What is One-to-One Discipleship?
One-to-One Discipleship is a book, ministry and method of helping new believers in Christ begin their journey of sanctification by reading and studying through nine lessons that every believer should know. Those lessons are…
- How to be SURE You are a Christian
- Attributes of God
- How to Know the Bible
- Prayer
- The Spirit-Filled Life
- Fellowship
- Witnessing
- Temptation
- Obedience to the Christian Walk
While this is obviously not an exhaustive list of everything a Christian can learn over his or her lifetime, it is an excellent place for new believers to begin reading and learning and growing in their new-found faith.
What is Discipleship?
Discipleship is a process where a spiritually mature Christian, in obedience to Jesus Christ and His divine strategy for continuing His work, makes disciples by helping new believers understand what the Christian Life is all about. This process often begins with leading someone to Christ, however a good discipler can also disciple those who have come to faith at a local crusade event, a church altar call or any other means by which people accept Christ as their Savior.
Why is Discipleship Important?
Jesus gave us the “Great Commission” in Matthew 28:18-20 where He said,
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus gave us our marching orders very clearly and that is why this study was created.
Why One-to-One Discipleship?
A new Christian who answers an alter call on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night is often left to find his way alone. It is assumed that he will just automatically grow in a church setting. However, he or she may never learn even the basics of Christianity. Most churches don’t have a “new believers” ministry or study, so there is a real need for at least one person to be responsible for a new Christian’s growth. This is also true of someone who has been a Christian for a long time but has never been taught to obey the commands of Christ.
One-to-One Discipleship gives opportunity for Christians to learn the basics well enough to transfer them effectively in word and lifestyle. Also, relationships are built and often become powerful friendships, creating an environment where there is more freedom to share intimately and confidentially in a one-to-one relationship.
Effectiveness of One-to-One Discipleship
According to worshipleader.com, there are 177,000 small churches in America with less that 100 attendees on Sunday morning. There are also 105,000 “medium-small” churches with 100-499 attendees. These two groups represent 94% of all churches. Only 6% of all churches have more than 500 attendees. So how effective is One-to-One Discipleship that only teaches one person at a time?
Since true discipleship involves reproduction. When you disciple someone, teaching that person to disciple another, who will in turn disciple another, reproduction takes place. If you discipled two persons every year and those two would reproduce in the same way every year, these are the potential results:
YEAR TOTAL
1 6
2 42
3 294
4 2058
5 14406
As we can see, 94% of all churches in America would be completely discipled within 3 years and a few months. This is the power of reproduction and multiplication.
What are the other benefits of One-to-One Discipleship?
- Almost anyone can disciple someone else. What a person has learned can be passed on. Not all have the leadership skills to lead a group.
- Potential leaders surface.
- Accountability is easier on a one-to-one basis. We are to “teach to obey.” Encouragement, exhortation, correction, and admonition are quickly and more easily given.
- The discipler grows as he gives of himself in obedience to Christ.
- The life of the discipler reinforces the truth of the message, while leading a disciple by example.
- Quality time can be given to those who desire spiritual growth.
- The needs of the disciple surface.
- There is an opportunity for close friendships to develop.
How to Start One-to-One Discipleship in Your Church
Choosing to begin a new ministry at any church should be approached thoughtfully and prayerfully. There are a few moving parts that should be considered when implementing One-to-One in your church.
Who should start the process?
Typically, a paster or elder or deacon who is spiritually mature and prepared to lead others would be an excellent candidate to begin this process, however any mature believer can get started. There are no special qualifications other than to have studied the materials.
Since men should only disciple men and women should only disciple women, you should have one of each gender to begin the process. While these two can be spouses, it certainly is not necessary. On the subject of spouses, generally speaking, a married person should disciple another married person and single people should disciple singles. While not a hard and fast rule, this helps to build those relationships based on similar stages of life as well as the discipleship process.
Who would make a good Discipler?
As we mentioned before, anyone can be a discipler if they have the spiritual maturity to understand and share the materials in the One-to-One Discipleship book. However, as potential disciplers are considered, these thoughts should also be taken into account.
- How much is someone serving already. If someone is already in 2 weekly studies, serves on Sunday morning and serves in the Youth ministry, we don’t want to over burden them.
- Life circumstances. If a potential discipler was diagnosed with cancer a month ago, approaching them might be bad timing.
- Job and family commitments. Some folks have jobs that work them 50-70 hours or more per week. Others have 30 hours a week of kids activities and maybe an elderly parent to care for.
The discipleship process should be enjoyable and rewarding to both discipler and disciple. If someone is overloaded it can feel like a job and not a ministry.
How do Disciplers find new Disciples?
Though it is not difficult to offer to disciple someone, it should be done thoughtfully and prayerfully. Consider things like personality, stage of life and spiritual maturity of the potential disciple. Then, simply offer to share the material with them and help them learn more about the God we all serve.
How to start the One-to-One Discipleship process
The first meeting. After agreeing on a time and day to meet each week, the process begins with the first lesson, “How to be Sure You are a Christian”. To help the new disciple get started with the materials, the first lesson should be completed together. This provides an opportunity for the discipler to share thoughts, wisdom and lessons learned in the past as you cover the material. This first meeting will likely take longer than most, perhaps as long as an hour and a half to two hours though there is no specific time requirement.
For each meeting after this, the disciple should complete each weeks material on their own, reading and studying as they were shown in lesson one. Then the two can recap the material, go over questions the disciple may have and again provide opportunities for the discipler to share his own wisdom as a mature believer. These meetings will likely be shorter, perhaps 60-90 minutes each week.
Encourage the disciple not to study ahead in the material, but rather approach each week’s lesson thoughtfully and carefully. If a disciple has more time available, have them review that week’s lesson a second time to look for something deeper.
Questions?
If you have questions about One-to-One Discipleship in your church, feel free to email us. We will be happy to answer questions and point you to other disciplers that can offer their insight as well.
If you’re ready to get started, click here to order your One-to-One Discipleship materials!