“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
— Romans 12:2 NIV
It was about 15+ years ago now that someone introduced me to a simple daily Bible reading strategy from Pastor Wayne Cordaro called SOAP. I included this in our Following Jesus book, And I also created an expanded daily Bible reading and journaling book to support myself and you in engaging The Bible daily in a way that will transform your life!
The reason why I believe you’re going to love this reading plan and devotional book is that it will help you move past just hearing about the Bible to putting it into practice. It’s too easy as a follower of Jesus to read or listen to the Bible and let it go in one ear and out the other, but when you intentionally take time to journal and pray and lean into the reading for the day, you’ll be surprised at how the Holy Spirit will speak to you and help you put into action what you’ve just read.
It’s not specifically necessary, but you can also get a copy of the Following Jesus book and or the 52 Bible verses for new believers to, along with the Following Jesus Journal. You can see in the images below to get a glimpse of what the journal pages and reading plan look like.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
— Matthew 7:24-27 NIV
]]>Pastors, as a fellow laborer in Christ, I know the passion and burden to effectively make disciples. There are always going to be new ideas or strategies to help us be more effective, but many of the fundamentals are the same and have been since the beginning of the launch of The Church! Before I list out a suggested step-by-step discipleship pathway, I want to share three keys to helping your church create a discipleship culture. Why do I say culture? Because while we may have classes or courses where we focus and learn the essentials of our faith, full discipleship is not formed in a classroom. Discipleship happens as we go and as we do life together within our church community. That’s why we want to shape an intentional church-wide discipleship culture. (Download the Discipleship Pathway)
3 Essentials to Creating a Discipleship Culture in Your Church
1. Have a Vision to Reach Your City!
This might seem obvious, but the first step to creating a church culture where discipleship happens naturally is to have a deep seeded vision in your heart to reach the city that God has put you in. If your vision is just to create programs for the people in your church but not to stir your people up to reach and impact their city, then you won’t inspire a culture of discipleship. Jesus’ call to us to make disciples was on the heels of calling us to GO! So, we go into all the world, and then, as a byproduct, we “make disciples.” The passion and vision to reach a city will also force us as the pastors and leaders of the church and the people of the church to step up and truly live out this passionate relationship with Jesus.
2. Develop a Discipleship Culture
When I say that we need to create a discipleship culture, I don’t mean we need to create a discipleship class, I mean that we need to create an environment within our church community that naturally fosters discipleship. There are many things I can write, which I’ll cover at length in my “Make Disciples” book coming out soon. But, let me mention a few things here.
Create space for people to encounter the presence of God within your church. If people don’t have a passionate and personal relationship with Jesus, then they most likely won’t be stirred to be someone who makes disciples.
Develop a highly relational culture. The Apostle Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. Discipleship always happens best within relationships. Most of the context of Christianity is around a dinner table and community. If you fight for true and authentic friendships, then you’ll see discipleship happen more naturally. If, as a church, you foster more connections and people spending time together, then you’ll see spiritual maturity increase. Things you can do to make that happen… small groups, discipleship pathways, essentials classes. Ect.
Another key to creating a culture of discipleship is that we foster a culture of empowerment. This means that if we’re going to develop and draw out the spiritual maturity of people, then we need to put a demand on that part of them to rise. When we call people out of their comfort zones and into their calling, you’ll find people step up and mature.
3. Have a Clear Next Step
This is such a huge part of creating a strong discipleship culture in your church. This is key to both the person needing to be discipled and for the church family to effectively be able to help move people along the path of discipleship. We must first boldly call people to that point of decision to Follow Jesus. If we haven’t given them that clear call, they could be going through the spiritual motions but not actually having a relationship with God through what Jesus did on the cross! Within your altar call or however you do it, make sure there’s a clear next step for a new believer to follow. After they say yes to Jesus, “What’s Next?”. The new believer needs to know, and you want to train your whole church to know what’s next so they can direct new believers to that small group or to the discipleship course on Sundays. Here’s where churches often introduce the Following Jesus book. Giving it out with the Bible as a gift when they surrender their lives to Jesus.
It's also a unique time in most parts of the globe where unbelievers or those with limited religious background are compelled to find a local church to be a part of.
