9 Reasons Why Churches Think They’re Disciplemaking Churches When They May Not Be

I don’t often talk to churches who admit that they’re not disciplemaking churches. Most see themselves as making disciples at some level. Here are some reasons, though, why they may see themselves as disciplemaking when they really aren’t:

1. They affirm the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20, so they must be a disciplemaking church. Taking a biblical view or having a theologically accurate position does not, though, always equate to disciplemaking.
2. They’re “doing church,” but no one’s really asked about measuring their disciplemaking status. Even if they can show numerical growth in reaching non-believers, they don’t evaluate the other side of that coin: how many of those new believers are learning to obey everything that Jesus commanded (Matt 28:20)?
3. They equate disciplemaking with programming. That is, they assume that “If you participate in all our programs, you’ll come out as a disciple of Christ.” Programs by themselves, however, don’t make disciples.
4. They’ve reduced disciplemaking to “information transfer.” Disciplemaking is little more than attending classes and gaining information. Answer the questions and discuss the “ism’s” of theology, and you’re a disciple of Jesus.
5. Few leaders have themselves been strongly discipled, so they just don’t think enough about the process of making disciples. At best, they’re trying to give others what they themselves never got—and it’s only remotely like discipleship.
6. They speak often of making disciples—and have structures in place to move them in that direction—but their actions deny any intentional strategy. They have a lot of activity. They might even have a lot of people involved in the activity. They still, though, can’t define a clear strategy for their process; what sounds good lacks real substance.
7. Their disciplemaking approaches tend to be shallow rather than life-on-life. Typically, their approach is more corporate (i.e., worship service-based) than individual (i.e., mentoring-based). Their approaches don’t include arm-in-arm, shoulder-to-shoulder encouragement and accountability between believers.
8. They focus primarily on the head (knowledge), the heart (emotions/affections), or the hands (actions/serving)—often to the neglect of the other two. Discipleship that primarily emphasizes one of these is typically incomplete disciplemaking.
9. They do okay at raising up people to serve within their congregation, but they seldom send anyone out. All their “disciplemaking” growth is internal—and can subtly become self-serving and self-preserving. New Testament disciples, though, give themselves for the sake of others.

What about your church? Would they say they’re a disciplemaking church? If so, are they?