1st Main Stage Session Speaker Recap from the 2020 Online National Disciple Making Forum
The National Disciple Making Forum last week was an amazingly positive experience. We give thanks to God for the way He worked through the forum for the cause of Jesus-Style disciple making.
As our friend Shodankeh Johnson says: “We give God the glory!”
We know many of you missed the livestream because of scheduling conflicts so here’s a summary of the learnings from the first main stage session:
1. America Is in the Midst of One of the Biggest Shifts Away from Christianity in Its History.
“The USA has shifted from being predominantly practicing Christian America to a predominately non-Christian America.” -Brooke Hemphill of Barna Group
We need to get back to Jesus-Style disciple making if we want to reverse this trend. If disciple making doesn’t become the DNA of you and of the church, Christianity will continue to decline at an exponential rate.
2. Americans Remain Inherently Religious People.
Even though Americans are shifting away from cultural Christianity, they are not rejecting God outright. They just are not drawn to the disciples that they see in our churches.
People are hungry for answers, but oftentimes the church doesn’t provide them. If we want to be the true light in the world, we must practice obedience-based discipleship because only a transformed life will give the world the answers it so desperately searches for.
3. Christian Americans Have Not Believed in Discipleship.
“We have disciples who … don’t believe in discipleship.” -Bill Hull
Many of our disciples in the church do not understand the importance of discipleship. They have been taught about the grace of God, but they haven’t really learned about the importance of making disciples themselves. Yet making disciples was at the center of Jesus’ mission. If we want the church to grow, we have to reclaim disciple making as the core mission of the church.
4. By Faith We Believe God Can Turn America Around.
“God is the Impossibility Specialist and we call upon Him to guide us.” -Shodankeh Johnson
Our God is a God of miracles! He parted the Red Sea. He gave sight to the blind. And He raised the dead!
And by faith, we believe that God can turn America around. This new reality calls for a new approach. We have to leave cultural Christianity for obedience-based disciple making.
5. We Need a Different Kind of Discipleship that Produces a Different Kind of Disciple.
“Discipleship without obedience is not discipleship at all, according to Jesus in Matthew 28.” -Shodankeh Johnson
“What we really need … are different disciples.” -Bill Hull
If the American church doesn’t change the way it produces disciples, we will continue to shift away from Christianity. As Albert Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
So, if we want a different result, then we have to change the way we disciple people. We have to produce disciples who are obedient to the teachings of Jesus, who in turn produce their own disciples who follow the same path. This is how Jesus made disciples and it’s why Christianity has lasted for 2,000+ years.
We believe that God is doing great work right now, and that He’s inviting all of us to join it.
If you want to get access to the full forum experience including all 8 main stage speaker sessions plus forum discussions with Bobby Harrington and the speakers, you can purchase the Digital Access Pass today:
