How to Make Disciples: A Biblical Guide

Chapter 1: What is a Disciple Maker and Can Anyone Be One?

We have a definition for discipleship: it describes any means of taking a person from unbelief to spiritual maturity.

It is not uncommon for me to be at a conference on “discipleship” and never hear any presentation address leading lost people to Christ – a very important aspect of discipleship. It is for this reason that I like to make a distinction between making disciples and training disciples. Hopefully, by doing so, both will get equal attention.

I also define the word “disciple” as “follower.” So whenever a believer is used by God to lead a non-follower of Jesus to become a true follower, that believer has functioned as a “disciple maker.”

How Long Does it Take to Lead Someone to Christ?

Sometimes leading someone to Christ takes many months, perhaps even years. Yet at other times, it may take only a short period of time – maybe even less than an hour. Usually the person who quickly becomes a Christian does so because he or she has already been “prepared”, having already embraced many beliefs of the Christian faith. Often they only lack the bending of their knees – submitting to the lordship of Christ, thus becoming His follower.

Those, on the other hand, who are “unprepared” usually need much more time to investigate what we call “the gospel.” But regardless of how long it takes, the end result is the same – a new follower of Jesus, a real disciple. And such a follower will be known to be so by their fruit. As Jesus said, “You shall know them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:16).

3 Keys That Helped Me Become a Disciple Maker

I would assume that some of you who hear my definition of a “disciple maker” have said to yourself, “I could never do that!”

Well, I used to say the very same thing. And after my first attempt to do be a disciple maker, I was convinced (and with plenty of evidence) it was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life.

I assumed that, as an introvert, the likelihood of me being a disciple maker was very low. And after that experience, I told the Lord these very words, “I’ll never do that again!”

But for many years now, I’ve had the privilege to lead a lot of people to Christ. So what accounts for such a change?

Primarily three things:
1) a different mindset,
2) a simple and effective strategy, and
3) a set of biblically sound and culturally relevant tools.

In the following chapters, I will elaborate on these three difference makers. But for now, trust God’s Word.

Jesus made it very clear, “Follow Me and you will become fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). If you believe God’s word, then you too can become a disciple maker! And when you do, you will never regret it.

Chapter 3: An Effective Strategy for Evangelism

The word “strategy” is commonly used today in sports, business and in nearly every pursuit of excellence. “Strategy” is defined as “a plan, method or series of maneuvers for obtaining a specific goal or result.” The need for such is no exception in disciple making. Without an effective strategy, disciple making quickly becomes a dream of one’s past. It is not uncommon for Christians to long to obey their Master’s great commission, yet become discouraged and eventually surrender – only because of the absence of an effective strategy.

Years ago, as a young pastor, I quickly realized that neither I, nor the people of our church, had an effective strategy. It seemed to me that whatever strategy we chose had to be simple. To be simple meant that it had to be easily trained and easily repeatable until it could become second nature.

Over time, three words emerged which describe a strategy that has proven to be both simple and extremely effective. Very quickly our church embraced these three words and they soon became common language among our people. These three words are “greet”, “befriend” and “invite”, commonly referred to as “GBI”. This three-step strategy has now not only made disciple making easy for me, but also for thousands of others. Let me explain what is meant by these three words.

Three Step Strategy for Making Disciples

1) Greet

This first step of our strategy could not be simpler. When training Christians in how to greet, all I need to do is to model how I do it. Here it is: “Hi, my name is Randy.” I told you it was simple. The only thing I need to do is to make sure they use their name and not mine!

By “greeting”, I mean simply looking for opportunities to introduce myself to those I don’t know which hopefully will lead to a future relationship. Obviously, this step is unnecessary with those we already know.

I think you will agree that this is certainly simple. But don’t be deceived. Of the three words describing this proposed strategy, this is the most difficult for introverts like me. For us, this is where our mindset discussion becomes important. We can do it, but it’s not natural to commonly engage with people we don’t know – unless we consider what’s at stake in not being a faithful disciple maker. And once accomplished, I always feel the process is in motion, becoming much more natural from this point forward.

