Start Building Disciples
Rediscovering the Heart of Discipleship
The Western church has become a master of the format. Services are timed, polished, and structured down to the minute. Lights shine, sound systems boom, and programs run like clockwork.
But here’s the problem: discipleship doesn’t grow in formats. It grows in relationships.
Jesus never said, “Follow my program.” He said, “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19). His method was relational, not mechanical. He ate with His disciples, walked with them, prayed with them, corrected them, and loved them. His classroom was life itself.
The Problem With Our Obsession With Format
We’ve built churches that know how to run programs but often fail to form people. The result? Attenders who know how to sit in a pew but not how to carry a cross.
Paul reminded the Thessalonian church, “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well” (1 Thessalonians 2:8).
That’s the missing ingredient today: sharing life, not just sermons.
What Real Discipleship Looks Like
It happens in living rooms and coffee shops, not only sanctuaries.
It looks like older believers mentoring younger ones (Titus 2:3-5), not just sitting in the same row on Sunday.
It requires vulnerability and accountability, not just consistency in attendance.
Jesus modeled this when He told His disciples, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). Notice He didn’t say “if you run a great program,” but if you love one another.
The Call to Shift
Until we move from format-driven ministry to relationship-driven discipleship, we’ll keep producing consumers instead of disciples.
But when we return to the model of Jesus’ life-on-life, messy, relational, real, we won’t just grow churches. We’ll multiply Kingdom movements that ripple from generation to generation.
Until we return to the relational roots of discipleship, we will keep producing attenders who know the program but don’t know the power of walking with Christ. But when we dare to shift from formats to friendships, we will see disciples who carry the cross, embody the gospel, and multiply the Kingdom.