FAQ about the DiscipleMaker Stages diagram

1 What’s this app for? The DiscipleMaker Stages app equips you to obey the Lord’s command, go and make disciples. It gives resources for anyone who wants to do life-on- life discipling with Seekers, Believers and Disciples. The app has dozens of helps for the five stages, practical ways to mentor others spiritually. It’s intended to produce DiscipleMakers.

2 Why stages? We do most things in life with a system. Dieting, exercising, preparing for a career, learning piano... they all have systems. This app provides an easy-to-understand system for spiritual growth. Seekers come to faith in Christ as a process. Believers need months, perhaps years, to become Disciples and DiscipleMakers. It helps them see spiritual growth as a process.

Many Christians can’t answer what’s next after baptism? A plumber-in-training knows what’s next, a medical student knows what’s next, as does a TaeKwonDo student, but most Believers don’t. The diagram gives a process every Christian can customize, providing them with a clear goal: be a DiscipleMaker and Servant.

3. How do I get started? Use the app as an assessment tool. Become familiar with each stage. Watch the overview videos for each stage. Pinpoint what stage you’re at. Ask, have I been at this stage too long? am I moving forward or am I stuck? Once you see what stage you’re at, determine to move up. If you’re stuck after baptism, tell God you want to be a disciple. Say Yes to his call. Above all, desire to be a DiscipleMaker. Jesus‘ default must become ours. Ask, what’s stopping me from being a DiscipleMaker? Be honest. Get others’ input. Don’t be indolent, robbing yourself of the chance to to disciple others. Ask the Spirit to make you a DiscipleMaker. He’s the real DiscipleMaker. It’s his task to prepare you for ministry and cooperate with you.

Pay close attention to the Disciple stage. Say No to other loves in order to say Yes to Jesus. - what loves (idols) keep me from loving Jesus fully? - what spiritual disciplines are lacking in my life? - who could be my buddy to help me with spiritual disciplines? Who could be my coach? Ponder the end of your life. Your Lord will ask, Where are my disciples? You want to have a good answer.

4. What do I do? Be an artist with the various helps in the app. Pick and choose to suit the one you’re discipling, like an artist chooses colors. If you select an app to use, consider having your friend read it the day before you meet, then discuss it when you’re together. If you want to print a help, it may be difficult from a handheld device. You can go to http://cnbc.ca/new-disciple-makers/stages, locate the .pdf and print it.

5. What do basic, intermediate and advanced refer to? There are many practical helps at each stage to help a DiscipleMaker disciple others. The helps have differing degrees of difficulty. Pick and choose what will best suit your situation from the Basic, Intermediate and Advanced levels. In the Believer stage, for instance, two helps explaining the Trinity are listed as Advanced. It’s a hard concept to grasp and teach. By contrast, a help showing simple concepts of prayer (G•O•D & S•T•P) is listed as Basic. The helps give a range of choices for working in each stage.

6. How do I use the different helps? At each stage you’ll see Essentials and Favorites. The essential helps – four of them – are ones we recommend. The Favorite ones allow you to pick-and-choose, what fits the person you’re discipling. Check the Essentials first. For example, if you’re discipling a new Believer, you have nearly 40 helps for that stage. Four of them are Essentials. The others may be beneficial – you choose. Perhaps your friend needs to develop habits of reading the Bible and prayer. Or they need doctrinal teaching, like knowing how God cares for them. Work with the Spirit to pick appropriate

helps. Do the same with a Disciple, choosing doctrinal teachings and spiritual disciplines that fit the person. The helps can be viewed on an iPad (and other devices) or printed and handed out from the CNBC website, http://cnbc.ca/new-disciple-makers/stages/

7. Is there any in-depth training for DiscipleMaker Stages? Yes, the CNBC (Canadian National Baptist Convention) has an eight hour training video series to provide the rationale and details for using the diagram personally and in a church. You can find the series at http://www.e-quip.net/. (Search for DiscipleMaker).

