. 87
Chapter 6: Communicate It
“”He [Jim Putman] used to repeat it to me all the time the following words about disciple-making culture: ‘Brandon, we have to eat, sleep, and drink this stuff.’” Pg. 90
“…we must constantly talk about the mission of how to make disciples, especially with those closest to us.” Pg. 90
“The Latin phrase repetitio mater studiorum est means ‘repetition is the mother of all learnings.’” Pg. 90
“Regardless of your position in the church—whether you’re a staff member, elder, or volunteer—the words you use, and how you define, repeat, and live out those terms impacts the culture.” Pg. 92
“Like Jesus, we will always need to communicate what a disciple-making culture looks like; that need will never go away.” Pg. 92
“To communicate this culture, the leaders of a church must eat, sleep, and drink disciple-making culture.” Pg. 92
Five Key Communication Venues pgs. 93-97
1. The Sermon
“Jesus communicated principles through his preaching, then continued to communicate them as he lived them out and discussed them with his followers.” Pg. 94
2. Membership Classes
“To communicate the culture, for example, we describe the importance of small groups and explain how disciples can be made in small groups.” Pg. 94
3. Staff and Elder Meetings
“…I caution against church meeting agendas that prioritize business-related items over disciple-making-related items.” Pg. 95
4. Volunteer Gatherings
“Jesus knew that broken understandings about God and his plan to reconcile mankind plagued those who followed him.” Pg. 96
5. Personal Relationships
Communicating Your Disciple-Making Values: pgs. 97-99
1. Be Clear and Concise
“His personal lack of clarity on key components permeated the discussion.” Pg. 98
“With clear articulation, the people in your church know exactly what you are about, then become carriers of the vision.” Pg. 98
“Clear and concise communication empowers people in your culture to pass on what you believe.” Pg. 98
2. Ask Questions to Check for Understanding
3. Use Testimonials
“Stories of how the culture impacts people help drive deep the roots of your church and help people relate to your mission.” Pg. 99
“Repetition in your communication increases your chances to reproduce your culture.” Pg. 99
“Paul was really communicating one thing: living the life of a disciple in light of the gospel. He just said it in many different ways and addressed a number of problems that hinder us from going into the world and making disciples of Christ.” Pg. 99-100
Chapter 7: Prune It
“Creating disciple-making cultures requires careful pruning—the ongoing process of cutting back a plant to make it healthy. It’s not about the cutting away of life-sucking branches; it’s about the results of the pruning. Pruning creates new growth.” Pg. 103
“Cultivating a biblical disciple-making culture starts with a willingness to roll up our sleeves and pick up the shears.” Pg. 105
“They [church leaders] used great care, respect, and relational processes to gently trim, shape, and in some cases even eliminate a ministry….They provided vision and explanation and slowly made adjustments.” Pg. 105
“When we do not evaluate our churches with an honest assessment of how well each part contributes to making disciples, our churches suffer. Ministries become programmatic and demand huge amounts of time, efforts, and energy, yet we see no impact on disciple-making year after year.” Pg. 106
“The most important thing I can say about pruning is this: you must start with you. Before you can look at your church and evaluate its effectiveness, you must stand in front of a mirror and look at your own life. Ask yourself, Am I producing the fruit of a disciple-maker?” Pg. 106-107
“Fruit production requires having patience and giving the Holy Spirit time to work.” Pg. 107
“…with repetition comes greater effectiveness and knowledge of how the Holy Spirit works in us to accomplish disciple-making.” Pg. 109
“With so many new people joining us from various background, we have had to make strong commitments to not be distracted or allow our culture to shift.” Pg. 109
“Resist the desire to move away from the process of making disciples, even though it may become tedious, repetitive, or difficult.” Pg. 109
Key Component 3: Relational Environment
Chapter 8: Create It
“”In order to build a culture of biblical disciple-making, we must embrace the vital need to create safe environments for people.” Pg. 116
“He [Jesus] knew when to push and when to provide space. Because of his leadership, his disciples walked in a culture of both truth and safety, which are the two pillars of a biblical relational environment.” Pg. 116
“We must weave into the tapestry of our disciple-making culture an environment where people feel safe.” Pg. 117
“The teachers had exchanged the classroom lectern for the living room coffee table, but that hadn’t changed their culture. They still lacked transparency and authenticity, and as a result, people were not growing in their relationships and neither were they growing in their application of the Word.” Pg. 118
“Changing scenery doesn’t change culture; only intentional leadership changes culture. And intentional leaders create safe, relational environments.” Pg. 118
“So remember that small groups are not the goal. Cultivating strong, spiritually healthy disciples who can make disciples is the goal. The environment where disciples are best made is a safe environment where people trust that their story will be heard respectfully and handled carefully and confidentially. This is what we call an intentional relational environment.” Pg. 118
“…in order for people to embrace the truths of the Gospel and grow as believers, we must create the right environment.” Pg. 120
“But catch this: the Spirit works through leaders who are greatly intentional and committed to sticking close to people through hard and even confusing times.” Pg. 121
Small Group Guidelines: pgs. 122-124
1. Confidentiality
