ORLANDO, Fla. — In partnership with the Southern Baptist Annual Meeting Pastors’ Conference, Lifeway Christian Resources hosted a free, one-day micro-conference on discipleship. The organization also unveiled a free tool to assist church leaders in their task of making disciples.
More than 500 registered for the micro-conference on Monday, June 8. Chad Higgins told those gathered at the Orange County Convention Center they were there because of a legacy of discipleship. “Someone poured their life into you to help you grow as a disciple,” said Higgins, senior manager of church equipping at Lifeway.
But now, he noted, many church leaders are frustrated with the discipleship efforts in their congregations and asking, “How do we get people to engage more?” He and others at Lifeway organized the event to equip and encourage pastors and leaders in making disciples within their churches and communities.
“As we thought through this mini-conference, we knew the room would include people from all different types of churches,” Higgins said. “There would be people who were discouraged about discipleship in their congregations, and there would be those who are excited about what God is doing and looking to take the next step.”
Higgins said he wanted attendees to gain both practical teaching on discipleship but also encouragement in their calling. “We want them to leave feeling encouraged on their discipleship journey,” he said. “We want them to know God is with them, and He has more for them.”
During the conference, Lifeway announced the launch of DisciplesPath, a free discipleship assessment tool for churches. “This isn’t prescriptive. This isn’t Lifeway telling you what you need to do,” said Higgins. “God placed you in your church for a reason.”
Instead, Higgins said DisciplesPath is a tool to assist church leaders in understanding what discipleship currently looks like in their congregations and discovering how they can take the next step on a pathway toward growth.
Morning session
In the first session, John Paul Basham, Lifeway’s director of adult ministry, shared on building a disciple-making culture. “Discipleship doesn’t start with another task,” he said. “It starts with a longing to become like Jesus and to help others do the same.”
Basham warned leaders that many ministry tasks can crowd out the ultimate call Jesus gave His disciples in the Great Commission to make disciples. “We are not commanded to grow our ministry or build our platforms or establish systems,” he said. “We are commanded to ‘Go and make disciples.’”
The goal of a Christian and a church should be reproduction, Basham said, but that is also the gap. “Only 8 percent of pastors strongly agree they are satisfied with discipleship in their churches,” he said, referencing Lifeway Research’s recent State of Discipleship study.
Mark Croston, national director of Black church ministry at Lifeway, told attendees, “Faith comes by hearing, but discipleship comes by doing.” Walking through Jesus’ life and actions in Mark 6, Croston walked church leaders through four phases of intentional discipleship – teaching, training, tutoring and testing.
First, Croston stressed, “You cannot be what you do not have.” He said the disciples had to walk and learn from Jesus before going out themselves. “You have to be a follower of Him before you can be a fisher of men.”
Next, disciples should move to the application phase of training. After they gain the information, they must put it into practice. Then, they are tutored in the adjustment phase, before finally moving to the assessment phase for testing.
He said disciples never graduate from disciple making. “Discipleship is a continuous cycle,” Croston said. “We are growing as disciples who make disciples.”
Ken Braddy, director of Sunday School and strategic partnerships at Lifeway, shared the story of the first person to disciple him – his mother. It wasn’t until after she passed away that he first heard the name Helen Jensen. She was the 22-year-old Sunday School teacher who had led his mother to Christ when she was 11 and continued to disciple her.
Braddy stressed the importance of discipleship, because many grow up in imperfect families and difficult environments, but he said lives are changed when Christians are obedient to make disciples.
“This room is filled with people who were impacted by unknown but faithful people,” he said. “What you do makes a difference, but you may not see the full impact before glory.”
Afternoon session
After a lunch break, Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, went into more detail about the State of Discipleship study, which served as a foundation for DisciplesPath.
Despite Jesus’ final command to His followers to make disciples, only 11 percent of U.S. Protestant pastors say discipleship is the aspect of church ministry they are doing better than any other, McConnell said.
Much of that gap comes from a lack of intentionality, according to McConnell. “Accidental discipleship is not biblical,” he said. “Programs are not the solution, but they are a piece to set up what matters most for discipleship – intentional relationships.”
McConnell called attendees’ attention to the free State of Discipleship Insights Report given out at the conference and told them they could also download a free digital version at LifewayResearch.com/Discipleship to share with leaders and disciple makers at their churches.
Additionally, other Lifeway leaders gave brief talks on specific aspects of discipleship. Braddy highlighted practical ways to recruit ordinary people to be extraordinary group leaders. Neftali Alverio, vice president of technology and digital innovation, shared about making disciples in the age of AI. Zac Workun, student ministry specialist, addressed discipleship of students, specifically in the context of the proliferation of screens. Carlos Astorga, senior manager of global publishing, spoke about discipling the nations.
Croston closed the micro-conference on Monday afternoon by asking attendees, “Who are you pouring into so they become a fully devoted disciple of Jesus Christ?” If no one came to their minds, he challenged attendees to pray and ask God to direct them to that person.
Additionally, in the Lifeway Village in the SBC exhibit hall, the organization made the State of Discipleship Insights Report available to messengers and offered demonstrations of DisciplesPath.
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