shifted (jerry harris)

7/28/2019 Shifted (Jerry Harris)

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Shifted:

TheCrossingStory

by

JerryHarris


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Shifted:TheCrossingStory

Copyright(c)2012byJerryHarris

ISBN:978-0-9886453-1-8

DistributedviaExponentialResources

Exponentialisagrowingmovementofleaderscommittedtothemultiplicationofhealthynew

churches.ExponentialResourcesspotlights and spreads actionable principles, ideas and solutions for the

accelerated multiplication of healthy, reproducing faith communities.Formoreinformation,visitexponential.org.

Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanymannerwhatsoeverwithoutpriorwritten

permissionfromthepublisher,exceptwherenotedinthetextandinthecaseofbriefquotationsembodiedin

criticalarticlesandreviews.

ThisbookismanufacturedintheUnitedStates.


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The Purpose of this E-book

While Exponential and other organizations concentrate their efforts and attention on

the mechanics and nuances of church planting, there are churches that have been

planted, have grown, and are thriving are all around us. They have buildings, staffs,

budgets, and leaderships. Existing churches have a completely different set of

circumstances to face in order to embrace discipleship. I wrote this for all those leaders

who need the tools to turn the ship instead of the plans to build one. Since so much

church planting is accomplished from cooperation of existing churches, it stands to

reason that the healthier existing churches are, the more new churches are launched.

The trick is empowering the existing church to make the necessary changes to be

healthy. Shifted: The Crossing Story is just one example of a church embracing

discipleship then incorporating it into new launches. We have grown from a small

church of 200 to 5500 in 7 locations and planted 2 others as well. Remember that this

is our journey. Churches, like people, are all unique but capturing and adapting ideas

from other churches has been a tremendous benefit to us. I hope our story helps you.


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Introduction: The Crossing Story

Before I discuss the shifts we made toward relational discipleship as a church, I

think it might help to get a snapshot of who we are. It starts as a pretty common story.

Like most churches, The Crossing was a church riding the elevator between 100-300 in

size over it's quarter-century life. A lot of that depended on the personality and

charisma of it's pastor and his ability to move Christians from other churches into his

fold. As pastoral changes occurred, the number on the attendance board would

fluctuate. Services and ministries were conventional...kind of stuck in the model of the

1950's.

Although it was a late late bloomer in the church growth movement, in the 90's, the

church tried to catch on to the tail end of the growth wave by exploring some new

approaches in music, marketing, and remodeling. Like most changes in a traditional

church setting, anything new was both interesting and unsettling, bringing both losses

and gains. However, inside the local leadership, a desire began to form to make a

bigger difference...a desire to do something more significant in God's Kingdom.

That is when I came into this church's story; not because I represented anything

bigger or more significant, but because I was the replacement in the transition of theirprevious pastor because of a moral scandal...not exactly the best environment for

growth or change.

I had been heavily influenced by two books I had just read: Experiencing Godand

The Purpose Driven Church. The lessons taught inside them began shaping my vision

for this wounded church. The influence of The Purpose Driven Churchcoupled with the

leaderships desire to do something significant for the Kingdom in the community

opened all sorts of doors to marketing, technology, targeting, worship change,

fundraising, and staffing. We began looking to our purpose rather than any tradition.

Blackebys Experiencing Godcompletely changed my understanding of how to know

and do the will of God, living and working in step with the Holy Spirit. That book formed

a clear vision in me to set as a goal for every person that we would interact with...that

they would have an intimate personal relationship with Jesus Christ.


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The joining of those two concepts in a church environment that invited change was

transformative. The Crossing began to grow exponentially. This was particularly

interesting knowing that it was happening in a rather small, non-growing, micropolitan

city of 40,000 saturated with 85 churches. The evangelism quotient was very high with

over 2/3s of our decisions being first-time and not transfer growth. Other churches saw

our growth but would not even attempt to duplicate it because of their resistance to the

necessary changes. Our growth was so far from the norm that churches began to call

us a cult or soft on biblical truth. Within a few years, The Crossing was growing larger

than any local church had seen, over 1,000 and then approaching 2,000...

unprecedented in Quincy.

It was then that we turned our attention to reproducing using multi-site. We had

benchmarked Lifechurch.tv and saw an opportunity to extend our reach regionally. Our

first location was Macomb, IL, another micropolitan community 60 miles away. Even

though we didnt have a single member or contact there, it opened as the largest church

in its community. The success we experienced in Macomb spurred us to open more

campuses, even internationally.

