Cultivating a Disciple Making Culture: The Role of Discipline featuring Shodankeh Johnson

Continuing with our Disciple Making Culture Podcast series, Shodankeh Johnson, Bobby Harrington, and Matt Dabbs discuss their respective roles and strategies in implementing a disciple-making culture in their lives and organizations. They discuss the importance of disciplined daily prayer, devotion, and deepening one’s relationship with God to truly become a follower of Jesus Christ that will inspire others to do the same. In an increasingly technologically dominant society, starting a focused and spiritual conversation feels like a mountainous task. Yet, in the spirit of discipleship and mentorship, it’s crucial to find ways to implement discipline to enrich the conversation effectively. Shodankeh emphasized the need for disciples to spend quality time in the presence of God, stressing that without Him, they cannot do anything. It becomes the habit of disciples to return to God daily, to derive wisdom and understanding from Him, to spend quality time with Him, and to follow His directives.

Bobby stated, “Culture is the way things are done in a church. culture is habits, beliefs, and practices. Culture transcends and is more powerful than strategy, than goals, than techniques. It was Peter Drucker who said culture eats strategy for breakfast. And then the former, CEO of IBM said, actually Drucker understated it. culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So, what is culture? Culture is the values, behaviors, and practices of an organization formed over time. Somebody else said it this way. Culture is how we do things around here. It is just who we are and how we do things.

Shodankeh added, “Many people think it’s another program. Many people think, oh, this is an old thing. I know about it. And so, we kind [00:07:00] of, one of the first things we go to is our strategies. We try to lay out strategies for how to achieve this. I mean, I have nothing against strategy. Strategy has a place, but it is, it is very important that if we choose to make disciples, you know, the value system is very important. How, how are you going to create that value system? What is the value system going to look like? Because it is what you are going to coach them in that is the way they are going to become in the long run.”

Within this culture, disciples work on embodying the image and likeness of Christ, having a Christ-like attitude, and focusing on his practices. A disciple-making culture is one rooted in Biblical teachings and sees Christ as the mentor and example. It is a culture that takes patience, wisdom, discernment, knowledge and commitment. Shodankeh stated, “What is the power behind this? Because it is the power behind it that would determine how people are going to do it. And the power is Jesus and his word and his practices. So, and these are all in the scripture. I mean, these are all in the scripture. You just look at him every day when I wake up and say, I want to be more like Jesus. I just want to be more like him. And how in the way he spent time with his father in the presence of his father. I encourage people, don’t do it the way Shodankeh did it. Do the way Jesus did it. Practice the word Jesus, practice, spend time with his father, spend quality time. He did it on a daily basis.”

Bobby brought up the concept of having a “devotion to apostles teaching”, as described in the Acts 2:42. It reflects the habit of adhering to teachings, the value of fellowship, breaking of bread, and most importantly, prayer. This verse perfectly encapsulates the principle of devotional commitment for maintaining a disciple-making culture. Shodankeh added, “We have to create a culture in disciples and encourage them in what Acts 2:42 states. We spend time breaking bread together in fellowship, spend time in the presence of God spend time in the world and in prayer. These are habits of people, of disciples and disciple makers and people who have a movement mindset, who want to see disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples.”

Abstract elements such as habits, beliefs, and practices form the culture of a church. More powerful than strategies, goals, or techniques, culture supersedes all other elements. The idea ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’ resonated strongly in this conversation, emphasizing culture’s dominant role. Values and core beliefs are at the heart of a disciple-making church – the tenets that truly matter to the church. Narratives and behaviors represent the way the church talks about itself and defines its habits and lifestyles. However, practices and behaviors must sometimes precede understanding to foster disciple-making. The most important factor for disciple-making is instilling the correct value system from the onset. The desired type of disciple, their influence, their productivity, and the layout of their discipleship journey should be explicitly defined at the very beginning. 

Our actions as disciples and disciple makers should embody Jesus. Bringing everything to God in prayer can foster a culture of disciple making. Remaining encouraging, patient, and steadfastly introducing discipline into our lives and the lives of others facilitates a discipleship program that yields everlasting fruits. Shodankeh assured that God’s help is always provided to those committed to following Him. God brings the right people and aligns opportunities for them, opening doors and leading the believers through their journey. Shodankeh emphasized that with God’s assistance, believers can progress from a place of no fruits to everlasting fruits when God leads the way and believers step out in faith.

You can listen to the full podcast here: Disciple Making Culture — The Role of Discipline (feat. Shodankeh Johnson, Matt Dabbs, and Bobby Harrington) | The Disciple Maker‘s Podcast (podbean.com)