2. Don’t Rescue and Don’t Fix
3. No Crosstalk
4. Use Humor Responsibly
5. Give Everyone a Chance to Share
6. Use “I Statements”
7. Fight for Relationship
“A church culture that upholds healthy relational environments will facilitate life change and move its culture from one of transferring information to transforming lives.” Pg. 125
“Probably more than any other concept in this book, I want you to understand one important fact about creating a disciple-making culture, and it’s worth repeating: it starts with you!” pg. 125
Chapter 9: Fight for It
“The Scriptures are filled with examples of how sin destroy relationships.” Pg. 127
“In fact, Western culture as a whole often promotes and even celebrates leaving a relationship when it gets hard.” Pg. 127
“…I am saying we must resist the urge to stuff our hurts into a backpack of burdens. We must tuck away our insecurities and have the courage to fight for relationships.” Pg. 130
“Instead, our effectiveness in reaching the lost depends on our ability to stay unified….The root of disunity is a breakdown of relationships!” pg. 130
“You see, it’s in moments like this when we, as disciple-makers, have a choice to make: Do we fight for relationship, culture, and a healthy environment, or do we accept answers like this and avoid the conflict?” pg. 130
“And it is not an issue of whether or not we will have conflict; it is a matter of when we will have it.” Pg. 132
“A general principle of small groups is that the group will only go as deep as the leader willing to go, and that is true for working through conflict as well.” Pg. 132
3 Key Principles for Healthy Fighting pgs. 132-133
1. Seek first to resolve conflicts one-on-one
2. Ask clarifying questions at the start of a conflict
3. Own your part of the issue.
“What I am trying to point out is that more often than not, we build cultures in the church that look more like a business of employees than a church of family members.” Pg. 135
“Thriving disciples immersed in relational environments that convey, ‘We will fight for relationships.’ What this really says to people is that we will fight for you!” pg. 136
Chapter 10: Model It
“We live in a world that is moving at a breakneck speed, which is the number one barrier keeping churches from developing a relationally authentic disciple-making culture.” Pg. 139
“Jesus never wanted his followers to understand his teachings so that they could simply raise their theological pedigree. He sought true transformation, which comes primarily through life-on-life relationships.” Pg. 141
“The disciples who led the early church did exactly what Jesus had done: they lived their disciple-making journey in the context of everyday life.” Pg. 143
“You cannot make a disciple of Jesus without cultivating a relational environment. To take it a step further: if you make disciples without relationship, they’re not disciples of Jesus; they’re disciples of you and your own model.” Pg. 144
“Parents have the responsibility of discipling their children in the greatest relational environment imaginable: at home!” pg. 145
Key Component 4: Reproducible Process
Chapter 11: Train It
“Why would we not approach disciple-making with the desire to be great, knowing the hard work and consistency it takes? Unfortunately, we rarely call people to master the art of disciple-making, even though it’s the core task of a mature disciple. Think of how short we fall when we only teach people to study Scripture.” Pg. 152
“To ensure that your church reproduces your culture on multiple levels, you must intentionally train them how to do that.” Pg. 153
5 Principles to Train Disciple-Makers pgs. 155-160
1. Create a Training Plan
“A training plan is your detailed plan for delivering instruction.” Pg. 155
“So encourage those help you train to remain humble and to fight the ‘expert mentality.’” Pg. 156
2. Set the Calendar
3. Use staff and non-staff disciple-makers at training events.
“Here are some suggestions that will help get volunteers involved in training events: -Create opportunities for disciple-makers who have been equipped to train the next batch of disciple-makers. – Provide multiple areas where volunteers can participate in training events to increase overall buy-in. -When brain-storming in preparation for training events, as the question, ‘Could a volunteer effectively do what a staff person is doing?’ If the answer is yes, then ask a qualified volunteer to do it!” pg. 158
4. Set Goals
5. Celebrate the Wins
“When you gather your leaders together to train them, take time to celebrate as well.” Pg. 159
“This celebration leads to greater commitment and inspiration among your leaders, and it helps reinforce your culture. People will reproduce what you celebrate.” Pg. 160
“Implement a training system where people can experience time to cultivate relationships, and make small groups the primary vehicle for teaching and giving information.” Pg. 160
Chapter 12: Multiply It
“He was dying to know what resource or strategy we had implemented that would unlock the secret to our church’s growth. As you know by now, culture comes before strategy, but Steve wanted strategies without first looking at culture.” Pg. 164
“…to reproduce a disciple-making culture within our church, we must first be it before we can multiply it.” Pg. 165
“A disciple would need to rearrange their priorities to make them fit within Jesus’ kingdom priorities. Their own desires would have to take a backseat to the mission, and those desires may even die.” Pg. 165
“…in order to reproduce something, it must first become who we are. Only then can we intentionally pass it on to someone else. This is foundational to a healthy culture of disciple-making.” Pg. 165
“Notice how their church’s culture impacted their relationships. Let me point our several truths for you to grab ahold of as you process this for your context:
• Sharon had first been discipled by Ann and saw a model of what making disciples looks like.