In the midst of this growth and success, there was a huge blind spot gradually

coming into view. While we had grown quickly and wide regionally, there was an ever

increasing understanding in our leadership that it was not producing the personal

commitment to Christ over the long term. We had plenty of jumping on points for

people to get involved...ministries, special groups, small groups...it just wasnt

translating into the spiritual depth we wanted to see. This was the spot on the

timeline that the need for relational discipleship came into view.

At the same time of our spiritual depth dilemma, our growth had opened some doors

to me to network with other leaders of large churches normally reserved for leaders in

more metropolitan areas. It was through that networking that I heard about and met Jim

Putman. Jim and Aaron Couch had planted a church in Post Falls, Idaho in 1998, the

same year I came to Quincy. In the same time that the Crossing had grown to 2000,

Real Life Ministries had grown to 8,000! Both communities were similar in the sense

that they were micropolitan and economically depressed. That encouraged me to


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believe that at least some of their approach could be transferable. Jim credited the key

to their growth to be discipleship in relationship. A visit to their campus reinforced the

fact that it was their focus, as so many other ministry areas needed work as I compared

them to the Crossing. For me, it drove the discipleship point home. I didnt see any

other good reason that the church should grow so exponentially outside of their

approach to discipleship. It was something very different from the conventional small

group programming I had seen in the past.

This was the beginning of the shift that this ebook is really about. The questions are,

Is our church going in the right direction? If not, how do you turn the ship? What are

the right steps and in what order should they be taken? Where are the snags in the

journey?" It all begins with asking the right question.


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Shift #1

Asking The Right Question

The question is, Are we making disciples?. Matthews testimony of our marching

orders in the 28th chapter commissions us to make disciples. Looking back, I am

amazed at how little I understood the meaning of the word disciple and how necessary

that knowledge was in order to understand the question. That definition however was

really not the one I had been looking for up to that point. My questions sounded more

like asking how many were at church the previous week. How many people made

decisions? What was the offering amount? Most of the answers I was looking for had a

number involved...and what could be wrong with that? Numbers are objective tools to

give us a clear picture to measure where we are. Measuring discipleship was for me

and I believe for many today a compilation of these numbers. If you have been a

member for X years, if you are involved in Y ministries, and if you give Z dollars,

you have the proper variables for your equation. X+Y+Z = level of discipleship. How

wrong I was!

My Bible college taught the centrality of preaching the Word and so church

attendance to listen and respond to that preaching was central. My church experience

emphasized evangelism evidenced by public decisions and baptisms so the number of

decisions was key. There were always lots of church programs that needed volunteers

to run them. That willingness to give time and talent coupled with a decent measure of

ability was critical to maturity. Finally, a great evidence of real spiritual growth is seen in

financial giving. Give these variables actual numbers and you have your answer...or so

I thought. Since I measured discipleship this way, the church reflected it. As long as I

preached great sermons and as long as people kept making decisions, giving, and

serving, I could consider that fulfilling the great commission.After experiencing the method used to create and reproduce disciples at Real Life,

my eyes were opened to a huge blind spot in our seeming successful church. As I

scanned the congregation that I ministered to, this is what I saw. Many people who had

attended church for years, served for years, and given for years were still very

immature. Many had never reproduced their faith in even a single person...or even


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attempted it. Many of them had never shared their faith even once. Many had never

grown in their relationship to Jesus experiencing the sting and joy of real sacrifice.

Many had become highly sophisticated consumers but consumers none the less.

If we look out on the faces of our congregations, how many actual disciples do we

see? How many are personally convinced that they are disciples but are sorely

mistaken? How many of them believe this fallacy because of the bar we have set

before them? Real Life chose Matthew 4:19 as their definition of discipleship seeing

Jesus calling His own disciples. Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. There

are three criteria that help define discipleship in this divine statement. Am I genuinely

following Christ? (follow me...), being changed by Christ ?(...and I will make you), and

living life on mission for Christ ?(...fishers of men.) This is the question I honestly wasnt

asking myself or confronting others with until this point. Are we making disciples? The

difficult truth for me was that with all my education, experience, and success, I really

didnt know how to mobilize a church to make disciples of Jesus Christ. The best I was

providing was an environment for them to figure it out for themselves.

Looking back, I wish someone would have shared a copy of Robert Coleman s little

book Master Plan of Evangelismearly in my ministry. What a revolutionary look at the

simple truth of Jesus method! As great as it is to share the life changing message of

our Savior, has it ever occurred to us that His method of sharing it is just as divine?

