A disciple is someone who is following Christ and pursuing growth in all aspects of their faith. We’re all called to go and make disciples, but how does one make disciples? You have to learn how to raise up other disciples and can do this by training them.
What is discipleship training? Discipleship training is leading others through the process of becoming a disciple for Christ. As the trainer, you live life with your fellow brother or sister in Christ. You point them to Christ in every situation and help them grow in their walk through fellowship.
You may be discipling others, but need some help. These materials will help you grow others while also growing yourself as you fulfill John 15:16.
1) Disciples Path
Disciples path is an online program used to show you how to best disciple others. The curriculum is based around discipling others the same way Jesus did.
It was created to be something you can duplicate and teach those you disciple how to be disciples themselves.
This course will use videos to guide you in discipleship. It consists of five to six different sessions and you can choose your own pace. The website has extra tools, and continued training after completion of the course.
Disciples path focuses solely on God’s word and Jesus’ model of discipleship. It will have you try techniques as you go. You’ll even finish the course feeling closer to God yourself.
Disciples Path even offers a discipleship training course for youth as well. Teens will walk through the same training as adults, but the curriculum is more applicable for the situations they will face.
You can even have your kids take the course for them to grow in discipleship. There’s also a Spanish version.
To start watching the videos and growing in how you disciple others click here.
2) Stones Crossing – Disciple Making Disciples
The disciple-making disciple’s pamphlet by stones crossing church was created to train you how to make disciples. This tool walks you through how to make disciples and why making disciples is important.
This pamphlet goes over all the basics of discipleship. For those who are just starting with making others disciples, this is a great tool.
Stones Crossing’s way of discipleship is done by one leader leading a small group of believers. It teaches the leader how to lead a gospel discussion well. It also gives the next steps to take in their discipleship walk.
Discipleship is all about growth instead of staying stagnate. This way of leading will help your disciples and you do just that.
It will help you learn the difference between mentoring and discipleship, while also teaching you how to bring grace into discipleship. It also includes a self-assessment and questions to help you grow in your discipling skills.
To print or read the pamphlet click here.
3) Real-Life Discipleship Training Manual: Equipping Disciples Who Make Disciples
This manual is all about training you and equipping you to be a disciple maker of others.
This book can be used for pastors anyone within the church. The book is geared towards leading small groups of future disciples. The course is designed to be consumed over twelve weeks.
The course is focused on teaching you how to build long-lasting relationships, you disciple. It teaches you the importance of leadership and the calling of making disciples.
Through the training, you’ll learn how to assess the spiritual maturity of the members of your group, so that you can give them personalized steps for growth in their faith.
This training process is centered around Christ and how He leads others. Leadership is a process that takes time and you won’t be perfect right away. This manual recognizes that, but will also help you to feel prepared to disciple others.
To purchase the manual click here.
4) Discovery Bible Study
DBS or Discovery Bible Study is a great discipleship training tool. DBS focuses on the basics and is so much more than just a Bible study. DBS’s are all about living life together and growing in Christ.
A DBS usually consists of 5-8 people and 1 leader. These groups are beneficial for everyone who is a follower of Christ, even if they’ve never read the Bible before.
It is good to have groups meet once a week for an hour and a half. You can change how often you met, but I recommend not changing the duration of the meeting.
How to lead a DBS:
Leaders of the DBS will select a passage of scripture that flows together and has one main idea.
The leader should take time studying the scripture and have an understanding of it before leading the group.
For the meeting spend time discussing each other’s weeks and beginning in prayer. Then have 2 separate people read the portion of scripture out loud. After reading them out loud have everyone retell the story in their own words.
Next, you want each person in the group to answer the following questions.
- What did God or Jesus do?
- What does this scripture tell us about God/Jesus’ character?
- What is a good example and a bad example from this story?
After discussing these questions have each member come up with an obedience step for the following week. Write each one down, so that you can hold each member accountable.
Finally, end in the meeting in prayer.
DBS’s are a great way to create disciples and are easily re-creatable. If you run them well, you should be able to choose any member from your group to lead their own DBS.
This helps you to achieve one of the ultimate goals of discipleship, to make disciples who make disciples.
5) Alpha
Alpha is an evangelism tool founded and created by Nicky Gumbel in 1990. Ever since Alpha has grown into its own organization that is open to everyone in the church to use.
The first step of alpha is completing the leadership training. These videos will teach you how to disciple others the Alpha way. You can watch them all for free on their website.
You can also read articles that tie into the videos.
After you learn how to run Alpha, you can access their management and team building videos.
The management tools include a planner and many other planning tools to keep you and your group organized.
Alpha also offers a course focused on discipling youth. It will teach you how to raise the next generation as disciples and how to provide a safe atmosphere for them.
To get started with Alpha click here
6) T4T
t4t (Training for Trainers) is an online training organization for those who are raising up disciples in Christ. T4T teaches you how to help others come to Christ. While also making them a disciple.
This training consists of all videos that teach you how to disciple others. The focus is on training you in an easy and effective way to bring others to the church.
Their goal is to help you be able to create rapid growth within your church, while simultaneously making effective disciples for Christ.
T4T has gotten its method from the Bible and focuses. They want to help you and the church create more workers for the harvest.
To look into T4T’s heart and mission more click here.
7) The Gospel Project
The Gospel Project creates Bible study material for you to help grow those you are discipling in their understanding of Christ. It’s important to focus on the heart of discipleship, but we must not forget the importance of the mind.
We must equip our disciples with a deeper understanding of God’s word and these Bible studies are a great way to achieve that.
These studies have the gospel at the center and go into the context and meaning of the scripture you consume.
The gospel project also offers many tools to help you grow in leadership and your own walk with Christ. They offer articles, have a podcast, host weekly training, leader helps, a getting started tool, and 99 essential doctrines.
They also have many Bible studies for kids, so that they can grow up in the faith.
To check out all that Gospel Project has to offer click here.
8) Contagious Disciple Making
CDM (Contagious Disciple-Making) is all about doing discipleship in a way that’s so duplicable it spreads like wildfire. CDM is all about community and making each other effective disciples.
CDM believes that you need ongoing training and coaching to be an effective disciple. Founder Paul Watson heads up the coaching process by offering advice about discipleship.
You can have one on one coaching with him or another experienced coach to help you grow as a leader.
CDM also runs a podcast for you to receive advice in the midst of your daily life. Once you sign up for CDM you will have access to a community of leaders.
You’ll be able to join their group and go to them for their advice and fellowship.
To connect with CDM click here.
Whether you see yourself as a leader or not, we are all called to be disciples. We are not meant to be bystanders in the bleachers cheering others on, but instead to be the players on the field.
So seek out discipleship for yourself and make Jesus known.