2) Befriend

The next step is to “befriend”. By this, I simply mean to “be-friend-ly”. If a new acquaintance, this will probably mean asking questions which show interest in getting to know that person. “How are you doing?” “Where do you live?” “Are you single or married?”, etc. People love having others show interest in them. In fact, many are starving for such.

The time needed between steps two and three can be a very short period or perhaps an extremely long time. It all depends on the uniqueness of each individual situation. In fact, I will use the final chapter to address how one knows when it’s time to move to the third step.

3) Invite

This final piece of our strategy is to “invite”. At the right time, we need to offer an invitation to see if they would like to investigate what we know as the gospel – the good news. Over the years, I have discovered that there are at least three excellent options to use to help people investigate Christianity. Some disciples focus more on one that the others, which is fine. But having a good tool always ready for each of these three is extremely valuable.

Three Options for Investigating Christianity

The three options for Investigating Christianity which I have found most useful can be summarized by these words: “read”, “attend” and “meet”. Let me briefly describe each:

1) Read

First, the word “read”. I think it is important for every disciple maker to have a “go to” piece of literature to offer to those interested in investigating. Of course, such an offering has got to be energizing, interesting, and short. And I can’t emphasize the word “short” enough.

Years ago I wrote a book designed for this very purpose. It is titled The Answer. It is subtitled “Putting an end to the search for life satisfaction”. In a very brief period, a disciple maker can be equipped on what to say to most effectively invite a friend to read. In our church alone, our people have used well over 50,000 copies of this book with non-Christians and find it to be effective in stirring an interest to investigate further. This book is just one example of many options one could use as their go to literature to invite interested non-followers to read.

2) Attend

The word “attend” is the second option to investigate. It is used to describe an enjoyable offering to invite one’s unbelieving friends to attend as their guests. This is any gathering where they can be attractively exposed to God’s Word and God’s people. This could be a home group or a church event – and in some churches even the weekly worship service.

At our church, we offer a five-week event twice a year called “Investigative Forum” (IF). Our church people are encouraged to bring their non-believing friends to hear answers to the most challenging questions regarding the Christian faith. At the end of each session, guests can have anonymous questions they have asked by text or email shown on a screen. Or, they also have the option to raise their hand and ask a question publicly.

Regardless of the form of the event chosen, as long as it exposes seekers to God’s Word and God’s people (and ideally for multiple weeks), having such an event to invite friends to is extremely important.

3) Meet

The third investigative offering is to “meet”. By this, I mean meeting one on one to discuss the gospel and to address the questions that they, as non-believers, are asking. This approach initially feels beyond most of our abilities. However, with equipping in the use of tools well designed for this very purpose, the task becomes much simpler and doable than one would think.

The primary tool that I and our church uses is called “Life Issues” booklets. These four booklets are designed to use in consecutive weeks. Each addresses one of the four most important and often asked questions regarding the Christian faith. Each also includes sections of John’s gospel with discussion questions in the margins designed to make simple the understanding of the gospel.

So, once disciple makers have the right mindset and an effective strategy, now they only lack the right tools. And I can say with deep conviction that to be effective, every disciple maker must be equipped with culturally relevant and biblically grounded tools. In the next two chapters, I will introduce you to what I mean by “culturally relevant” and “biblically grounded” tools.

But first, allow me to encourage you who are pastors to make sure your church has excellent options to make it easy for your people to invite non followers to “read”, “attend” and “meet”. Then it’s just a matter of equipping them to use the tools you provide. If you need any help in doing so, Life on Life is available to help in any way possible.

Chapter 5: The Primary Tool of Evangelism: The Bible

In the previous video, I mentioned how over the years of using our tools, we discovered that their relevance and effectiveness, in great part, was based upon a number of essential characteristics. Here are the four most important tools, in my opinion, that account for any disciple making tools being both relevant and effective.

