Here's the thing that can be difficult to wrap our minds around: If you make disciples, you always get the church. But if you make a church, you rarely get disciples.

No one Accidentally creates Disciples. Discipleship is an intentional Pursuit..

The leader of an MC needs to be a disciple-maker, not merely an event-organizer.

You could argue we are the most educated people who have ever lived. Why are we wrestling with this question, and why don't we have good answers for it? This is the question. How do we make disciples?

Effective discipleship builds the church, not the other way around. We need to understand the church as the effect of discipleship and not the cause. If

The problem is that we don't have a "missional" problem or a leadership problem in the Western church. We have a discipleship problem. If you know how to disciple people well, you will always get mission. Always.

one creates a discipling culture, modeled on the life and ministry of Jesus, by accident. No one accidentally creates disciples. Discipleship is an intentional pursuit.

The problem is that most of us have been educated and trained to build, serve and lead the organization of the church. Most of us have actually never been trained to make disciples.

The problem is that we don't have a "missional" problem or a leadership problem in the Western church. We have a discipleship problem.

If you set out to build the church, there is no guarantee you will make disciples. It is far more likely that you will create consumers who depend on the spiritual services that religious professionals provide.

From our experience, if you want to make disciples, if you want to build a discipling culture in your community, you are going to need three things: 1. A discipleship vehicle (I call it a Huddle) 2. People need access to your life (the texture of Family on Mission) 3. A discipling language (the discipling language I use is called LifeShapes)

Effective discipleship builds the church, not the other way around. We need to understand the church as the effect of discipleship and not the cause.