• Sharon understood that disciple making doesn’t happen just in small groups.
• Sharon felt freedom to reach out and invite Teri.
• Sharon had been invested into by Ann, who gave her an opportunity to lead her own group.
• When Teri is ready, she will naturally start discipling others.” Pg. 168
“We build a culture where those who are being discipled know how to live out their calling to make disciples of Jesus Christ. People are intrigued by the idea of a disciple-making culture, but experiencing it for themselves is what really lights a fire int hem to go and live it.” Pg. 168
“…He struggled because his understanding of the life of Christ was mostly academic; he needed to experience Jesus-style disciple-making. He knew what so many know ‘disciple-making’ to be: a formalized class that transfers biblical information with little to no practical life application.” Pg. 169
“He learned he must be something before he could intentionally reproduce something.” Pg. 169
4 Principles to help you create a process that promotes reproduction: pgs. 169-170
1. Reproduce what you’ve successfully applied.
2. Remember to keep it simple
3. Identify the key transitions
4. Understand the Needs
“Your reproducible process should be simple, and it should come out of the same process that Jesus modeled. His methods included great depth but also simplicity.” Pg. 170
“The process of disciple-making is as simple as imitating Jesus for others by sharing the gospel, sharing your day-to-day life, modeling healthy spiritual habits, walking with others through difficult circumstances, and expressing truth and love through it all.” Pg. 171
“When we make it simple and keep it that way, we are able to address their hesitations and alleviate many of their concerns. Disciple-making may not be easy, but it can be simple. When we keep it simple, it becomes easily reproducible.” Pg. 171
“Disciple-making is more about transferring a Christ-centered lifestyle than transferring information.” Pg. 172
“While I find repeat mode annoying when it comes to my music, repetition is essential for multiplication. Church culture today often demands new and exciting entertainment. But Jesus was a fan of repeat mode, and we should be fans of it too.” Pg. 172
Chapter 13: Budget for It
“‘Are you sure you want to make this shift?’ I often ask this question of other churches in their situation because I know they will have to make painful decisions that will require not just steps of faith, but leaps of faith.” Pg. 173
“Ask yourself, Am I willing to invest today for tomorrow’s impact? Look directly at the person in the mirror and ask, Am I truly willing to invest into what it takes to build a healthy disciple-making culture? Do I really want this process that follows the model of Christ and pleases my king?” pg. 174
Staff Budget:
“A word of caution though: interview thoroughly. Those not raised up in a disciple-making culture often struggle to make the transition.” Pg. 178
“If you are creating a culture of disciple-making, you should develop, over time, a pipeline of future leaders.” Pg. 178
Programming Budget
“When you are focused on disciple-making, then disciple-making becomes your filter for everything else.” Pg. 179
“So I ask this: In whom as you investing today who will later lead and disciple others? Are you planning for and aligning your budget dollars to better equip your people and align your church to live out a disciple-making culture?” pg. 181
Chapter 14: Align It
“Cultural alignment is a concept that affects families, businesses, teams, and even churches. I believe the devil will fight to disrupt alignment more than anything else in your life and your church.” Pg. 184
“…if I lost focus on keeping one pipe aligned with the next, the whole line would stray, resulting in a dry, unhealthy pasture. That’s how it is with our world too: When we succumb to society’s gravitational pull toward chaos and disunity, we fail to accomplish anything worthwhile. This comes from our sinful nature, which draws us away from the truth of God. The society we live in will always pull us toward discord, misalignment, and affliction.” Pg. 185
4 Guiding Principles to Align a Church pgs. 186-190
1. Fight Encroachment
“In church, pruning refers to removing or scaling back programs or ministries which are not producing disciples; weeding refers to resolving issues which could invade and hinder disciple-making in otherwise healthy ministries. In short, weeding protects the culture and ensures that your church remains aligned.” Pg. 187
2. Be empowered by the Holy Spirit
“The church belongs to Jesus, and without the power of the Holy Spirit, we are dead in the water.” Pg. 188
“In order to keep our church aligned and going in one direction, I must constantly abide in Christ.” Pg. 188
3. Inspect the Fruit
“the most important fruit to inspect is how well aligned are a church’s disciple-making efforts….Are most of your adults regularly participating in disciple-making small groups? Are your small groups growing and branching? Are more and more people serving in your church? Are you hearing stories of changed lives?” pg. 189
4. Celebrate Wins
“As disciple-makers we must celebrate the bountiful harvest. When we celebrate disciple-making, we clarify the goals of our culture, which solidifies organizational alignment.” Pg. 190