“The 3 keys to biblical Christian discipleship: an intentional leader+relational environment+reproducible process=infinite number of disciples of Jesus”

Ever wonder why pyramid schemes never quite seem to work? Its not because they don’t pan out on paper, its actually because either the leader stops interacting with the student, the student feels left out on an island by themselves all alone, or that the sales process they are being told to do is very confusing to them and so they can’t do it on their own.  But consider that possibly the discipleship of new believers works in much the same way.  The person who brings them to the Lord, or helps them in their moment of conversion and justification does not follow up with them.  This leaves the new believer vulnerable and apt to fold back into their previous life.  Or , maybe in the excitement of having a new believer, the friend/teacher/pastor sends them out unequipped to share their faith.  Or maybe its that the new believer just doesn’t know what to do next, reads the Bible for themselves and gets discouraged in their walk.  We cannot expect someone who has never done something previously to miraculously begin doing something they have not been instructed to do.

I was reading Real Life Discipleship:Building Churches that Make Disciples by Jim Putman when I wrote this post.

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