5 Marks of a Disciple-Making Church

Is your church making disciples? 

I believe discipleship is the church’s missing link. We’re good at crafting sermons and putting together epic worship sets, but what’s happening in the lives of church members between Sundays? What’s the point of having access to the kingdom if we only stop by for a brief visit once a week? What is the fruit of your ministry in the lives of your people, marriages, families and in your community?

Kingdom living is God’s original intent for the world and us. When we invite Jesus into our lives and submit everything to Him, our lives are transformed from the inside out, every day of the week. This redemption is the catalyst for transforming our spheres of influence to reflect heaven on earth. As believers, we are responsible for training leaders as kingdom ambassadors and disciple-makers who build the kingdom of God. 

“...this is not done by an elite few, but by ordinary people who have a vision for transformation and discipleship and, therefore, journey with others as they transform their spheres and then release their disciples to do even greater works.” –As in Heaven: Life in God’s Kingdom 

Is your church making disciples? Are you creating kingdom ambassadors? Consider and reflect on these 5 marks of a disciple-making church. 

1. Disciple-making churches are focused on Jesus.

As a disciple-making church, everything you do or spend your time on should always point back to Jesus. Are your sermons biblically sound? Do the people in your church and in leadership reflect Jesus’s character and nature? Are the programs in your church about Jesus or numbers? Is your worship about putting on a great program or teaching people to worship with their whole being?  

Jesus is the way into the kingdom of God, and when we set our hearts and motives on Him, our world is transformed. 

2. Disciple-making churches are led well.  

Disciple-makers must first be discipled. Pastors who have mentors model for their congregation what it looks like to submit to leadership and pursue spiritual growth and maturation. That growth should be reflected in your personal life and as you prioritize making disciples in your home (family) first. When your home is in order, you can effectively disciple those in your spheres of influence as you and your life will reflect the character of God. This is true leadership as you cannot lead people where you have not gone and cannot give away what you do not have. 

3. Disciple-making churches prioritize community. 

In a healthy church, community and relationships thrive. Paul reveals to us in Acts 2:44-46 the model for community in the early church. He tells us the believers met regularly, cared for each other’s needs, ate together, worshiped together, and grew in number through fellowship and sharing the gospel. 

Family is the cornerstone of God's kingdom, and your church is God’s family. This means that while serving, loving, and discipling your family comes first, prioritizing your church family is also critical. As the church, we are the hands and feet of Jesus, able to minister to each other and the world through the power of the Holy Spirit. Are you encouraging people to increasingly take responsibility for their lives, marriages, and family first, and then expanding into their communities and beyond as they mature?

4. Disciple-making churches embrace accountability and growth.  

Proverbs 27:17 reminds us that “iron sharpens iron.” In other words, to be a part of a healthy, disciple-making church and community, we must embrace accountability and growth. Disciples seek God and, over time, will be challenged to let go of their old ways as they increasingly model their lives after Jesus. To do so requires personal reflection, time in the Word and with God, and accountability with 1-2 trusted believers. 

The enemy is on the prowl, but there is strength in numbers. The Bible tells us that where two or three people are gathered, God is with us. (Matthew 18:2) It only takes two to form an ekklesia, meaning the “called-out ones” (the church) designed to bring heaven to earth as Christ’s ambassadors. 

5. Disciple-making churches send people out. 

To be a disciple means you are in the business of making disciples–in your home, in your church, and in your spheres of influence. This requires the act of sending people out. Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He told the disciples to “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,” (Matthew 28:19-20).  

What does it look like to send people out? It means making disciples who will take Christ with them everywhere they go. Whether at work, in school, or in their neighborhood, disciples are focused on expanding God’s kingdom through the people they minister to and the work they do. Are you more concerned about seating capacity or sending capacity? Are you equipping, empowering and sending your people out in their spheres of influence for the church to operate 24/7? God does not live in a box, nor does His kingdom exist between the four walls of a church. Rather, He calls us to go and make disciples of all nations – our own and those God leads us to. 

All for the Kingdom of God 

Believers are called to leave everything behind to follow Jesus. Our attachment must be to Jesus, not the world. By choosing Jesus, we become His disciples and learn to walk in His ways, applying kingdom principles to our lives. 

“As we sow in the kingdom, we reap a harvest that will produce much new seed for the next harvest. We grow the kingdom as disciple-makers, making disciple-makers.” –As in Heaven, Life in God’s Kingdom NOW

If you’re ready to become a disciple-making church that embraces kingdom living, I encourage you to download the first 50 pages of my upcoming book, As in Heaven: Life in God’s Kingdom NOW. Life on earth is meant to be lived on earth as it is in heaven, and that starts with becoming a disciple.