Coleman wrote of todays church, Most of the evangelistic efforts of the church begin

with the multitudes under the assumption that the church is qualified to preserve what

good is done. The result is our spectacular emphasis on numbers of converts,

candidates for baptism, and more members for the church, with little or no genuine

concern manifested toward the establishment of these souls in the love and the power

of God, let alone the preservation and continuation of the work. (MPE pp. 29-30) That

is a powerful editorial of the state of even todays most successful and highly esteemed

churches.

How did Jesus make disciples? First, He selected them, spent large chunks of time

with them, and set them apart and empowered them for ministry. He lived His life as a

consistent demonstration before them. He gave them specific assignments, watching

over them so that they could reproduce in others what He had produced in them. Did it


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work? At the time, it may have looked like a failure, but these men took the message of

Christ to the ends of the earth reproducing themselves over and over.

I began to realize why this concept was so hard for me to see. No one had ever

discipled me! I grew up in a Christian home but my parents were only as intentional as

parents normally are, taking me to church and maintaining a Godly home. Even Bible

college was little more than an exchange of knowledge without anyone taking the

interest to specifically coach me. I started thinking how common my story was,

wondering how many people out there never had that spiritual mentor following Jesus

example. I had constructed my ministry from the examples I admired from a distance.

For me, asking the right question meant embarking out into an undiscovered country

like a pioneer and asking a church of 2300 to ask the same question with me. The

challenge was to turn a big ship that already had a full head of steam.

So there I was and here we are...what will be the primary question that our lives and

ministries will seek to answer? Coleman described it this way, Seen this way, though, it

becomes a big decision in the ministry. We must decide where we want our ministry to

countin the momentary applause of popular recognition or in the reproduction of our

lives in a few chosen people who will carry on our work after we have gone. Really it is

a question of which generation we are living for. (MPE pp. 32)

Asking the right question can yield some answers that are hard to accept, especially

if it involves drastic changes to your personal ministry approach or the status quo of the

local church. I remember placing myself inside the pages of Scripture, specifically the

parable of the talents, and wondering if when He questioned me about what I had done

with what He had given me, if I could show Him multitudes of fickle fans or smaller

group of fully committed followers. Had I done what He commissioned me to do or did I

recreate it in a way that made it work better for me? Was my life and ministry a

reflection of not only the message Jesus taught, but the daily example of how He lived

and invested into His precious disciples?

So the 1st shift that we are confronted with is whether or not we are committed to

make disciples on Jesus terms, knowing that this is the best way that we can love God

and one another. When the question is asked, what is the answer? The answer for me

was that we were not intentionally and effectively making disciples at The Crossing.


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While it had happened to some degree, it was more by accident than on purpose. I was

finally asking the right question and getting the painful answer. It felt more like an

indictment than an understanding. The next shift would be my response.


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Shift #2

Conversion

I know that this term is usually reserved for that moment when we accept Jesus

Christ as our Savior and Lord but I have come to realize that my life is actually made up

with lots of conversions of different sizes. While there certainly was a first, there have

been countless more on the journey. These are moments when I realize a new truth

about me or Jesus that requires change in me. As a pastor, those changes extend

beyond me into the church as God uses me as a catalyst for change.

Conversions are not tweaks or adjustments. They are seen in reversals of direction,

recognition of error and the correction that follows it. The dictionary defines conversion

as a change in character, form, or function. I think thats a great definition. Conversion

begins in the character and then the shape that our lives and/or ministries take and then

how we function in those new forms reflect that new character. Since being a Christian

is reflecting the character of Christ, it stands to reason that I would want to do Jesus

things Jesus way. Since the church is the body of Christ, its character should cast the

same reflection. If I wanted the church to change, I had to change first.

Conversion is necessary. The level of commitment needed to start a movement and

change a world isn't going to be found in a crowd of consumers but it can be found in a

congregation of the committed. I was convinced that the status quo or success

measured in worldly metrics wasn't God's way or the best way..and so the bottom line

was it wasn't going to be mine.

The first thing I noticed was that all the raw material for these discipling relationships

was already around me. It was amazing to me that even with all of my lack of intention,

God had already placed me in key relationships that only needed to move from

ignorance to intentionality. I had a group of ten elders who oversaw the church as awhole, a group of lead pastors who headed up the various locations of the Crossing,

and another group of pastors at our primary location. I also had a small group that I led

with my wife with 3 other couples.

