by Gary Reinecke | Jun 25, 2021 | Disciplemaking |
Anyone who has been following us the last few months knows that we are in the final countdown to launch our free Disciple Coach Quiz! This is a quick quiz (takes less than five minutes) designed to show you your personal strengths and areas for growth when it comes to coaching and making disciples using a coach-approach. This is the unique contribution we are making in the disciple making conversation: listening and asking questions vs. telling.
We are so excited to be able to share this resource with you all!
So, who is this quiz for? We looked at the numbers of churches in the U.S. that were multiplying and realized that it was only two percent… This quiz is to aid the other ninety-eight. We seek to help coaches and disciples grow in five key habits of discipleship:
- Missional values – knowing and understanding your personal values and living them out through consistent behavior
- Active prayer – utilizing prayer as a critically key element in the disciple making journey
- Relational connections – building strong and authentic relationships with both Christians and non-Christians in your community
- Disciple making cycle – creating intentional and enduring disciples who, in turn, create intentional and enduring disciples
- Strategic partnerships – forging strategic partnerships to keep you on mission in your disciple making journey
We think that church leaders, church planters and pastors can all benefit from taking and sharing this quiz with your disciples. Really, if you aspire to be a disciple maker, or actively are a disciple maker looking to grow, this quiz is for you.
This quiz isn’t a part of a curriculum or a step-by-step guide to be handed out in mass; we want this to serve as a helpful stop along the way in your unique discipleship journey. It is best shared with small groups that can process together; to help one another engage and grow in relationship with each other and with the Lord. We want to help discipleship coaches multiply and flourish.
Stand by… the launch date for the quiz is July 5th!
Read what others are saying about the Disciple Coach Quiz…
Becoming a disciple coach is a journey that begins by knowing your starting point. The assessment gives you a clear picture of where you are and priority area(s) for growth. When a coach comes alongside in your journey, you can discern and take the next faithful steps toward reproducing disciple-makers. I strongly recommend that you engage in the journey!
Dr. Bob Logan – Author The Discipleship Difference and The Church Planting Journey
by Gary Reinecke | Jun 17, 2021 | Disciplemaking |
There are really only three behaviors when it comes to following the Lord that Jesus emphasized with his disciples; love God, love your neighbor and make disciples. Nothing else is as important as these three things and as long as you are striving to do these things; you’re probably doing all right. However, these are also things we can develop. We have found that the area that most modern Christians need the most help in, and the one that is most evident, is the third category – making disciples. If the first wo are done well, making disciples will be an organic and integrated in our lives.
Making disciples is both much simpler and much more difficult than most think it will be. Discipleship is, essentially, the art of apprenticeship or coaching. It is journeying alongside someone, listening and asking questions for their self-discovery. Learning together as we go. And then it means, at some point, the disciples you make do the same thing for someone else. Meanwhile, you continue your disciple making journey and reproduce new disciples into the third and fourth generation. There are so many reasons this is the preferred method of raising up new Christians. Here are just a few:
- Individual coaching: Spiritual journeys will look vastly different for different people. Working intentionally with one individual or many allows the experience to cater to their needs and your abilities.
- We learn, grow and mature together: the process of discipling is intended to go both ways; while one person takes the role of the disciple maker, and the other of the disciple, both will learn and grow from the experience and from each other.
- Journeying with others: We have been created as communal beings. We were never meant to journey alone. We thrive on building strong relationships.
- We are stronger, wiser together: Many heads are better than one. Many hands make light work. These idioms are true! Alone, we only have our own skills and experiences to rely on. Teaming with another broadens our knowledge and increases ability!
- We are raising up future leaders: Next time we need to fill a position within our team, we know to look towards our disciples. We disciple to build the next generation of our community.
- Relationship to God: In John 21, Jesus tells Peter that if he loves Him, Peter will feed his sheep. Essentially, discipleship is feeding sheep. Loving and teaching God’s children is an extension of loving God.