This is what we want to really be ready for! Ready in two ways:
1. Ready your church by stirring them to invite and bring people to church with them.
Remind your church family that the likelihood of their friends responding to a church invite is drastically higher around Easter. Encourage your church to step out, be bold, and be the invitation!
2. Get ready by being prepared to engage the unsaved and new believer
One of our key passions is teaming up with churches in making disciples. The Following Jesus book and resources will help your church be ready to respond to the harvest that God is going to bring to your church.
If your church doesn't currently use the Following Jesus book and would like a sample, please email us at info@followingjesusbook.com or if you're ready to order a discounted bulk order, you can go ahead and do that today!
]]>This book dives into 12 key things we've learned from experience, our families, and most importantly from God's Word that will build a passionate, strong, and lasting marriage. Get a copy of it here at the link above or on Amazon.
But, specifically in this medium, I wanted to encourage pastors and church leaders to really prioritize their marriage. The strength of your marriage will be the health of your church family.
Learning to make your marriage the most important relationship you focus on weekly will allow you to be strong for the rest of your church family. Just like a great marriage provides stability for your kids, it has a similar effect on the church or youth ministry that you lead.
One of the things we talk about in the book is adding what we call a "coffee meeting" into your week. This is different than your date night. Which we encourage weekly, but even if you can't do that weekly in this season, have a weekly marriage meeting. This will enhance your communication, destress your life, and make those dates more fun and more intimate.
Check out this new book and we'd love to hear from you!
]]>We're excited about the different ways that churches are taking advantage of the Following Jesus Course for New Believers.
I wanted to list a few key ways quickly that this course is serving other churches and how it may support your discipleship and assimilation process at your church.
3 Key Ways Churches Are Using the Following Jesus Course:
The course can be a stand alone but is best taken as a companion to the Following Jesus Books, which you can get in English, Spanish, Arabic and more languages coming soon.
The pricing of the course is designed to be functional for all churches stages of growth. To view the Following Jesus Course (Click Here)
Have a great week, praying for your church to reach your city with the gospel and MAKE DISCIPLES!
Samuel Deuth
]]>Pastors,
We have hundreds of people using the Following Jesus Course curriculum for their online and in person discipleship! So many pastors are finding massive value in utilizing the FJ course for reinforcing the spiritual foundations of our faith for their whole church and specifically for new believers.
The Following Jesus Course Focuses On:
Each topic is supported with a 12-15min video introducing and teaching the topic to help facilitate the individual or group study of that topic.
How Are People Using the FJ Course:
How's the Cost Structure of the FJ Course?
Any other questions on the Following Jesus course and resources, please reach out to our team!
]]>Whether you're discipling people purly in the online space right now, in person or a hybrid of both, many churches are finding the eBook version of the Following Jesus book (#1 Best Selling Discipleship Book) is a massive win for engaging for online and on campus visitors and new believers.
Some Churches will use the eBook version of the book in addition to the physical gift fo the Following Jesus book and for some it's a stand alone digital resource.
What the Following Jesus Book Focuses On:
How Are People Using the eBook:
How Does the eBook work?
Any other questions on the Following Jesus resources or for coaching on discipleship for your church, please reach out to our team!
]]>My 10 year old daughter Mercedes is an incredible artist, and so after seeing her draw this super fun Pineapple, I said, "what if we made kids Bible stories from your artwork," she loved and idea and went to work creating the characters for the David and Goliath story!
All the artwork in this story and even in the activity book is her original art! I know I'm her dad, but I'm pretty impressed!
But, enough about us as the authors, let's talk about this super fun and strong Biblical application focused Bible story. As with the Following Jesus books, our heart is to help people know and follow Jesus. These Bible stories carry that same passion. We want to help kids learn to love God, the Bible and be called and equipped to Follow Jesus!
There's also a bunch of fun and memorable merch that will help keep the message of this story front and center in their lives!
Check out the new book! And all the fun merchandise for the kiddos! Also, would do us a favor, after you read it with your kids, would you take a pic and post it?! We'd love see your kids growing in their faith! Tag @followingjesusbook or @mercedesdeuth / @samueldeuth and we'll repost it!