Conversion meant that I needed to see my influence in a new way. Instead of

concentrating on being the greatest player on the field, I needed to be the coach who


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prepared the players and provided places for them to play. Like Jesus, I needed to

select them, something God had already provided in large part. I needed to reorder my

ministry to spend large chunks of time with them, preparing them for areas of ministry

that fit their gifts and passions. I needed to live a life that was a consistent

demonstration of Jesus example before them. I needed to teach them how to

reproduce this in others, then set them apart and empower them for their ministry.

This was definitely a conversion to me. I was used to getting all the affirmation from

being the best player. Sharing those opportunities and giving ministry away scared me.

I wondered if my ministry would become more janitorial than ministerial. I would be

endlessly cleaning up messes and stomping out brushfires. Deeper still was the quiet

insecurity of giving up things that I would rather keep for myself. What if I was so

successful that I worked myself out of a job? These were some of the hurdles of my

conversion.

Conversion is the road less travelled. The unknown can be very intimidating, but like

Robert Frosts poem, it can make all the difference. Perceived success can be very

limiting. There is a pride that flows out of it that keeps us from recognizing and

responding to our need for change. As I've talked to other successful leaders who ask

about our story, I often feel resistance supported from the pride they have in their

perceived success. They're thinking,"Why should I change my whole approach to doing

ministry when the things I'm doing now seem to be working just fine? Besides that,

these kinds of radical changes could not only hinder my present success but even

reverse it! Isn't this really just another one of those latest flavors labelled with an

appropriate buzzword?". I can remember pushing back on these changes reminding

myself and others that we were already one of the fastest growing churches in the

country. A major change of course could make it look like I was just experimenting with

the direction of the church and using the congregation as test subjects. I had lots of

ways to defend my position.

Conversion requires humility...I really don't think it is even possible outside of it. Let's

face it...if we have enjoyed success, we're proud of it. It feeds our insecurities and gives

us confidence to lead. Its hard to admit to ourselves that maybe all this time, Jesus had


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something else in mind. If we have been leading in the wrong direction up to this point,

why should people follow us now?

In many ways, this conversion is just a continuation of our first. If true conversion is

happening in our church, this is exactly what we are calling for others to do. Accepting

Christ means that the former way of life was the wrong way and following Jesus and His

Word is the right one. Why should it be any different after we've been Christians a while

or placed in leadership? We place this like all other things, at the foot of our Master, the

Great Discipler and when we return from our knees, we have a new passion and vision.

That was certainly the case for me. Conversion made making disciples in relational

environments my vision and I could not see preaching about having an intimate

personal relationship with Jesus outside of it.

Conversion means change. The Crossing at this time was a church based on

attraction. We had a great building, awesome worship, relevant messages, and the

best programming...certainly the best in the area. Our strategy was to get people in,

disarm them, and then let the Word and the Spirit do the heavy lifting. It worked! At

least it did for attendance, decisions, and giving. If I hadn't seen the difference between

the sum of these parts and real discipleship, neither would the church, the staff, or the

leaders. My blind spot would certainly be theres as well.

Leading conversional change is some pretty heavy lifting. We know that as a

practical matter, Christians like to be seen as committed but operate as a consumer.

Consumerism is precisely the reason why more traditional churches resist change, even

if it contributes to their Iack of effectiveness or even their death. But conversional

change can be just as lethal. It will definitely be uncomfortable! The trick is making

people uncomfortable at a rate they can tolerate. Just because I have a compulsion

to convert doesn't mean that it will be shared by staff, leaders, or the congregation. The

challenge before me was to lead a major change of direction in a church that perceived

itself highly successful already. How I chose to communicate this new direction would

be absolutely critical to its success.


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Shift #3

Communication

So how do I communicate this new vision without throwing the proverbial baby out

with the bath water? The first thing I realized was that in order to be intentional about

making disciples in relational environments, we didn't have to give up on attraction. As

a matter of fact, they went hand in hand! Attraction was serving us well by bringing

people in the front door, it just hadn't done a good job helping people to get to the place

that Jesus had commissioned us to bring them. Why? Because attraction appeals to

the consumer and consumers are fickle. We really shouldn't be surprised if our church

people act like consumers if we have intentionally sought to attract them through what

we offer. We hire, program, worship, build, design, and market with the consumer in

mind. It's naive then to expect him to act in a way that is contrary to his nature.

