The question every pastor must answer
How do you make disciples? I love asking pastors that question. Not long ago, I sat around a conference table with several pastors, professors, and denominational leaders. We were all there to talk about disciple-making. When the question was asked about how disciples are made, the responses were varied and often vague. Some mentioned small groups, others referenced church programs, and a few talked about spiritual growth in general. But when pressed to give specifics—what does a disciple look like, how do you know disciple-making is actually happening—the room fell silent.
The problem with programs
In many churches today, disciple-making has been replaced by program management. Church leaders pour time and energy into running ministries, measuring success by attendance numbers rather than transformed lives. If more people are showing up to church activities year over year, the assumption is that the church is thriving. But the real question remains: are these programs actually producing disciples who are passionate about following Jesus and leading others to do the same? Too often, this question goes unasked. When attendance declines, the default response is to launch a new program or revamp an old one, rather than evaluating whether the church is fulfilling its core mission.
Where are disciples being made?
I have to confess, I find this deeply frustrating. If you look for strong disciple-making movements today, you’ll often find them in para-church ministries rather than in the local church. Organizations like The Navigators, Campus Crusade for Christ, and Youth with a Mission have a laser focus on making disciples and training disciple-makers. They have structured their organizations around this mission, and as a result, they see multiplication happening. Their staff are fully committed to evangelizing, discipling, and sending people out to do the same. But when I look at the average church, I don’t see that same level of intentionality. I see churches gathering for worship and running ministries, but often without a clear process for making and multiplying disciples.
Jesus gave the mission to the church
This is a problem. Jesus loved the church. Jesus started the church. Jesus gave the Great Commission to the church. The early church was a disciple-making movement that rapidly spread across the known world, fueled by men and women who were trained, equipped, and sent out to make disciples. Yet today, many churches have lost sight of that mission. Like Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of stew, we have traded Jesus’ command to make disciples for a focus on church growth and immediate success. We’ve bought into the idea that large attendance numbers equal a thriving church, forgetting that Jesus prioritized depth over breadth. True success isn’t measured by how many people fill a building on Sunday—it’s measured by how many of those people are being transformed into disciple-makers.
The difference between discipleship and disciple-making
One of the biggest barriers to clarity in this conversation is how we define our terms. Many pastors use the word “discipleship” to refer to spiritual growth that happens after a person is saved. According to this definition, evangelism brings people to Christ, and then discipleship helps them grow. But this is very different from the way Jesus approached making disciples. Jesus didn’t separate evangelism from disciple-making. He called people to follow Him, trained them as they walked with Him, and then sent them out to do the same. Disciple-making isn’t just about helping Christians grow deeper—it starts with evangelism, includes spiritual growth, and results in multiplication.
The missing piece in many churches
Many churches today view discipleship as an umbrella term that includes small groups, Bible studies, accountability groups, and other church activities. While these things can contribute to spiritual growth, they often lack the key elements of Jesus’ disciple-making process.
First, many discipleship programs don’t have a clear end goal. If you ask church leaders what a fully trained disciple looks like, many struggle to articulate a clear answer. Second, traditional discipleship tends to be heavily knowledge-based rather than practice-based. People attend Bible studies and learn more about Jesus, but they aren’t necessarily being trained to live like Jesus. Third, discipleship in many churches is seen as an individual journey rather than a multiplying movement.
When a Bible study ends, the participants often move on to another study rather than being challenged to invest in others. In contrast, Jesus trained His disciples to reproduce what He had taught them, ensuring that disciple-making would continue for generations.
The shift that changes everything
So what happens when a church shifts from “discipleship” to true disciple-making? Everything changes. Instead of focusing on managing church activities, leaders begin investing in people. Instead of measuring success by attendance numbers, they measure success by multiplication—how many disciples are making disciples. Instead of relying on programs to produce spiritual growth, they follow Jesus’ model of life-on-life investment. When churches embrace this shift, they begin to see transformation—not just in individuals, but in the entire church culture.
Life-on-life disciple-making
Disciple-making is deeply personal. It’s not about large-scale programs; it’s about investing in a few people at a time. Jesus modeled this with His twelve disciples. He didn’t spend most of His time preaching to crowds—He spent it pouring into a small group of men who would carry on His mission. The early church followed the same pattern, with leaders like Paul investing deeply in people like Timothy and Titus, who then invested in others. Ministry in the early church was high-touch, relationally intensive, and people-driven. It wasn’t about running events—it was about life-on-life transformation.
The heart of a disciple-making leader
When we read Paul’s letters to the churches, we see his deep love for the people he discipled. He didn’t just teach them—he invested in them, encouraged them, and walked alongside them. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul writes, “We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children…we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thessalonians 2:7-8). This is the heart of a disciple-making leader. Paul saw the people he discipled as his spiritual children. He nurtured them, challenged them, and longed to see them grow.
The joy of disciple-making
There is no greater joy in ministry than seeing lives transformed through disciple-making. Programs come and go. Sermons are preached and forgotten. But when you invest your life in someone, and they turn around and invest in others, you are part of something eternal. This is what keeps you going in ministry over the long haul. When I look back over my years of ministry, the moments that bring me the most joy aren’t tied to a big event or a successful program. They are tied to the faces of men I have discipled—men who are still walking with God, investing in others, and making disciples.
It’s time to reclaim the mission
The local church is the hope of the world, but only if it embraces Jesus’ mission. Disciple-making isn’t optional—it’s the core of what Jesus commanded us to do. If we want to see true transformation in our churches and communities, we must return to Jesus’ model of making disciples. That means moving beyond programs and attendance numbers and focusing on what really matters: investing in people, equipping them to follow Jesus, and sending them out to do the same. The call is clear. The mission is urgent. Are we ready to reclaim it?
This blog features an excerpt from one of our books, Bold Moves.
