Most Christians are intimidated at the thought of personally making disciples. “I do not know enough,” they say. Or “I do not know how to do it” or “what if I am too controlling or I let someone down?” For some, they are paralyzed by the thought that they will damage people or the cause of Jesus in some way. These are big questions and concerns.
Intentionality is the fundamental answer to these questions and concerns. Intentionality is being deliberate or purposive. It is having and following a plan; it is knowing where to take people and how to help them get there. It is love expressed on a journey. Intentionality is the Spirit’s way in disciple making.
Pursuing Intentionality
Here are statements from a person intentionally pursuing intentionality:
- I will find the material to use in discipling relationships
- I will learn what to do by having another disciple maker show me
- I will share that I am a learner and ask those I am discipling to be gracious with me
- I will seek guidance and coaching to become as effective as I can at disciple making
- I will share my learnings with other disciple makers and keep growing.
We may not feel completely competent to make disciples, but we can learn how to become effective at it as described above..
The Master Plan
Almost 55 years ago, Robert Coleman wrote the book, The Master Plan of Evangelism. It is the gold standard on Jesus’ method of disciple making. It sold multiple millions of copies and has been translated into more than 100 languages. Many people do not grasp the nuance of the title: it is not the Masters’ plan, but the Master Plan. Jesus had a master plan; Jesus was intentional, with strategy and an end-result vision.
Intentionality is at the heart of following Jesus’ method of disciple making today. Jesus practiced it, Paul modeled it (2 Timothy 2:2), and effective practitioners today, both everyday Christians and pastors, swear by it.
Disciple making is love expressed on a journey. Jesus’ style of love is not just organic; it is also strategic. Jesus was relational and intentional. Disciple making is both with intentionality being big. Jesus was “organically intentional.” He was so brilliant at both loving people in their convoluted life situations and in disciple making, that he embodied love and intentionality simultaneously, beautifully and imperceptibly.
Let’s be like Jesus in the mission of making disciples. It is the greatest cause on planet earth.
Because of the importance of intentionality in disciple making, we at Discipleship.org are going to emphasize this skill set and mindset over the next four months.
Please join with us and seek to share understanding, insight, and practical tools so that you can become skilled at intentionality in relational disciple making and you can help those on your team or in your leadership group to do the same.
There are four ways in which we are emphasizing intentionality to help you in the next four months.
- Discipleship.org City Tour Forums – our four City Tour Forums are designed to help you and your team both understand and develop an intentionality posture. The tour is comprised of one day, high impact forums where there will be teaching and round table discussions. Every attendee also gets a copy of Brandon Guindon’s new book, Intentional: Living Out the Eight Principles of Disciple Making.
Click the image below for more information.
Take the FREE Individual Disciple Maker Assessment – we designed this assessment with a team of national and international disciple making leaders to help each individual be able to evaluate their disciple making mindset and skill. Just by taking this assessment, you will gain an appreciation for the value of intentionality, along with a sense of how you can increase your own level of intentionality.
Click the image below to take the assessment.
- Read the short FREE book, Becoming a Disciple Maker: The Pursuit of Level Five Disciple Making – I wrote this short eBook with statistician Greg Wiens to help you understand the mathematical and practical impact of one person’s disciple making efforts and skills.
Click the image below to download this free eBook.
- Read Brandon Guindon’s book, Intentional: Living Out the Eight Principles of Disciple Making – Brandon wrote this Discipleship.org book and Zondervan is publishing, because the understanding and practice of disciple making is so crucial. Every attendee at each of our City Tour events (Nashville, Houston, Dallas and Raleigh), as mentioned above, will receive a FREE copy of Brandon Guindon’s book.
Click the image below to pre-order Brandon Guindon’s book from Amazon.com.
Please join with us in this quest to better understand and practice intentionality. It will help us all to become more and more like Jesus, the world greatest disciple maker.
Bobby Harrington, CEO
Discipleship.org