You may want to argue with me, but I think there are certain signs that indicate clearly whether you have a bad disciple-making strategy. With me? Isn’t obvious that certain results or a lack of results would indicate a bad disciple-making strategy? Remember, “your ministry is perfectly designed to produce the results you are currently experiencing.” If you don’t like the results, you must change the design.
I love this line from Winston Churchill. “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” If you don’t like your results, change the strategy.
See where I’m going? Can you go there? Here are five signs you may have a bad disciple-making design:
- You don’t have enough adults being discipled. You pray for it. You talk about it. You promote it. But it just doesn’t happen. Sign-ups for your disciple-making effort fall far short of projections and expectations, and another season comes and goes. Doesn’t the number of people entering the pipeline determine the number coming out? See also, Would You Rather: Connect More People or Make More Disciples?
- You have plenty of adults being discipled … but you are rarely producing disciple makers. Real disciples make disciples. If all you’re making is more knowledgable consumers, you have a bad disciple-making strategy. You can have a steady stream of people completing the curriculum, but if you rarely see disciples become disciple-makers it is time to take a serious look at your results. See also, 4 Leading Indicators of Small Group Ministries that Make Disciples andLagging Indicators of Small Group Ministries that Make Disciples.
- You have plenty of adults who have been discipled … but you still never have enough people serving. Results are the true test. If your strategy is making disciples you will be producing a steady stream of other-centered men and women. Rather than a shortage of volunteers, you will have a surplus. It will become easier and easier to fill ministry positions with volunteers who are fruitful and fulfilled, obviously in the right seats on the bus.
- You have plenty of adults who have been discipled … but you aren’t developing a culture of generosity. Struggling to grow your annual budget? There may be no clearer indication that you have a bad strategy for making disciples. If your disciple-making design isn’t producing a culture of generosity, shouldn’t very loud alarm bells be going off?
- You have plenty of adults who have been through your discipleship pathway … but what you are producing barely resembles Jesus. If you’re graduating men and women in number from your discipleship pathway, but your graduates aren’t really exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit or ending up fully mature in Christ, isn’t that an indication that your strategy is ineffective? If your pathway graduates are still drinking milk and not ready for meat, isn’t that a signal that you’re producing something less than complete?
See also, 6 Essential Questions about Making Disciples and Small Group Ministry, How to Make Disciples in Small Groups and 5 Essential Ingredients of Groups that Make Disciples.
What do you do if you see these signs? Here’s my recommendation:
Rethink your design
If you discover that you have a bad disciple-making design (based on your results), then it’s time to rethink the way you are making disciples.
3 foundational assumptions
- It is what it is. In the words of Andy Stanley, “Your ministry is perfectly designed to produce the results you are currently experiencing.” Your results are not a fluke. They are directly related to the design. Don’t like your results? Change the design and remember that design incorporates just about everything (i.e., the way you recruit and train leaders, the way it’s promoted, the way you actually make disciples, any and all structure that plays a part, etc.).
- What got you here won’t get you there. Albert Einstein noted that “the significant problems that we face will not be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” Translation? Your current strategy or design might very well have been effective at an earlier date. Times change. Organizations become more complex over time. What works in one season won’t necessarily always work. Getting to there will almost always require more than a tweak.
- There is no problem-free. Every system, solution or strategy comes with a set of problems and there are no exceptions. There is no problem-free. Wise leaders simply make a list of the problems that come with each strategy and choose the set of problems they would rather have.
10 principles that will guide the work that is ahead.
- Begin with the end in mind. Describing in vivid detail a picture of the preferred future is essential. Make no compromise and take no shortcut. As the Cheshire Cat said to Alice, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
- Diagnose the present with uncompromising honesty. If you begin with the end in mind, brutal honesty about the here and now is another essential. See also, Brutal Honesty about Your Present.
- Clarify what you will call a win. According to Peter Drucker, very few things are as important as determining what you will call success. See also, Clarifying the Win in Your Small Group Ministry.
- Think steps, not programs. Design easy, obvious and strategic steps that lead to the preferred future and only to the preferred future. See also, Think Steps, Not Programs.
- Narrow the focus (to eliminate all but the best steps). There is no room for turning a blind eye to the inadequacies of yesterday’s solutions. See also, Small Group Roadblock #2: A Bloated Belong and Become Menu.
- Allocate resources to the critical growth path. Choosing a preferred future is one thing. Allocating finite resources to get to the preferred future is what demonstrates conviction. Budget, key staff and volunteers, space, promotional bandwidth, and senior pastor attention are just a few of the most important resources. See also, Budgeting for the Preferred Future.
- Commit to the long haul. The journey to build a thriving small group ministry is not a short sprint. It is a marathon. If you want to arrive at the finish line, you must commit to the long haul. See also, Wash, Rinse, Repeat and the Long Run.
- Keep one eye on the preferred future. Maintaining focus on the end in mind, using preferred future language to cast vision for the promised land is a non-negotiable. It will be tempting along the way to settle for something less than a thriving small group ministry. Only by rehearsing again and again what it will be like will the steadfast pursuit continue.
- Keep the other eye on the very next milestone. Milestones that are clearly visible in the near future enable your team to stay focused and encouraged. Milestones could be quantitative (a number of groups or a percentage connected statistic). Milestones can also be qualitative with a little effort (capturing life-change stories or monitoring feedback cards). The objectives that must be accomplished to reach the next milestone are the kind of things that keep teams focused. See also, Are We There Yet? Milestones that Lead to the Preferred Future.
- Celebration is expected. A culture of celebration is a must-have. Celebrate milestones reached and wins experienced.