Praying for you as you continue to disciple your kids!
]]>OK Pastors and church leaders, we're all a few weeks in now to holding our church services online. If you're like me, there has been a ton of challenges that came with this season, but we're also learning a ton and I believe when this "online only" season has finished, we'll all be stronger and healthier because of it. One thing is for sure, and I've loved the way many have phrased it, "The Church Has Left The Building." Now, in many ways most churches were already thinking outward and city impact, but I think for all of us, it stirred up a fresh reminder that we gather to equip and prepare the church to GO AND BE THE CHURCH out in our city!
So, with that in mind, I've compiled a few keys to creating great online church services and creating community beyond the stream that I've observed from a ton of conversations with great churches around the world as well as my own experience right here at Awaken Church.
Before we launch into the full list of best practices, here are 3 key resources to help your church if you're not already using them:
KEYS TO ONLINE CHURCH, COMMUNITY & DISCIPLESHIP
Hoping those few things would be helpful in your process of reaching your city and making disciples in this season! Leave comments below on any other helpful tips you've discovered in your church!
]]>Over the last couple decades of working with many great churches in the area of discipling new believers I wanted to pass along some key things that will help you create a great new believers packet and reach, connect and disciple new believers. A few years ago we release a resource book for new believers called “Following Jesus”, which is a short, fresh looking book that targets the 7 initial key steps for a new believer to follow. God has really breathed on it, and many churches now around the globe have started implementing the book into their discipleship strategy; this has allowed me to get to engage with a lot of great churches on effective approach to discipleship and creating new believer packets and the overall assimilation and discipleship strategy. (We also have the Following Jesus discipleship material in an Online Course that helps with discipling and connecting with people in the online space.)
It’s also important for me to note before we get into the below how to section, that we remember that overall, the most important thing after a new believer comes to Christ is for them to feel that hospitality and connection to the family of God. So, the packet is not the focus, it is a tool to connect with the new believer and get them on the next steps of following Jesus.
So, here are a few key things to consider as you put together a great new believers packet.
1. What do you put into the New Believers Packet?
As you’re putting together a packet, don’t overthink it, it’s better to have something than to wait too long because you’re wanting to make it perfect or you’re waiting for the budget. Also, sometimes people will do a packet that connects with both the visiting guest and a new believer, and some do them separately.
When putting the packet together, also consider your ability to continue with it, so don’t make it too complicated or so expensive that you quit using it after a month.
Key Things In Packets:
2. How to get the packet into a new believers hands
The greatest new believers packet in the world doesn’t help if you don’t get it into the hands of new believers. Below I’ll list a few key ways that churches attempt to connect with new believers, but first I want to note that I highly encourage a genuine and passionate call be given in every service for people to choose to put their faith in Jesus!
Whether your church style is invite people to come forward to the altar or keep people in their seats, it’s key to create a decisive moment for everyone in the room to get the opportunity to hear and answer that question of whether or not they will choose to follow Jesus.
Once the call has been given, we then have to make sure give them a clear and simple next step that guides them to connect with you so that you can get the discipleship tools into their hands and make that crucial relational connection.
Here’s a few ways people do it:
3. Following up with New Believers
This is a key part of the process, like we already noted, you can have the best packet, get it to them, but at the end of the day, you want to be sure you make the connection and do your best to get them connected and starting the discipleship process.
Here’s a few things to remember in follow up:
Praying for you as you work towards being more effective as a church in connecting with and discipling the new believers that God bringing to your church family. Again for more Following Jesus discipleship resource check out our church resources collection: followingjesusbook.com
Any other questions don’t hesitate to reach out!
Samuel Deuth
*This article and content appears on both my site and the site I guest blogged for called, Ministry Voice.
]]>Growth is one of the main keys to retention. While retention helps to sustain growth, you'll actually find that as you grow the people that God sends you, you'll see them not only getting connected but reaching and bringing more people to Jesus.
When we grow people, we grow the church.
I've loved seeing the trend in the last decade in church conferences on better connecting with people that are coming to our churches and providing a pathway to get them connected and a part of a team; But, that in itself shouldn't be our focus. Our calling is to disciple and grow people, not to just hold onto them for the sake of our attendance stats.
