Transforming Church Culture for Effective Disciple Making

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Addressing the Church Culture Crisis: From Spectators to Disciple Makers

In this session, we explore the critical problem facing many local churches today: a culture that produces spectators rather than disciple makers. This episode dives into understanding and managing church culture to foster intentionality and the know-how necessary for disciple making. Key concepts discussed include the results pyramid by Connors and Smith, the importance of cultural beliefs, and the role of leadership in managing culture. The goal is to shift from producing spectators to creating a disciple-making culture through intentional experiences and leadership modeling.

Check out Discipleship.org for resources on disciple-making: https://discipleship.org/resources/ 

Check out Discipleship.org Audio Books: https://discipleship.org/resources/ebooks/ 

Key Takeaways

00:00 Introduction: Identifying the Problem

02:04 The Importance of Culture

05:22 Understanding the Results Pyramid

08:33 Beliefs and Their Impact

10:24 Creating Inescapable Experiences

14:46 Assessing and Shifting Culture

17:29 The Role of Leadership

26:30 The GIDC Process

34:00 Conclusion and Next Steps

Resources on Disciple Making Culture 

Disciple Making Culture Visual Introduction

Cultivating a Disciple-Making Culture at Your Church

Disciple-Making Culture

This presentation addresses a critical issue faced by local churches: problematic church culture. It argues that many churches produce spectators rather than disciple-makers due to a lack of intentionality. The speaker emphasizes that healthy cultures yield better results and stresses the need to transform church culture to focus on disciple-making.

Drawing from Connors and Smith's "Change the Culture, Change the Game," culture is defined by how people think and act collectively. The "new hire question" reflects this ethos: "How do things work around here?" To achieve desirable outcomes, the focus should be on foundational experiences and beliefs, as highlighted in the Results Pyramid model.

The speaker notes that focusing solely on actions and results leads to short-term compliance rather than long-term commitment. Real change requires addressing the experiences that shape underlying beliefs. Creating “inescapable experiences” can challenge and shift these beliefs.

An understanding of the current (C1) and desired culture (C2) is necessary for change. This involves assessing existing experiences (E1), beliefs (B1), actions (A1), and results. The Navigator Church Ministries’ process begins with clarity about the goal: producing disciple-makers. Essential elements for creating a disciple-making culture, summarized as the seven P's, include:

1. Passion for God and the Gospel
2. Purposeful leaders with a clear picture of what a disciple looks like
3. Pathway to developing that picture
4. Practitioners actively participating
5. Progress markers to assess growth

A clear, shared picture of a disciple-maker is crucial. Practitioners must embody the disciple-making lifestyle, with significant influence from senior pastors who should model discipleship actively.

The presentation introduces the GIDC (Growing intentional Disciple-making Cultures ). This involves interconnected elements aimed at producing local disciple-makers.

In summary, this presentation provides a comprehensive approach to transforming church culture to focus on disciple-making, emphasizing the importance of experiences and beliefs in achieving long-term, meaningful change.

Check out the Navigators culture building visual: https://navigatorschurchministries.org/resource/growing-intentional-disciplemaking-cultures/ 

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