John Purcell

What is Life-on-Life Discipleship?

One way to define Life-on-Life Discipleship is laboring inthe lives of a few with the intention of imparting one’s life, God’s word andthe gospel in such a way that they become mature and equipped followers ofChrist, committed to doing the same in the lives of others. (2 Tim 2:2).

Why Would a Church Want to doThis?

What are the things you are doing in your church forspiritual formation? List them. Now write down what it is that you feel God iscalling the Church to produce, whether you call that a fully devoted follower,mature and equipped believer, etc. Write a brief but specific definition ofthis kind of person. Does your church want to impact or even transform thecommunity around you, and have you been trying to get your people to actuallycatch this vision and get involved? First, God has to transform their hearts totu outward, which is a partial description of that Christian you havedescribed, isn’t it? Now look at your list of spiritual formation ministries.Are they or will they transform your people into the kind of Christian you havejust described? Further, will they build the kind of spiritual leaders you needin your church? If not, then ask yourself this additional question. How didJesus make disciples and leaders?

The Process of Life-on-LifeDiscipleship

The process is simply to follow Jesus’ example ofintentionally investing in a few people, with a plan, giving yourself to them,experiencing life together. The key elements of life change must be included,which can be summarized by the acronym TEAMS (developed by Randy Pope & PerimeterChurch): Truth (critical, but most churchprograms stop here); Equipping (howdo we actually apply the Truth to our lives?); Accountability (without the influence of healthy community aroundus, we don’t change and grow); Mission(one of the greatest challenges of spiritual formation is turning yourselfoutward); Supplication (all resultsare from God, so we bathe the process in prayer and equip the disciples forprayer as a lifestyle). The greatest impact comes from a combination of aDiscipleship Group and one-on-one relationships.

The Most Important Factor

The DiscipleshipLeader is by far the most critical part of the process. The Leader musthave the right character, the right goals, and the right approach. Withoutthese, most “discipleship” efforts will deteriorate to a curriculum study or ashare/care group. Therefore, investing in the Leader is the most importantthing you can do for the participants.

john@transform-coach.com

www.transform-coach.com

Coaching the Discipleship Leader

The most helpful approach to investing in the Leader is Leader Coaching. This consists of a leader Orientation followed by regular coaching conversations. We can design the Orientation to fit your time available, but about 6 hours would be minimum. The Orientation will prepare the Leaders with enough understanding of Discipleship that they can proceed to recruit their group members, and it also will convince them that they need the ongoing equipping and support of a Coach and of each other.

The seminar is very interactive and scripture-based, includes a useful workbook, and will cover the following topics:

· What is Life-on-Life discipleship and how does it differ from other small groups?

· What are the outcomes the leader should seek?

· What are the characteristics of a good discipler?

· What does the process of discipling look like?

· How should the leader recruit his or her group members?

· What is a good curriculum and how do you utilize it?

· Why do you need to be coached as a leader and how does that work?

· How can you apply a “coaching approach” to your discipling?

Then effective on-going Coaching Huddle with a small group of Leaders is done by phone conference line. We discuss the heart, principles, and skills of discipling and the work of God in the lives of the men and women as the Leaders disciple them from week to week. We also reinforce that spiritual formation is first and last about the person of Christ. To begin with, we will need Coaching Huddles weekly, but after about 2 months we will be able to move to a twice/month schedule. The Leaders will find that as they are given support, encouragement, and accountability by the Coach and the other Leaders they gradually gain proficiency and confidence as Leaders, but more importantly they and their men or women are being impacted by the Holy Spirit as they grow in Christ through their authentic relationships – the way Jesus designed it to be

Besides Discipleship Coaching, John provides the following services:

• Leadership Coaching of pastors and other leaders
• Strategic Planning facilitation
• Team-building and Organizational Development, utilizing the RightPath behavioral profiles and Leadership 360 assessment, where helpful
• Non-profit governance effectiveness