1. Tools which are designed with the belief that God does the converting, using His tool, the Bible.
2. Tools which utilize multiple appointment conversations, rather than single appointment presentations.
3. Tools which create an attractive forum to address the questions that non-Christians are asking.
4. Tools which respect the two greatest desires of interested seekers: brevity and privacy.

In this topic, I will elaborate on the first, and most important tool, and cover the last three in the next topic.

The Bible as a Tool of Evangelism:

The first thing I look for to describe the primary tool I want in my tool belt is the first characteristic. I want to make sure that tools are designed with the belief that God does the converting, using His tool, the Bible. Let me explain what I mean.

Scripture teaches that man is “dead in his trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). What can a dead man do to make himself alive? Nothing! According to Romans 3:10-12, mankind, because of his sin, has lost his ability to seek God. This means it is the work of God, not man, that brings about a person’s salvation. Now the question is, how does God bring about this work of salvation?

He does so by using His holy Word. As we read in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” In II Timothy 3:15, Paul explains that it was “the sacred writings” which gave Timothy “the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

So the Bible seems clear that God opens hearts and does so using His Word. Perhaps to help us grasp God’s use of His Word, it would be beneficial to think of God’s Word being likened, first, to a knife, and secondly, to a hook on a fishing lure. To illustrate God’s Word as a knife, allow me to use a fictitious story and then close illustrating God’s Word as a fishing hook using a true story.

Imagine me hating one of you and desirous of killing you (just an analogy!). I approach you from behind in the dark of the night. I throw you down and pin you to the ground announcing to you my intention to kill you. You scream out in fear, pleading with me to release you.

I reach into my jacket and pull out a foot-long dagger. As I lift the knife to plunge it into your chest, and high enough for you to see it, you let out a sign of relief. In doing so you say, “Thank God!” I ask, “For what?” You respond by saying, “I thought for sure you were going to shoot me – which of course would kill me. But I don’t believe knives can hurt people. In fact, feel free to stab me. But please hurry up, I need to get home for dinner!”

So if I am an effective murderer, what would I do? Would I drop the knife in frustration and announce to you I will return at a future time with a gun? Of course not. I know better. I would go ahead and stab you. I have often heard disciple makers say they came to an impasse when sharing Christ with a non-believer. When I ask about the obstacle, I hear, “Because they don’t believe the Bible is God’s Word.”

Why should we care if they believe the Bible is God’s Word? You see, we know that God’s Word is “sharper than any two-edged sword.” We know that it cuts and kills the power of the sinful nature. We know that God uses His Word to transform unbelieving hearts!

When I meet with those interested in investigating Christianity, I essentially say, “Let’s meet for several weeks. I’m going to ask you to do a weekly assignment. I want you to take this dagger (5 chapters of John each week) and stab yourself daily. I’ll meet with you weekly and stab you with a big sword (explaining a portion of the Gospel Story using His Word). And hopefully, you’ll die – and then come to life as a new creation.” (II Cor. 5:17). Now of course I don’t tip my hand and use those words, but you get the point.

In Matthew 4, Jesus likens His followers to fishermen. Our success as fishermen depends on having the right “tackle.” The best lures land the most fish. God’s most effective lure is two-hooked. The first and most effective hook is constant exposure to God’s Word. The second hook is constant exposure to God’s people. God delights in using His Word and His people in the process of seeing people move from unbelief to belief. Let me give you an example of the effectiveness of this “fishing hook.”

One day I received a call from a friend named Jim who lived in another state. When I answered the phone, Jim’s voice sounded urgent. He was concerned because he had just gotten off the phone with a former business partner. His former partner, John, had called to tell Jim that he was about to take his life.

As we talked, Jim explained that he and John had parted paths some time before. John had moved to Atlanta and started a business that was in direct competition with Jim’s company. Unfortunately, John’s new business venture failed. He and his wife were on the brink of divorce and his life was out of control.

