{"id":13210,"date":"2024-11-06T08:37:14","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T14:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?p=13210"},"modified":"2024-11-06T08:37:16","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T14:37:16","slug":"whats-your-motivation-for-a-disciplemaking-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2024\/11\/whats-your-motivation-for-a-disciplemaking-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Your Motivation for a Disciplemaking Culture?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is the final post in the five-part series from Justin Gravitt, author of The Foundation of a Disciplemaking Culture<\/a>. <\/em>In the last post, we looked at the motivations needed to start a disciplemaking culture. In this post, you\u2019ll be prompted to discover your <\/em>motivation.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian leaders who make disciples are committed to building up the body of Christ by bringing the faithful to maturity and by bringing skeptics to Christ. Such commitment to living like Jesus is costly. Disciplemaking leaders, especially pastors, are often attacked by their own. For example, Ryan, a pastor friend of mine, was told by his leadership team that he needed to stop spending time discipling individuals.<\/strong> Although Ryan had decades of experience pastoring, he was new to the church and quickly learned how they viewed disciplemaking. They boldly asked him to champion disciplemaking but to avoid spending time doing it. Instead, according to Ryan, they wanted him to focus on \u201cpreaching and the business of the church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not that the leadership team was disinterested in disciplemaking; their motivation was split, however, between attraction and survival. The church wanted Ryan to preach amazing sermons and to run more programs with the hope that others would be attracted to the church. For them, church progress was measured more by masses than multipliers, by observers of the mission more than doers of the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many churches unknowingly pit their picture of ministry against disciplemaking.<\/strong> For Jesus there was no division in the mission. Jesus\u2019 care for every individual led Him to act. He was moved to act by healing Bartimaeus on the road to Jericho, (read Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-42) driving out the demons from the demoniac in the region of Gerasenes, (read Mark 5:1-20) and healing the paralytic in Capernaum. (Read Luke 5:18-26) Jesus didn\u2019t see just see masses, He also saw faces<\/strong>. It was that sight that drove him to tears as He looked at the crowds in each town, village, and synagogue. (read Matthew 9:35-36) Matthew 9 tells us that Jesus\u2019 tears were because people were \u201charassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.\u201d The solution to this problem wasn\u2019t preaching or programmed care ministry, the solution was more workers. His strategy was twofold: prayer and making disciples who become disciplemakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus-style disciplemaking is not opposed to preaching or to the \u201cbusiness of the church\u201d<\/strong> (as though making disciples were something other than the church\u2019s business). Quite the contrary, Jesus invested significant time preaching and caring for the crowds<\/strong>\u2014sometimes for days at a time. He did those things out of His deep care for them, not out of obligation. (read Matthew 9:36) He met their physical needs while also developing more shepherds and shepherd-makers who could fully meet their ongoing spiritual needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian leaders who care for the masses like Jesus did will engage disciplemaking as the long-term strategy to reach the masses. Preaching and pastoral care was never the main focus of Jesus\u2019 ministry, but they complement His main mission of making disciples. (read Mark 1:17; Luke 19:10; John 2:23-25; 6:25-71; 17:6-10)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Ryan\u2019s leadership team asked him to do something that contradicted the example of Jesus. Rather than compromise on disciplemaking, Ryan left. As a disciplemaker his priority is to make disciples. Disciplemakers make disciples. It\u2019s more than a priority; it\u2019s the priority. No. Matter. What.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your motivation for building a disciplemaking culture?<\/strong> If you\u2019ve already started building one, how has your motivation impacted your actions? If your pastor or ministry leader isn\u2019t a disciplemaker, please don\u2019t expect him to lay a disciplemaking foundation. If he\u2019s trying to lead disciplemaking before he\u2019s lived it, consider what might be motivating him and what lean might result. Regardless, don\u2019t expect him to lay the foundation before he\u2019s made a disciple. Only a disciplemaker can lay a disciplemaking foundation. And only a disciplemaker can effectively lead a disciplemaking culture.<\/strong> For some leaders, that\u2019s a sobering reality. I\u2019ve met many who have faithfully led churches for decades, but have never made a reproducing disciple. Frequently, it\u2019s not their fault. They have done what they were trained to do. They know the purpose <\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the church is to make disciples, but they have never been taught how to do it. Most graduated from seminary without a single class on how to make a disciple. Instead, they were trained in guarding sound doctrine, faithfully preaching the Word, and shepherding people through the journey of life. These are good, biblical things, but they aren\u2019t sufficient\u2014in and of themselves\u2014to make healthy disciplemakers. If you are a disciplemaker\u2014even a young one\u2014you are ready to learn how to create a disciplemaking culture, not just make individual disciples. Every disciplemaking movement starts with disciplemakers.<\/strong> Are you willing for God to use you to start the movement at your church? Though movements begin with one person, you can\u2019t do it alone. A vision can only be fulfilled by partnering with others. Partnership is vital, and developing a CORE team is the foundation that will support generations of disciplemakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JUSTIN G. GRAVITT<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Justin G. Gravitt <\/strong>has been on staff with The Navigators since 2000, where he has planted or grown disciplemaking ministries on multiple college campuses, overseas, and most recently has helped churches across the United States grow intentional disciplemaking cultures. He and his family live in Dayton, OH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JUSTIN GRAVITT<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Does the world need another book on disciplemaking?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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