If we make retaining people our primary focus, we've taken the first step to losing them.
The efforts pay off big time when we start designing our systems around growing people rather than simply keeping them. Where are you taking the people that God has given you? If you're just "retaining" them, you risk becoming like the servant who buried his talent in the ground for fear of losing it. The mandate is to discipleship and multiplication. So the call is more about forward advancement and expansion, not just holding on to what you have until the end.
The mandate to increase and multiply happens through discipleship. Create a culture where community is a norm as the bedrock for discipleship. (See also my article on 3 Essentials To Creating A Discipleship Culture In Your Church) From there, you'll want to have a strategy for helping teach new believers how to know and Follow Jesus. This happens in weekend and midweek services, but we can't always drill into the basics as far on a weekend as we'd like, which is why small group or class settings are key. Many churches are using my Following Jesus books as a gift for new believers and the curriculum for the small group or class study.
I'd encourage you to gather with your team and evaluate all of your discipleship and retention strategies with the goal of growing people not just retaining people. If we can help in any way with you and your team as you strengthen your discipleship strategies let us know. We also have an e-course that focuses just on Discipleship and Assimilation.
I'd love to hear your comments below on ways that you are growing and discipling people. What's worked for you guys and what hasn't?
Praying for you and your team as you lean into this topic of discipleship!
Article adapted from original post on sameuldeuth.com
]]>We have to help people move from just "going to church" to being The Church!
Here's a few quick ways to begin seeing that shift in your church:
We're praying for you to have wisdom to help your church family fully embrace the call to MAKE DISCIPLES!
]]>If you’re called to preach, then you cannot be silent!
One of the things I emphasize in the Preaching Essentials E-Course is the importance of those of us who are called to preach, stepping up, and into our calling!
Silence will leave you unfulfilled and create collateral damage in your world!
Like in the story of Queen Esther, if she remained silent, God would raise up another to rescue His people, but Esther’s family and current generation would perish. Step into your calling as a preacher and bring the messages that God put in your heart to bring!
]]>Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. — 2 Timothy 4:2
Over the past 10+ years of training and coaching pastors and church leaders, there’s one common barrier that I’ve seen limit growth and impact—that barrier is when a leader doesn’t empower the team. When we don’t delegate and empower well, we put a lid over our churches growth potential. These few verses in Acts highlight the link between empowering and growth.
Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” — Acts 6:2-4
First, we’re reminded of the necessity to stay focused on our primary responsibilities and functions of the role we’re called to. In this specific set of verses the main focus that the apostles needed was on prayer and ministry of the word, and note how easy it is to get distracted with all of the genuine needs of the people in our churches. Each of us has primary functions and things that we must maintain focus on, and if you’re a lead pastor or primary ministry leader than vision, and ministry must remain a primary focus. And, when we read the conclusion of this passage we realize that the Apostle’s ability to delegate, empower and stay focused on what they needed to do, directly impacted the growth of the church.
Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. —Acts 6:7
Growth only happens when we RELEASE responsibility rather than hold onto it. Like a seed, it only grows when planted. As church leaders we’ve been given by Jesus a bag full of seeds, what are we doing with those seeds/leaders? Holding or planting? Controling or empowering? And we must see delegation more as empowering and releasing people into their gifts than just handing out tasks. Task delegation doesn’t require our people to engage their creative God-given potential, but when we release authority into their hands and empower them, you’ll see them flourish!
Here’s a few common reason why we get trapped into not empowering people:
The Moses Complex
Sometimes we feel that as the lead pastor or department leader that we’re the one that needs to have all of the answers. And while as the lead pastor you’re setting vision, if we make the “buck” or most answers stop with us then we put a limit on our capacity. Take that superman/wonder woman pressure off yourself and begin to empower and turn the responsibility over to them.
We have to set the Culture
Yes, as the leader we need to shape and set the culture of our teams and overall church, most of the time that ends up becoming a crutch that we lean on for way too long. Your team is more ready than you realize. Remember that you were inexperienced when you stepped into your role but someone trusted and released you into that calling!
