How to Build a Disciple-Making Culture in Your Church

Christianity only makes sense when we understand the true meaning of the religion: being like Christ. It’s about living as Jesus lived. And one aspect of His life that remains paramount is making disciples.

As a pastor or church leader, one of your core roles is to create a disciple-making culture in your church where everyone feels actively involved in the Kingdom. From discipline to everyday actions and behaviors, your members should display that life of Christ. Sadly, preaching regular sermons on the pulpit every Sunday does not mold your people’s behavior. Hence, discipleship should be treated intentionally.

Before discussing steps to building a disciple-making culture in your ministry, we must clarify what the contours of discipleship are:

• Disciple-making involves intentionally evangelizing to non-believers, helping them grow as believers, and equipping them for leadership.
• Disciple-making is about transferring faith and teachings throughout the local church.
• Disciple-making is a life-on-life relationship, transferring everyday habits from one person to another. It is about acknowledging the word of God even while cracking jokes and watching football.

4 steps to build a disciple-making culture in your church

1. Prioritize disciple-making sermons

When on the pulpit, don’t spend so much time preaching sermons meant for non-believers. Instead, focus on sermons that will teach and coach your members, crafting their mindset and actions on a cellular level. It should be more of teaching as Jesus taught. After your sermon, ensure members understand and feel the message that they long to live according to that model.

2. Build a few disciples that will transfer to others

Disciple-making is like a ripple effect, expanding as it goes out. Jesus made twelve disciples. These disciples, in turn, taught and made their own disciples, and so on. And remember that discipleship is a life-on-life relationship — a close one. Since you cannot be very close to every individual in your church, choose a few men whom you can pour your life into. Let it be upon each one to pour that same life into their departments, families, and social groups within the church. Disciple training for your church leaders should be considered in this case. At the end of their training, ask each man to choose a few people who can impact their life and training.

3. Church membership should be disciple-based

Sadly, many Christians think joining a church is synonymous with joining a social club. It’s not; it’s about becoming like Christ. Hence, pastors shouldn’t make it seem like just anyone can join without proper knowledge and behavioral expectations. Make the joining process more involved by scheduling sessions where new members are taught the church’s doctrines, operating convictions, and expectations. To help organize this process more efficiently, consider using a Church Membership Management system, which can streamline tracking member progress and engagement. This also allows church leaders to stay connected with members, ensuring no one falls through the cracks during their spiritual journey. Talk about life topics like divorce, workplace behaviours, and parent-child relationships. This will enable each member to be fundamentally and deeply rooted in action and knowledge.

4. Encourage discipline church-wide

Nowadays, churches make Christianity seemingly too simple, sadly. People who call themselves “Christians” and “Church members” misbehave without consequences. To build a disciple-making culture in your church, confront sin wherever you find it. Enforce corrective discipline in place. It’s not about being too hard; God likes discipline and punishes sin to protect disciples from wrongdoing.

Finally, everything you do in your disciple-making strategy should be Word-based. Have Sunday school, Bible study sessions, and other teaching venues where the word is taught on a microscopic level. Gradually, you’ll see how involved your members get.