How do I help the church to grow? I have been asked that question countless times over the last 30 years. I usually respond with another question, How are you making disciples who make disciples? To me that’s the most important question because the commission from Jesus wasn’t to grow the church. He was going to do that. Ours was to Make Disciples.
The answers I have received over those years are very interesting. I wonder if the reason why many leaders in the Church today are not intentionally making disciples is because they don’t understand what discipleship is, have never implemented a reproducible process or have never been discipled themselves. You can’t sow a seed substitute and grow the real thing (Luke 8:11; 1 Peter 1:23).
By the way: How would you respond to my question?
Over the last few months we have been introducing the ‘Leadership Farm System’ which is designed to generate natural and spontaneous growth and multiplication. This organic development system is a natural by‑product of a living organism.
If you haven’t read the previous Blogs in this series, then I would encourage you to read them:
It’s Time to Change Your Discipleship Focus
Discipleship is the start of what we do not the end
God’s View of His living Creation
Discipleship: Passing it on
Key Objectives of a Leadership Farm System
A Church’s DNA must be built on the greatest commandment of all “to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength”, the second greatest commandment “to love your neighbour as yourself” and the Great Commission “As you go, make disciples…”
The key objectives of Sowing Disciples – the first stage of a ‘Leadership Farm System’ – are:
A. Listening to and obeying Jesus (John 10:4-5). – Developing through Spiritual Connection
- The Means: The new disciple is encouraged to take their life questions to Jesus in prayer. They seek to hear from Jesus and share these insights and actions when they meet with their discipler.
- The Results: The new disciple learns to recognise the voice of Jesus and is kept accountable by the discipler to be obedient to what they hear. This way the disciple will not be educated beyond the level of their obedience nor will they believe they have to depend on others to hear from Jesus.
B. Sharing: passing on life to others (John 20:21) – Developing through Doing
- The Means: The disciple shares with their discipler about those who the Holy Spirit has brought into their life and how the relationships are progressing. They pray together about these relationships.
- The Results: The new disciple experiences the normality of seeing people through the eyes of Jesus as well as seeing what happens when He is at work. They also experience the power of prayer.
C. Connecting with others–confession (James 5:16)) – Developing through Accountability
- The Means: When they meet, the discipler ask the new disciple about their developing obedience to Jesus. The questions cover moral and personal issues that are raised by the new disciple. The discipler uses good coaching to pick up on areas that may not be forthcoming.
- The Results: The new disciple experiences the normality of being accountable for moving from understanding to being obedient “..to all that Jesus commanded them to do”
Pilot the Sowing Disciples stage
There are key objectives for stage 2 & 3 of a ‘Leadership Farm System’ but it is important to start with the Sowing Disciples stage. If you are part of an existing Church gather together a small number of existing disciples who are already making disciples or are keen to do this and work through this first stage.
Conclusion
The Leadership Farm System is not a plug-in system; it must be contextualised to a specific situation to gain the greatest benefit from it. The Leadership Farm System is also a work in progress. Through the various groups around the world who are raising up home grown leaders and training church planters we all continue to discover new insights in how to work more effectively for Kingdom results.
A Leadership Farm System will help us do what we are supposed to do and Jesus will grow His Church.
Authors: Robert Logan. Neil Cole, Colin Noyes
For further information on a “Farm System” contact Colin Noyes at colin@disciplingasyougo.com