The Story Behind the Online Disciple Maker Assessment
Discipleship.org recently released an online Disciple Maker Assessment, so I thought it might be helpful to share the background of this assessment and about the group who helped create the framework for this tool.
I brought together a group of national disciple making experts who have a bias toward the local church as the primary context for disciple making including . While parachurch ministries have their place, two things that biased me toward the local church as the primary means for disciple making:
1. The local church is God’s plan as the focus for Jesus’ style disciple making.
2. We will only turn the church in North America back to Jesus’ style disciple making if we can inspire and equip local pastors and ministers to make it happen.
We’d love for you to grow as a disciple maker by taking this assessment.
Contributors to the Online Assessment Tool
In advance of the meeting of these disciple makers, we received input from seasoned leaders, female and male alike. We and were especially pleased to have venerable voices like Robert Coleman (author of The Master Plan of Evangelism), among others. Those nationally known disciple makers who rolled up their sleeves to help set the framework of this disciple making tool include:
- Bill Hull, author and founder of The Bonhoeffer Project
- Jim Putman, author, pastor and co-founder of the Relational Discipleship Network
- Robby Gallaty, author, pastor and founder of Replicate Ministries
- Ralph Moore, author, pastor and founder of the Hope Chapel Movement
- Monte Stark, author, pastor and director of Life on Life Ministries
- Dave Buehring, author, pastor, and founder of Lionshare Ministry
- Todd Wilson, author and executive director of Exponential
- Greg Wiens, founder of Healthy Growing Churches
With the help of these and other leaders, we developed an objective and validated online Disciple Maker Assessment tool. Our goal with this tool is to help individuals get an accurate picture of themselves as disciple makers so they can develop a growth plan for themselves.
We hope to encourage and inspire everyone to become a “Level 5” disciple maker, which is why Greg Wiens and I wrote a the free eBook, Becoming a Disciple Maker. Level 5 disciple makers are people who makes disciples who then become disciple makers themselves. It’s a cycle. The goal is to follow Jesus and learn to do what Jesus did.
Getting into the eBook for more
Some people know neither me nor Greg Wiens, who worked with us on the assessment tool and then co-authored the eBook with me. It may help to know our backgrounds so you can see the vantage point from which we developed the inventory and the eBook.
I (Bobby) am a lead pastor and church planter. My vantage point has been informed by the following:
- Lead pastor for 30 years
- Church planter
- Coach and trainer of hundreds of church planters
- Founder and director of a national coaching organization for church leaders
- Leader of two national church network systems (Stadia and the Relational Discipleship Network)
- Co-founder and executive director of Discipleship.org
- Doctor of Ministry degree in consulting
- Author of numerous books on disciple making, including the popular DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church Make Disciples That Make Disciples (with Jim Putman and Robert Coleman) and (the recently released) Disciple Makers Handbook (with Josh Patrick).
- Co-founder and Executive Director of Discipleship.org
It was just over ten years ago that I came to the firm conclusion that Jesus’ style of disciple making is the core mission of the Church. That awakening now informs everything I do and it led me to establish Discipleship.org.
Greg is a Ph.D. statistician and his role was to guide us into creating an assessment that is statistically valid and robust from a scientific or scholastic point of view. He has also served as a lead pastor, church planter, personal assessor, and coach. His vantage point has been formed by over 35 years of experience, including:
- Lead Pastor
- Church Planter
- Church, school, and business consultant
- Developer of twenty-plus different assessment tools
- Assistant Professor of Education (University of Central Florida/Warner Southern University)
- Founder and chief catalyst for Healthy Growing Churches
- Doctorate of Education in Psychometrics (University of Central Florida)
Greg has been an advocate for relational disciple making for the better part of the last four decades. However, “At times in my life,” so he says, “I focused more on making disciples rather than intentionally focusing on making disciples who make disciples.”
We both firmly believe there’s nothing more important today than being a disciple maker who makes disciples who make disciples—to the fourth generation. There is nothing more important to focus on today. Our commitment to this vantage point informed our work.
We encourage you to take the assessment here. It could change your life.
Written by Bobby Harrington
Bobby Harrington is the Executive Director of Discipleship.org, a national platform, conference, and ministry that advocates for Jesus’ style of disciple making. He is the founding and lead pastor of Harpeth Christian Church (by the Harpeth River, just outside of Nashville, TN). He has a Doctor of Ministry degree in consulting and has spent years as a coach to church planters and senior pastors.Â
