The Great Commission commands Jesus’ followers to make disciples by teaching other believers to obey everything He commanded. Churches often struggle to provide intentional opportunities for their congregations to grow spiritually. Author Dallas Willard observes that a church needs to ask two questions when evaluating its discipleship strategy: 1) What is our plan for making disciples? 2) Does our plan work?

With that in mind, here are five components to a plan for discipleship that any church can do.

• Yard and cleanliness of buildings
• Signage
• Nursery and children’s areas
• Strategy for gathering guest information
• Strategy for follow-up
• Members’ attitude toward guests
• Website

2. Pulpit Discipleship

Any pastor can accomplish some discipleship from the pulpit. A pastor can increase the effectiveness of pulpit discipleship in these ways:

• Prayerfully create a plan for what to teach the congregation in the upcoming months.
• Provide specific life-change application during the message.
• Encourage note-taking during the message in order to help the congregation retain what they are learning.
• Encourage discussion of the topic with family or fellow church members by providing additional questions to consider related to the topic.

How do prospective members join your church? During the membership process is there ever a time when someone explains important church information to potential members? If not, you may wish to consider explaining these important details through a new or prospective members’ class. Any church can create a one-hour, one-time “discovery” class that will provide a good introduction to church membership on a regular or as-needed basis. It can be taught at various times such as during Sunday School or over lunch after the morning service. Content may include topics such as:

• Belief about salvation (including baptism)
• Your church’s purpose
• The importance of membership
• Church practices, organization and history
• A description of Southern Baptist distinctives and the Cooperative Program

What is your church’s strategy for discipling new believers? If you do not have one that extends beyond encouraging new believers to attend Sunday School, you may wish to consider creating an intentional new believer discipleship plan. New believer discipleship is most effective when a spiritually-mature believer takes on the responsibility of teaching the new Christian in a one-on-one setting. Many resources are available to assist in discipling others. If that is not possible in your church’s current situation, you may wish to consider forming a short-term new believer Sunday School class so that they can learn the basics before moving on to another class.

5. Leadership Development

• The pastor or another leader inviting a layman to accompany him in ministry-related activities
• Encouraging everyone in ministry positions to share their ministry by recruiting and training an apprentice to assist in that ministry so that they can one day lead that ministry
• Providing short-term classroom training for specific ministries followed by hands-on opportunities to serve in those ministries

As you evaluate and adjust your church’s strategy for teaching believers to obey everything Jesus commanded, consider creating a plan that allows you to proceed in steps that are attainable and measurable. What can you and your church start doing in the five areas mentioned above that will promote spiritual growth?

If you would like to know more about creating discipleship opportunities in your church, contact Marcus Brown at the Arkansas Baptist State Convention at (800) 838-2272, ext. 5128 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Marcus Brown serves as discipleship consultant on the Evangelism and Church Growth Team. He and his wife Amy, along with their three children, live near Benton.