Description

In the early church, believers took seriously the Great Commission, and ordinary
Christians were disciple-makers. This is evidenced by exponential growth of church
during the first 350 years, despite the fact that the church was under immense
pressure and persecution was a part of everyday life. In just three and a half
centuries, the church grew from a small group to almost 50 million believers. They
got two things right: The message and the method.
However, as the church entered a new persecution-free paradigm, Christianity
became accepted, preferred, and eventually privileged, and Kingdom building was
replaced with Empire building. The work of winning people and making disciples
was transferred from the members to the clergy, then to the State, and then to
the Pope. Along with these shifts, momentum was lost. The church grew through
pressure, wars, and conquests, and the persecuted became the persecutors. Even
today, Kingdom growth is seen largely as the responsibility of denominations,
church leaders, gifted communicators, and mission agencies.
The time has come for the church to readopt the message and method introduced
by the Lord Jesus, with the message being the true Gospel and the method being
disciples making disciples who make disciples. It is time for the responsibility of
fulfilling the Great Commission to once again revert to ordinary believers.
The Disciple Maker course helps members understand the basics of the Gospel,
the church, evangelism, multiplication, discipleship, and disciple-making. It enables
them to put these basic teachings into practice to help grow the local church and
then to start multiplying churches.