Note: This blog entry is part of a series on church planting. If you would like to see all entries that have been posted so far in this series, you can bring them up by doing a search for “church planting series” on this blog. You can also purchase the full 27 page Church Planter Coaching Guide, with multiple coaching questions for each subpoint, in the Logan Leadership store.
- How do you plan to model the life of a disciple?
- What reproducible methods will you put in place to raise up disciples?
- Describe how you plan to train and multiply disciples.
- In a series of bullet points, write out the immediate action steps you’ll take to train and multiply disciples.
Promote healthy spiritual growth
How you treat Christians within the first 24-48 hours after their conversion is crucial. Here are some suggestions:
- Give them the opportunity to publicly share their newfound as soon as possible. For many groups, this means baptism.
- Start discipling new believers right away.
- Have them invite their own friends or family to an evangelistic Bible study in their home.
- In most occasions, let the new believers pray first, rather than you taking the lead.
Imprint God as the parent. In the field of Ornithology (the science of birds) there is a term called “imprinting.” A newborn gosling hatching from an egg will imprint on the first moving object it sees and will then follow it for food, protection, and training to become a goose. When new Christians are born again, it is important that they “imprint” upon the Lord for protection, sustenance, and training in how to fly.
Use reproducible methods to make disciples
Life Transformation Groups (LTGs) are a great way to infuse the DNA within your church. LTGs are a simple way to release the most essential elements of a vital spiritual walk to people who need Jesus to change their lives from the inside out. It is a grass roots tool for growth, encouraging and supporting people to follow Christ.
LTGs meet once a week for approximately an hour, are groups of two or three (the addition of a fourth person is the beginning of the second group and multiplication is imminent), are not co-ed, but gender specific, with no curriculum, workbook or training, there is no leader needed. Only three tasks are accomplished: 1) Sin is confessed in mutual accountability, 2) Scripture is read repetitively in context and in community, 3) Souls are prayed for strategically, specifically and continuously.
Mobilize for outreach and ministry
Allow the creativity of God to flow through you as you plan activities that will give you the opportunity to meet more seekers. “What you win people with, you win them to.” If you want your church to be relationally connected, you will need to plan activities that invite people into relationship. If you plan an event that invites people to be a part of an audience (such as a concert) or a crowd (harvest festival), you will want to provide ways for your team to explore ways to deepen relationships with those who attend. Consider “servant evangelism” events. Find a need in your neighborhood and fill it for free– with your leaders.
Implement show-how training
Follow Jesus’ model of training, by showing leaders how to do it, helping them do it, then sending them out. Hands-on experience through on-the-job training is one of the best ways to learn. Holistic mentoring is training the whole person to be like Christ through character growth (being), cognitive development (knowing), and skill acquisition (doing). As you begin to design your training system, keep it simple and reproducible.
Provide consistent coaching
Coaching is the process of coming alongside a person or team to help them discover God’s agenda for their life and ministry, and then cooperating with the Holy Spirit to see that agenda become a reality. By training qualified, prepared coaches, you can provide the continued care for leaders that is critical to the ongoing life of missional communities and ministries. Every level of leadership needs someone they can turn to for support and encouragement. Coaching leaders in small groups is more effective than coaching them individually. Leaders learn from each other as they work together to negotiate challenges and they learn how to coach from watching you coach others.