Dear Discipleship-first Friends,
Brandon Guindon is a good friend with a really good track record of propagating the DNA of intentional, relational disciple making. We are encouraging everyone to read his book, Disciple Making Culture, as this is the theme of the 2024 Discipleship.org National Disciple Making Forum. I asked Brandon to share what creating a disciple making culture has meant for his church in the Houston area. I think you will be blessed by what he has to say.
Bobby Harrington
As Easter approaches, it seems that every store is filled with whimsical baskets, egg decorating supplies, chocolate bunnies and pastel-colored outfits to wear as we celebrate Easter Sunday. These traditions of our Western culture are far removed from the way the resurrection of Jesus Christ was celebrated by the disciples who discovered the empty tomb on a Sunday morning long ago.
Have you ever stopped to wonder what it was like to be in proximity to Jesus as he physically walked the earth? Stop and think about it. What was the environment, or culture, like around him? Certainly, there was some tension, but I have to believe there was also an overwhelming sense of love. It was love that told you what you needed to hear, even when you did not necessarily want to hear it. It was love that saw through the pretend exterior and struck at the heart of who you were as a person. The love of Jesus created a culture that welcomed you as you were, but also upheld a standard of holiness. In today’s church, we’ve lost that kind of culture. Creating and maintaining a disciple making culture is one of the most critical and one of the most difficult tasks facing church leaders.
Churches often turn to programs or education to accomplish discipleship goals. Church leaders attend conferences, read books, and scour the internet to find the next great model that will “meet their context.” When we look at the life of Christ, we see that he intentionally focused on making disciples in the context of relationship. In fact, relationship is the glue that holds Jesus’ methodology together. To accomplish the Great Commission, we, too, have to be willing to get in the trenches with people. Disciples are made in the very real spaces of life where the rubber meets the road. As we walk with people through the ups and downs of their lives, we have opportunities to demonstrate love like Jesus did and to infuse the truth of God’s Word.
Over the last 25 years, the Lord has allowed me to be a part of some incredible ministry. I began as a small group pastor at Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho with Jim Putman and the team there. We daily lived out a culture of disciple making. That culture fostered relationships which produced strong disciple makers, over 600 small groups, and multiple church plants. The ministry grew to international prominence because, to the best of our ability, we obediently imitated Jesus’ method of making disciples in relationship.
Fourteen years later, the Lord sent me with my family to Houston, Texas to plant a church. What we had been a part of in Post Falls was miraculous. I wondered, could the same type of miracle occur in Texas, or were the truths of building a disciple making culture only applicable in North Idaho? Everything in me rejected that notion, so we faithfully followed the message as well as the methods of Jesus in our new environment. From the solid foundation of biblical truth, we began to develop relationship with the people around us, model intentionality in leadership, and foster the reproducible process of disciple making. Sure enough, our little church plant began to produce disciples and multiply!
Today, we have outgrown not only the living room where our church began, but also the first and second buildings the Lord gave us as we followed his lead. Our church is a bright light in our community, a trusted resource for truth, help and hope. We have planted churches locally, nationally, and internationally. In cooperation with other Relational Discipleship Network churches, we have established a residency that trains disciple makers and church leaders throughout the world. No matter the composition of the soil, the gospel of Jesus and his methodology produces bountiful fruit.
So how do we do this? How do we create a culture that produces disciples who then make other disciples? The key is this: it’s not what we do, it’s who we are! We must live an intentional lifestyle of disciple making. By definition, intentionality won’t happen on accident. Creating an intentional disciple making culture requires work and discipline. It requires that we imitate Christ and the early church rather than seeking quick fixes or chasing current fads. We must remain dedicated in the face of opposition and unmoved by people who don’t want to live this kind of lifestyle. A disciple making culture is lived out by leaders who have the grit to stay on the narrow path Jesus calls us to. We must be resolved not to be distracted by the next shiny program that comes along. In my book, Disciple Making Culture*, I describe these principles in a real and practical way. My heart is to give you guidance and encouragement as you seek the Holy Spirit and follow God’s Word in building a culture of disciple making in your church. It is the desire of the Holy Spirit to see Jesus’ kingdom advance as the church of Jesus Christ storms the gates of hell.
Brandon Guindon, Sr. Pastor
Real Life Ministries Texas
*Click here for a special sale price on Disciple Making Culture for a limited time (use coupon code DISCIPLESHIP at checkout for 45% discount).
Check out these great resources!
You can listen to a new FREE audio resource and learn about what it means to be a disciple making church by clicking here: National Study: The State of Disciple Making Churches Free Audiobook
You can download a free 10-minute visual guide of the study here: National Study: The State of Disciple Making Churches: A 10 Minute Visual Guide
You can also download a free eBook copy of the full report here: National Study on Disciple Making in USA Churches
Interested in a free eBook on Disciple Making Metrics? Check out our free Disciple Making Metrics eBook