Jim told me that John was in his Atlanta home with a pistol, about to take his own life. Before he ended it all, he wanted to make things right with his old partner. Jim assured John that as bad as things seemed, taking his own life was not the answer.

In a last-minute effort to dissuade John from pulling the trigger, Jim asked him for a favor. “Would you please call a friend of mine named Randy, who’s there in Atlanta, and talk with him?”

John agreed. Jim’s parting words to me were, “Randy, John could be dead now for all I know. But if he calls you, please get with him as soon as possible.” I assured Jim that if John called, I would promptly meet with him.

Within minutes the phone rang; it was John. He didn’t mention that he was considering suicide but did say he had been going through some personal struggles and that Jim had urged him to call. I agreed to meet with him at his home.

Jim had given me detailed information about John, so I had an idea of the best way to deal with him. John was a very bright man, about my age, who had made a lot of money in his industry. His home certainly reflected that success.

Throughout their relationship, Jim had tried to get John to pursue spiritual truth, but John was uninterested. Jim had been a longtime friend with noted theologian and apologist Francis Schaeffer. As a Christmas gift one year, Jim gave John and his wife an all-expense paid trip to Switzerland, which included a day to meet with Schaeffer. John returned home from his trip and told Jim, “I like that old man. I think I was able to help him.”

It was obvious to me that John was not going to be an easy person to talk to about the gospel. As I sat down with John and his wife, I asked him if he knew I was a pastor. He said “no” and expressed that he had little interest in spiritual things. I knew immediately I had just the right tool. I was certain it would be my best hope to get him exposed to God’s Word – the only hope of changing his heart.

I asked him if I could show him a brief diagram, to which he agreed. Then I talked to him about investigating Jesus. Amazingly, he said he was interested. I explained that we would focus on four questions over a four-week period.

“First, how can Christians believe the Bible is God’s Word?” John shook his head, letting me know he did not believe that.

“Second, how can Christians believe that all people, including moral and religious people outside of Christianity, deserve eternal punishment?” Once again, the same look of disbelief.

“Third, how can Christians believe that, of all the world’s religious leaders, Jesus is the only way to God?” Well, when I said that, John was immediately animated and clearly had some strong opinions. In fact, I never even revealed the fourth question because of what happened next. He slapped the table and said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! You will never convince me of that one.” He pointed to a stack of books and said, “Those books on the coffee table are about Eastern religions. I’ve traveled the world looking at religions. No one will ever convince me that Jesus is the only way to God. I’ll debate that one with you right now.”

I said, “No, that’s week three.” I thought I would use curiosity, if nothing else, to keep him from ending his life!

The next week when I arrived, his first question was, “Can we discuss that question about Jesus tonight?”

“No, that’s week three.”

Now you need to remember the primary tool I am using is Scripture; I’ve got him reading five chapters of the book of John every week. My condition upon meeting with him was that he would read a little bit every day – not all at once. (Remember the dagger.)

John kept asking about “that Jesus question,” but I told him he’d have to wait until the third week.

When the third meeting finally came, John was particularly interested. I gave him four reasons (found in booklet three) that explain why I believe Jesus is who He claimed to be. Then I said, “Okay, John, it’s your shot.”

There was a prolonged silence after which he said, “I can’t explain it.”

“What?” I asked.

“I don’t know why, but I believe Jesus is the Son of God.”

He then looked over to his wife, who had been listening all along, and asked, “What about you?” “Me, too,” she answered.

That night all three of us knelt by their couch, and they experienced the ceremony of inviting Christ into their lives.

Time would indeed confirm that they had a new love relationship with Christ and they both ended up joining our church. They eventually moved back to their original hometown, where John went back into partnership with Jim. The last I heard, they were members of the same church where Jim serves as an elder.

Why did John and his wife come to faith? Because God did the converting, using His best tool, the Bible. I was glad I had a tool that focused primarily on God’s Word which I could rely on to accomplish the desired outcome.