We are getting closer and closer to launching the Disciple Coach Quiz. As we continue beta-testing the quiz we are receiving amazing feedback. Here is what other people are saying about the Disciple Coach Quiz…
“Gary Reinecke and the team from InFocus have created a crucial resource for leaders and churches who are serious about being with Jesus on His Mission. I highly recommend the Disciple Coach Quiz as a tool for shaping the future of your disciple making efforts. The five qualities it measures and the behavior it supports provide a solid foundation for helping people authentically follow Jesus.”
Steve Pike – President, Urban Islands Project
Disciple Coach Quiz
LAUNCH DATE
JULY 5, 2021
by Gary Reinecke | Jun 10, 2021 | Uncategorized |
How were you first taught to make disciples? Was it through inviting new friends to your church? Handing pamphlets out on corners? Sharing testimonies with strangers? If any of this sounds familiar, you are not alone. For decades, this was how many Christians were taught to share the gospel and produce more followers of Christ. However, if you have tried any of these methods recently, you have likely been met with indifference or even animosity.
A couple of years ago we met our new neighbors and had them over for dinner. We had a wonderful time connecting which led to conversations dealing with their journey of faith. At no time did it seem odd to go there. They had been seeking relationship and we were first to extend an invitation. This led to multiple encounters over the next few years that allowed us to coach them to a next step on their spiritual journey simply by listening and asking questions. A skill-set that most Christians can develop.
We created the discipleship coach quiz because only about two percent of American Churches are growing through multiplication, while ninety-eight percent are not producing disciples for the next generation. Part of this problem is due to the fact that the Church is a little behind the times. We need to understand the cultural shift of a postmodern person. The postmodern generation doesn’t like to be told what to do and how they should do it; they value discovering these things on their own, in their own way.
In a previous blog we contrasted the spiritual journey of a modern vs. a postmodern person Essentially I asked: “WHAT’S DIFFERENT?” My answer, based on experience, observation, discussing the topic with others in the field and reading books on the topic: “THE STARTING POINT HAS CHANGED!”
- Instead of beginning with ‘Believing’ as the starting point – the initial point of contact is ‘Blessing’.
- When a person comes in contact with a Christian who heightens their curiosity for spiritual matters, that person might be interested in exploring a next step on their discipleship journey.
- That initial point of contact, which heightens curiosity and could lead to a potential next step, most naturally occurs in the Harvest!
So how do we reach the very people that are like the disciples Jesus tapped to follow Him? They are not going to magically appear in church. They are unlikely to seek out Biblical wisdom out of the blue. We need to meet them where they are at; outside of the walls of the church. Jesus didn’t go to the temples to find his first disciples; he met them on the shores of Galilee, in the middle of their workday. Disciple making doesn’t start in church “anymore”; it begins earlier, in the harvest. It begins in conversation and through true relationships. It starts by recognizing where not-yet Christians are on their spiritual journey and finding ways to join them.
Everyone has a different path. We shouldn’t impose a pathway… Everyone needs to create their own. We may have a few principles or milestones, but they are the author of their story. They create their own pathway.
We are getting closer and closer to launching the Disciple Coach Quiz. As we beta-test the quiz we are receiving amazing feedback. Here is what other people are saying about the Disciple Coach Quiz…
Gary and the InFocus team have put together a very helpful tool in the Disciple Coach Quiz. It only took a few minutes to complete and gave comprehensive feedback that was immediately helpful. The quiz helped me identify where I was weakest and the quiz report offered up quality questions to help me start down the road of growth in this area. A natural next step will be to pursue coaching in this growth area.