The Perfection Freeze
In our pursuit of an excellent team or service experience we can often create a freeze in the potential of the team. As the leader you carry a great weight and in our very proformance culture it’s easy to create the opposite experience on our teams than we want. Most leaders want to see the potential and capacity in their team launched and released, but when you’re dealing with young or developing leaders, if you are overly “jumpy” on creating that perfect church culture and excellent service experience, we can end up creating a gun-shy feeling in our teams where they’re nervous to step out because their afraid to fail. Make sure that you create space for people to fail.
I’ll Delegate When I have Leaders
We can often think, If I had the leaders then I would release. But part of the reason why no leaders are emerging is because we’re not creating space for them. The more that people see you creating room or creating a demand for leadership the more you’ll see those leaders emerge. When you publicly celebrate and give people a shot then you’ll subconsciously send the signal to your church that this is a leadership house that sees, develops and releasing people into their gifting.
So, if you feel like you have a lid on your growth as an overall church or in a specific department, this may be one of the areas to evaluate. Review your daily, weekly and monthly focus and responsibilities: figure out what things you can release and empower someone else to carry. And if you’re wanting to see more leaders emerge, consider more ways that you can create for people to stretch their gifts. In San Diego, (My Pastors) Ps Jurgen & Ps Leanne have done a great job at constantly creating areas for people to stretch their gifts and develop as leaders. As a result, we have an abundance of leaders.
The more you release, the more you’ll be able to focus, which will result in vision being accomplished, more disciples being made and the church growing!
For more on creating a healthy and growing church culture, check out Pastor Jurgen Matthesius’s new book Leadersight:
]]>I’ve given my life to building and strengthening the church locally in my zip code and globally—and one of the key things all churches are focused on doing is strengthening their process of making disciples. And I’m glad that this is at the forefront of the conversation since it’s the primary emphasis of the great commission that Jesus gave us.
In this article, I’m going to speak to 3 key essentials that our churches need to create a discipleship culture. This isn’t just a few notes on an exact conversation on what key things a new disciple needs to know—I have that in my new believer’s book called, “Following Jesus”.
This is speaking the broader issue of creating a culture, climate and atmosphere where discipleship and naturally happen and occur in our churches. Yes, there are classes and programs and processes that we and should implement to support that, but if we intentionally create the culture where discipleship naturally happens, then we set ourselves up to more effective.
Have a Vision to Reach Your City!
This might seem obvious, but the first step to creating a church culture where discipleship happens naturally is to have a deep seeded vision in your heart to reach the city that God has put you in. If your vision is just to create programs for the people in your church but not to stir your people up to reach and impact their city then you won’t inspire a culture of discipleship. Jesus’ call to us to make disciples was on the heels of calling us to GO! So, we go into all the world and then as a byproduct we “make disciples.” The passion and vision to reach a city will also force us as the pastors and leaders of the church and the people of the church to step up and truly live out this passionate relationship with Jesus.
Develop a Discipleship Culture
When I say that we need to create a discipleship culture, I don’t mean we need to create a discipleship class, I mean that we need to create an environment within our church community that naturally fosters discipleship.
There are many things I can write, which I’ll cover at length in my “Make Disciples” book coming out soon. But, let me note a few things here.
Have a Clear Next Step
This is such a huge part of creating a strong discipleship culture in your church. This is key both the person wanting or needing to be discipled and for the church family to more effectively be able to help move people along the path of discipleship.
One of the big keys within a church that wants to make disciples is that we first have to call people to that point of decision to Follow Jesus. If we don’t know that or we haven’t given them that clear call, they could be going through the spiritual motions but not actually having a relationship with God through what Jesus did on the cross! So, in your altar call or however you do it, make sure there’s a clear next step for a new believer to follow. After they say yes to Jesus, “What’s Next?”. The new believer needs to know and you want to train your whole church to know what’s next so that you can direct them to that small group or at to the course on Sundays. In my latest e-course on Discipleship & Assimilation Essentials, I walk through in detail our pathway and step by step of discipleship and assimilation.
We’re praying for you and want to continue to partner up with you as you make disciples. We have the Following Jesus books as a gift, and if you haven’t yet, take the short 2hr Discipleship and Assimilation Essentials E-course.
]]>