Now you hopefully understand the secret to effective disciple making – constant exposure to God’s Word and God’s people. When you find a tool that incorporates both, you have found a powerful tool.

But there are other important characteristics you want to look for as you select your tools. In the next topic, I will discuss three additional ones.

Chapter 7: When Should You Share the Gospel?

To answer the question, “When is it time to invite a non-Christian into a spiritual discussion or to investigate Christianity?”, let me describe an analogous situation.
Imagine that you are at one end of a very large hotel lobby and you see an acquaintance walking across the other end of the lobby. You call out his name and he stops and turns around to see who called. When he sees it’s you, you motion your hand to indicate to hold up so you could speak to him.

Consider what you would think if, when he saw you moving toward him, he began walking briskly away from you. And what would you assume if, when you sped up your walk, he sped up equally as fast? The answer is obvious. He doesn’t want to speak to you.

This is very similar to what some Christians do in their attempt to start a spiritual conversation. We notice them easing away from us and we begin to go even faster. There is no lack today of non-Christians who are moving away from well-meaning Christians or avoiding them all together.

One day I was at the gym when I got such a call from across the room. It was a member of our church whom I knew, but not well. Unlike my previous story, when I saw him walking toward me, I moved toward him to meet him halfway.

When we got a reasonable speaking distance apart, I stopped – but he didn’t. Instead he took a couple more steps until his face was in a place uncomfortably close to mine. Without pointing out his insensitivity, I merely gradually stepped back to give some separation. I bet you can predict what happened next. You got it. He gradually took a step to the previous uncomfortable distance.

After a couple of inconspicuous gradual steps back and observing his continuous reclaiming of a “too sociable” distance, I decided to make a game out of the situation. I gradually kept stepping back to see where this would end.

I eventually had my back pinned to the wall behind me. We had moved a good four to five yards. When it ended, I was thrilled to be finished with our conversation. And as I departed, I said to myself that I would avoid that man every time I saw him in the future.

Once again, this is what non-Christians do with us as Christians when we get “too close” for their comfort. By this I mean, they begin to avoid us if they are not desirous to talk about spiritual things.

How to Gauge Interest

So how do we know if they would have interest? Let’s go back to our analogy. I suggest when you think it “might be” time to have such a discussion, test the waters. While still too far apart to carry on a meaningful discussion (figuratively speaking), begin with a non-threatening comment regarding spiritual things and listen to their response and watch their body language.

If they (in a sense) take a step back, the last thing I would do is to take a step forward. In fact, I would immediately change the conversation (take my own step backward). My hope would be that they would perhaps decide it was still safe to talk with me in the future. At that point I would continue to pray for them and ask God to create another opportunity when perhaps they would have more interest.

If they, on the other hand, take a step toward me, then I would continue in our discussion assuming an interest to talk further about spiritual things.
Perhaps you are hearing me say this and are thinking, “Didn’t you violate your own advice with the man whom you shared the diagram over lunch, while with your friend from your discipleship group?”

My answer to your question is “Yes”. In this case, I took a gamble knowing we were going to be together for quite a while having lunch and that I had assured him that any spiritual conversation would end at his say, as soon as I finished the diagram. In a sense, I felt I had nothing to lose regarding a future opportunity.

I share all of this as a general principle. I would encourage anyone to seek God’s leading in any and all situations knowing that there can always be “exceptions to the rule”.

What’s Next?

Having completed these videos and this Biblical guide to making disciples, I hope you’ve got at least a little bit of an understanding of what life-on-life discipleship is. For more, check out our content on Training Disciples.

Obviously, there’s a lot more to it than what we’ve covered in this guide, but this has hopefully given you some great insight into what this life-on-life disciple making is all about. Thank you for taking the time to watch the videos. I truly hope it’s been helpful, and I hope we can help you more in the future.

If you’re interested in learning more about our discipleship training process, then contact us or attend an upcoming Info Call.