There’s a lot of talk about discipleship multiplication in church circles today and I think its GREAT! From church planting conferences like Exponential to books like Multiply, there is a growing surge of conversations about what it takes to multiply disciples.
After all, Jesus himself commanded his followers to “Go and make disciples of all nations….” So, if you are a follower of Jesus, it is your amazing privilege and divine duty to make and multiply disciples.
But far too often discipleship multiplication can be falsely perceived as just more discipleship meetings. This emphasis can easily morph into two believers who’ve been saved for twenty years getting together once a week to remind themselves of stuff they should already know and already be doing.
But true discipleship multiplication requires gritty evangelism. It requires getting into proximity with those who don’t know Jesus and building relationships. It requires knowing how to lead another person to Jesus and helping them to do the same with others.
This is where evangelism training becomes essential. Because if you can’t add, you can’t multiply. If you can’t lead someone to Jesus (addition) then you can’t make disciples who make disciples (multiplication.)
Before my son learned the multiplication tables he had to master the addition flash cards. Before we can begin to multiply disciples we must master the flash cards of evangelism.
Evangelism is the choke point of discipleship multiplication. It is the portal through which all discipleship multipliers must go through relentlessly.
So, the practical question here is do you know how to share your faith effectively? Do you know how to bring the gospel up naturally, explain it clearly and respond appropriately to whatever response (yes, no or need more time to decide) they may have to the gospel?
If you can’t answer an exuberant “yes” to all of these questions then you need to take the time to truly learn how to effectively share your faith. You should master your addition flash cards before you try to move on to multiplication.
By the way we can help with that. If you’ve never been to a Dare 2 Share conference that’s exactly what we do. We train teenagers how to share their faith clearly and effectively. But the adults who attend these events tell me that they learn just as much as the teenagers. There’s a reason for this. The same evangelism training material I used to train adults with when I was the preaching pastor at Grace Church in Arvada, Colorado is the same material we used to train teenagers (just with more skits, music and movie clips mixed in!)
If you want to learn how to share your faith right away you can download the free Dare 2 Share app. On this sweet little app is video based training that equips you how to share your faith in short videos right on your smart phone. In about an hour you can watch all the short videos on the app (you’ll need a wireless connection) and you’ll have enough training to get started adding…and, soon after that, multiplying!
Start adding and, before you know it, you’ll be multiplying!