If there is one thing that we know at InFocus, it is that we are at our best when we collaborate with others to gain new insights. These last few months we have been hard at work as we launch our new disciple coach quiz and now that is finally available, we want to take this time to shine a light on our partners who helped us shape our approach to discipleship: Our primary vision for the quiz was to introduce a coach-approach to disciple making:
A disciple coach helps their newest disciples by listening and asking questions to help them discern the voice of the Holy Spirit so that they can take the next step in their discipling making journey.
Based on that vision, we asked the important question: What kind of support does a disciple need to make disciples using a coach approach? Both Colin and Glenn bring a unique perspective to disciple making.
Colin Noyes is a trainer, coach and consultant in Brisbane, Australia. He coaches in secular environments, working with business managers and executives, but he is also very involved in denominations and local churches in the Christian world. His focus is making more and better disciples, developing leaders and multiplying churches. Personally, being married to an Aussie and having spent considerable time in Melbourne, Australia; I’ve experienced the radical (meaning “going back to the root understanding of Jesus’s way of making disciples”) approach to disciple making that is necessary in a secular environment.
Colin and I have talked for years about the shifts in the culture and the implications on disciple making, and he truly was the foundation for our approach to discipleship; that discipleship starts in the harvest, not once you become a follower. He helped me to see this, reminding me that Jesus focused his time on engaging with those outside of the church. After hours of conversation, we tried to think of ways to shift the starting point when it comes to discipleship.
LEARN about the DISCIPLE COACH Quiz
Glenn Spyksma was the Operations Executive of the second largest wine distribution company in the world and has a background in engineering, working with many large brands. He has three decades in industry and now serves in a leadership role in the Central California region of the denomination of which his church is a member. Glenn strives to help individuals rise to their highest level, take educated risks, enjoy work and realize their self-worth. After Glenn participated in a coach training workshop I led for pastors and leaders in his region, he commented during a de-brief of a triad exercise he did with two other leaders that asking questions and listening to others in this manner – “was the most profound experience he had ever encountered”.
Glenn has always had one foot in the church and one foot in the marketplace. He is an avid church-goer and involved in church leadership. Glenn and I have spent a lot of time discussing the struggle of living in both the secular world and the Christian world and asking the question; what support do I need as a person who is making disciples? Eventually he came up with the five habits of good disciple makers, which became the catalyst for our disciple coach guide, and the basis for our coaching quiz.
Then there are the leaders who have been generous with their time to take the quiz and give us feedback. This helped us refine the questions and the coaching guides. Read their endorsements of the quiz at the bottom of the page- CLICK HERE.
We are so grateful for these people, without whom, the Disciple Coach Quiz couldn’t have been made. Their particular ensigns in both the Secular and religious world shaped the way we think about discipleship. Together, we want to bridge the gap between the insulated Christian world, to the rest of the world past the doors of our church… where discipleship really begins.
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.
Colin Noyes – Author DisciplingAsYouGo Blog, As You Go, Makes Disciples, Making Disciples in a Postmodern Era & Making Disciples Coaching Guide with Storyboard