Daniel Bethel Director of Church Planting, Christar International , Malaga, Spain
Stay tune! We are excited as the we prepare for the launch of the Disciple Coach Quiz.
by Gary Reinecke | Jun 6, 2021 | Uncategorized |
One of the distinctions we are addressing in the Disciple Coach approach is to help engage Christians that really want to make disciples but for a number of reasons have been unable. “Tatum” (not her real name for a real person in our small group) came into our group as a curious, somewhat fearful and timid seeker. Following the experience of a painful divorce she decided to give God a try. What did she discover? That many of her friends noticed a change in her life they didn’t quite understand. What has she done? Honestly, she has had to make some hard choices about the relationships that were not contributing to her emotionally healthy spiritual growth. That was difficult and still is difficult for her to navigate. But for the curious one’s she is engaging in emotionally healthy discipleship conversations. How is she doing this? She is taking a coach-approach by listening carefully and asking questions to challenge, clarify and inspire her friends to take a step in their discipleship journey.
Tatum is the type of person we created the Disciple Coach Quiz for – to inspire the 98%. These are Christians who are looking for a way to use their gifts where God has placed them in life to help other people discover and follow Jesus so that they can make disciples. Our aim is not to have another thing for people to do or a program to follow, but to make several natural shifts that will enable each of you to make disciples who in turn make disciples.
Here are a couple of “best practices” to help you process your Disciple Coach Quiz results:
- Self-assessment: take the quiz and read your report and reflection questions.
- Pairs: consider working with another very new Christian (less than 6 months) and encourage each other to take steps to make progress in your disciple coach journey
- Triad: bring another yet-to-be Christian into the group and reflect on steps you can take individually as well as together to reproduce disciples into the 3rd and 4th generation
We are getting closer and closer to launching the Disciple Coach Quiz. As we beta-test the quiz we are receiving amazing feedback. Here is what other people are saying about the Disciple Coach Quiz…
by Gary Reinecke | Jun 4, 2021 | Uncategorized |
One of the distinctions we are addressing in the Disciple Coach approach is to help engage Christians that really want to make disciples but for a number of reasons have been unable. “Tatum” (not her real name for a real person in our small group) came into our group as a curious, somewhat fearful and timid seeker. Following the experience of a painful divorce she decided to give God a try. What did she discover? That many of her friends noticed a change in her life they didn’t quite understand. What has she done? Honestly, she has had to make some hard choices about the relationships that were not contributing to her emotionally healthy spiritual growth. That was difficult and still is difficult for her to navigate. But for the curious one’s she is engaging in emotionally healthy discipleship conversations. How is she doing this? She is taking a coach-approach by listening carefully and asking questions to challenge, clarify and inspire her friends to take a step in their discipleship journey.
Tatum is the type of person we created the Disciple Coach Quiz for – to inspire the 98%. These are Christians who are looking for a way to use their gifts where God has placed them in life to help other people discover and follow Jesus so that they can make disciples. Our aim is not to have another thing for people to do or a program to follow, but to make several natural shifts that will enable each of you to make disciples who in turn make disciples.
Here are a couple of “best practices” to help you process your Disciple Coach Quiz results:
- Self-assessment: take the quiz and read your report and reflection questions.
- Pairs: consider working with another Christian and encourage each other to take steps to make progress in your disciple coach journey
- Triad: bring another new Christian into the group and reflect on steps you can take together to reproduce disciples into the 3rd and 4th generation
We are getting closer and closer to launching the Disciple Coach Quiz. As we beta-test the quiz we are receiving amazing feedback. Here is what other people are saying about the Disciple Coach Quiz…
The mission of the Church is not simply reaching the lost, increasing Church attendance or teaching biblical information – or anything else. Our mission is to make fully-fledged reproducing disciples of Jesus. And this is true for each individual disciple. Disciple Making isn’t something we do; it’s everything we do.
Many of us are on the journey to being fully committed to the Mission of Jesus but we are unsure of the areas we still need to develop. This is where the Disciple Coach Quiz comes into play. Gary Reinecke and his team have developed a really useful questionnaire which gives you an overall Disciple Coach Score as well as some improvement keys to help you grow in your commitment to His Mission.
Even though I have been Making Disciples for a long time, the results of the quiz pointed out some areas I still need to work on and I have already created some action steps for myself.
Colin Noyes – Author As You Go, Makes Disciples, Making Disciples in a Postmodern Era & Making Disciples Coaching Guide with Storyboard