8. Can a person be a believer and not a disciple? A better question might be, do I want to be just a believer, but not a disciple? Answering Yes shows a profound misunderstanding of what Jesus came to accomplish. His default is DiscipleMaker. It should be the ambition of each Christian. All Christians should be disciples, yes, but not all are. Can a student graduate from high school, yet not read or write? Perhaps, but we wouldn’t celebrate it. If a student in high school can’t read or write, it may be their fault. But if an entire graduating class can’t, faculty and administration must take the blame. Most churches have many Believers, fewer Disciples and very few DiscipleMakers. Something’s wrong, and church leaders must take responsibility for a faulty system. The app seeks to develop a culture based on Jesus’ command, make disciples.

9. Is DiscipleMaker a gifted role for a few, or does every Christian qualify? Our Lord commands us to disciple others. We should all seek to obey him. We do this through Body-life and through life-on-life with others. An analogy: some learn to drive with a professional driving instructor, while others have a family member or friend teach them. An amateur can do driving instruction, even thought it may not be as skilled as a pro. Same with DiscipleMaking: if someone’s willing to transfer their own spiritual maturity to another, it can happen. All of us should try. Consider 3D, Dream, Determination, Discipline. 3D works when learning a language, playing an instrument, learning to drive. It works for spiritual growth too, under the coaching of a more mature Christian. Make it your aim to be a DiscipleMaker, investing in others. Don’t wait, start now! Start with your children, if you’re a parent. Start with spiritual infants, if some are nearby.

Find ways to help your peers and friends develop spiritual skills. Don’t worry about being a pro. Get started somehow!

10. Why are stories the key indicator of being a DiscipleMaker? Our church culture in North America values knowledge over obedience. DiscipleMaking is the opposite. It’s not an academic exercise, nor a course to take. It’s not contingent on books we read or write. Degrees and titles are not necessary. DiscipleMaking is hands-on, life-on-life involvement with Skeptics/Seekers, Believers and Disciples. That’s why stories are important, getting our hands dirty helping others grow. Like parenting, DiscipleMaking takes time. Like coaching, it takes skill. Like instructing novice drivers, it takes experience. Stories show we’re hands-on with young Christians. Ask God to put you in the middle of many messy stories, stories that bring great glory of God.

11. Are there other models for Discipling besides this Stages app? Yes, many. Rick Warren’s Purpose-Driven Life/Church, with the baseball diamond diagram, has helped millions of Christians grow spiritually and invest in others. The Real Life pie diagram (from Real Life Ministries, Idaho) is very practical. We encourage you to find a system that suits you and put it into practice. If you prefer the DiscipleMaker Stages, great.

12. The terms body-life and life-on-life are often used in this app. What’s the difference? Body-life is what we do together as a congregation. We worship, witness, prayer and study. Life-on-life occurs as we invest in one or more individuals personally. We pour our life into them, helping them grow spiritually and step into ministry with us. Churches in North America do body-life well. Life-on-life is rare; most Christians have never experienced it. The app seeks to address that shortcoming. Expect to be a life-on- life DiscipleMaker in the midst of Body-life, not separate from it. And don’t forget city-life too... We’re to be a city set on a hill, says Jesus. Ultimately DiscipleMakers must impact our culture, not just the believers around us.

13. My life’s busy already. How can I possibly add DiscipleMaking to it?

Yes, life’s hectic. Perhaps we’re all ADD in this culture. Churches are busy too, often too busy to allow life-on-life times. Just like the mother of a newborn adjusts her schedule to care for her baby, a DiscipleMaker will do the same for spiritual infants. When DiscipleMaking becomes a priority, we start asking, how can I free up time so I’m in Seeker, Believer and Disciple stories? What to do? Talk to God about this. Tell him your dream to invest in others, life-on-life. Ask, seek and knock. Plead for his help to reorder your time and priorities. Dream about this role. Imagine being in a team of DiscipleMakers. Say No to good things so you’ll say Yes to discipling others. It’s really the best thing we can do, because God gets great glory when we disciple others.