WHAT DOES THE DISCIPLE MULTIPLICATION PROCESS LOOK LIKE?

Goal: During this session you must understand the disciple multiplication process from start to finish. You must see how to proceed step by step: where to begin, how to continue and what to aim for. Everyone must see this based upon Scripture.

SESSION STEPS

STEP 1. WORK WITH SCRIPTURE

The goals of this segment are:

• to give an opportunity to get well acquainted with the Bible passage which is the foundation for the main part of the disciple multiplication process diagram;
• make independent discoveries; see how the process of multiplying leaders works in practice;

ASSIGNMENT - SCRIPTURE READING

1. read the text Matt. 9:35-10:15, Matt. 28:18-20 and Luke 10:1-11

2. based on what you just read, complete a table with two columns using the words from the Scripture and numbers of the verses

3. write down every instruction that Jesus gives to disciples

Instructions of Jesus based on Matt. 9:35-10:15, Matt. 28:18-20 and Luke 10:1-11

"Friends, you've done a marvelous job. There were some very interesting discoveries. I hope you liked this assignment and you will be able to use a similar method of discovery in the future. Right now I'd like to give you one more assignment which will give us an opportunity take an even more practical approach to the disciple multiplication process.”

STEP 2. UNDERSTAND THE DISCIPLE MULTIPLICATION PROCESS

Picture 1: "Imagine that this circle represents the discipleship process from start to finish. Imagine this is a field into which the Master of the harvest wants to send His workers, in order to begin the multiplication of disciples".

Picture 2: ”What would you put in the centre of circle? What is most important in the discipleship process? What is the heart or the core that moves the whole process?"

The core that moves the whole process is "preaching the Kingdom," "workers," “prayer" in other words: ”word," "leadership" and "prayer".

BASED ON THE SCRIPTURE YOU JUST READ, ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

Question: What was Christ's mission?

Answer:

Question: What did Christ see and point to as the main need of society?

Answer:

Question: What are the disciples responsible for? To whom should they turn? How often should they do it?

Answer:

"You have to fervently pray that the Lord of the harvest will send workers out to His harvest." This is active prayer, that you must pray unceasingly until you see the result.

Picture 3: People have different motives when beginning the disciple multiplication process. Many of these motives are not godly, but actually have a sinful character, for example: pride, wanting to please people, competitiveness, profit, and so on. In the Gospel of Matthew you can see the three components of God's motivation: the awareness of man's need for God's Word; the need for leaders to transmit it; and that this awareness should compel us to the third component - purposeful and unceasing prayer for all of this.

Picture 4:"So, let's look at how Jesus taught His disciples to find other disciples”.

BASED ON THE SCRIPTURE YOU JUST READ, ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

Question: What is the main point in this passage? For what purpose did Christ call His disciples? For what purpose did He give them authority? For what purpose did He give them instructions?

Answer:

"Go" is the first step in the disciple multiplication process. It will be designated by an arrow at the top. Discipleship cannot begin with the believer sitting at home, in church, staying within his circle of friends and not leaving his comfort zone. This is why you so often hear the call "Go" in the Gospels and in Acts. You can look up the definition of "go" in the dictionary: "To go is to move, to change location." In other words, if I want to begin discipleship in my life, I need, both in a literal and figurative sense, to move from point A to point B.

Picture 5:” When we understand this, the next question arises: Go where? Can you find the answer to this question in the passages we studied above?”

BASED ON THE SCRIPTURE YOU JUST READ, ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

Question: Where should we go?

Answer:

"You have to remember that at that time it was very hard for a Jew to 'go to other nations.' The other nations were gentiles - they ate unclean food, worshipped idols, etc. In essence, it meant for them to go to a very unfriendly and even dangerous place, 'in the midst of wolves'."

Picture 6:

BASED ON THE SCRIPTURE YOU JUST READ, ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

Question: Why go to the nations?

Answer:

"After they came to a city or settlement, their main goal is to search for and find a worthy home - a home open to messengers of the Gospel."

Question: How do you find a "worthy home" or " house of peace"?

Answer:

The indicator of a "worthy home" or "house of peace" will be a certain "man of peace," or, as Luke calls him, "son of peace," on whom "peace rests."

"The man of peace is a person that opens for us the 'worthy home' or 'house of peace'. He is like a door into a certain community. During Level 2 training we will talk about this person in detail."

Picture 7:

BASED ON THE SCRIPTURE YOU JUST READ, ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

Question: Now that we have found this person, what should we do next?”

Answer:

Question: What work did the apostles have to do in the "house of peace?" What do you think is the main goal of this work?

Answer:

"Clearly in this case to teach means not simply to pass on information, but to remain in this house and show the power of God by your personal example. Most likely, the idea is to acquire followers of the Kingdom of God using your life."

"So, we begin teaching the 'house of peace' staying in it and not moving to other homes."

"The 'house of peace' is the surroundings of the 'man of peace': his community, people close to him, relatives, friends, anyone he can influence. When we find this house and start teaching, there's no need to move to other houses, you have to purposefully concentrate on teaching these people. We are talking about having regular meetings to read the Scriptures.The word "house" is repeated often in this passage. It is evident that the word "house" doesn't simply mean the building where people live, but the people themselves. Therefore, when we find the man of peace, we have to enter his community through him. Our goal is not only to start reading the Scriptures with one man, but to involve his family, or the people that surround him, in the discipleship process. This will be a separate topic in Level 2 where we will spend more time on this.

Picture 8: Now please read Matt. 28:19-20

Say that in the original language the passage sounds like this:

"In the diagram of the process we can see part of the Great Commission. That is, we went among the nations and made disciples. Following the logic of the Great Commission, we have to baptize them."

"Baptism is a very important factor in the disciple multiplication process. It gives a distinct visible reference for both the group of disciples and the disciple maker." During training in Levels 2 and 3 you will devote a separate time to the topic of "baptism" and the transition from fellowship with the "man of peace" to a gathering of disciples with those that surround him.

BASED ON THE SCRIPTURE, ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

Question: What do we call a group of disciples, baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who meet regularly for spiritual growth?

Answer:

"The church of disciples keeps growing, fulfilling the last part of the Great Commission: 'teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Amen.' But this is in no way the end goal of the process. Otherwise, it wouldn't be called a process. As you can see on the diagram, the new church continues to go and keeps repeatedly sending the people to the nations, and through this, multiplying churches."

STEP 3. PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT

Now it is a time for you to analyze how you are reaching out in light of Christ's strategy for multiplying disciples.

Using the process diagram, compare your actions with the strategy of Christ.

Questions like these can help direct the analysis in the right direction

• Which stages of the process am I doing very well?

• Which ones did I not know about?

• What do I need to do differently?

• Which stages of the process are not working out for me?

• What changes am I going to make?