The consumer is at the center of his own universe. If he doesn't like something or

feels neglected, he doesn't need to complain, he just votes with his feet. Today's

churches are full of consumers and mega-churches don't have a corner on the market.

People consume tradition just like innovation, so traditional churches who point at larger

churches accusing them of being too shallow are really no different. Tradition appeals

to a particular consumer in the same way. The missing piece in many churches today isa specific intentional pathway to committed discipleship. Attracting consumers isn't a

bad thing, it's just incomplete unless it is used as a springboard to a committed Christian

life. Without relational discipleship, its not much more than drawing a crowd and just

like in Jesus' time, crowds come and go. One minute they're shouting "Hosanna!" and

the next they're yelling "Crucify!".

Not only does attraction draw consumers, the practice of drawing through attraction

has a relatively short shelf life. In the short term, it can be very powerful, but its

effectiveness is short-lived. When a new restaurant comes to town it can be pretty hard

to get a seat. After the place is open awhile, it gets a lot easier to find one. It's the

same for a new Hollywood blockbuster or a new shopping mall. Smart churches can

attract consumers, but only a church bent on making disciples can turn consumers into

the committed. Sophisticated consumers are hard to hold and attraction for a church


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leader can be an endless pursuit for the next great thing. No matter what we do,

eventually consumers are going to get used to it, bored with it, and want to be satisfied

with something new. Some pastors, wanting desperately to hold the crowd, have

chased this rabbit into shock tactics and moral compromise. Making disciples is a

better way and it's Jesus' way but it's not the easy way.

Okay...so that meant we could still be an attractive church...but how could I

emphasize that making disciples was really the point?

One of my favorite Bible verses of church leadership is Psalm 78:71-72:

He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pensFrom tending the sheep he brought him to be

the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance.

And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;With skillful hands he led them.

Integrity of heart

That's what I needed to do and who I needed to be...lead with skillful hands out of

integrity of heart. Communicating this new direction of relational discipleship with

integrity of heart required more than conversion...it required conviction and conviction

expresses itself in passion. If you arent passionate about your conviction, you might

wonder whether or not a conversion has taken place. Passion is what validates the

investment into your conviction and when you communicate from it, people are moved

to either follow or disconnect. Passion is what holds your commitment to something

when logic and reason fail you.

Passion is preoccupying. Your mind is running constantly back to it. It takes an

effort to think about something else. Passion is personal. It attaches itself to your own

identity and it becomes self-defining. Passion is emotional; its hard to talk about it

without inflection in your voice or getting caught in hyperbole. Passion is powerful. Like

a ship going through the water, it creates a wake that people get caught up in. When

conviction is doused with passion, youre getting pretty close to all you need for a

roaring fire.

The listener gets caught up in the power and passion of the conviction. The most

effective ideas communicated are the ones that people consider their own and when a


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conviction is communicated effectively, people are drawn to the it and not just the

leader. In the long term, this gets far more traction for the church and for the kingdom of

God.

I know this sounds like a contradiction because a conviction is personal, but a great

leader gets people to focus on the relational discipleship itself. Churches that center on

relational discipleship are going to be much healthier than those that center on the

personality of a leader. Letting the focus rest on the leader is ultimately and invariably

destructive. Leaders are humans and humans cant help but make mistakes, be

inconsistent, and disappoint. Concentrating on relational discipleship puts the focus on

God where it belongs. But what about the "skillful hands"?

Skillful Hands

I once heard a great quote from an army general who said, Leadership is taking

people to a place they would have never have gone to by themselves. Without a

leader, a church isn't going anywhere and even with a leader, its still looking at turbulent

waters when it comes to change. Convicted leaders face an uphill battle even in

healthy environments and movement in the direction of change is seldom comfortable.

It will mean moving away from the place where you are and this is almost never easy.

Policies and structures will be adjusted or abandoned, key positions will be established,

and others will be replaced or removed. Change is best served in healthy times, but the

institutional inertia and the success of years gone by prompt existing leaders to consider

that if it isnt broken, why fix it? By the time many churches find the stomach to change,

they are pretty far gone. Like a terminal cancer patient, they are willing to grasp for life

with experimental treatments. In his great little book, How The Mighty Fall, Jim Collins

discusses the downward spiral that leads once successful businesses to capitulation

and death. His research shows that in an effort to reverse the fall, companies make

sweeping changes. However, by the time they do it, they are over leveraged in the

opposite direction and not healthy enough to manage the massive adjustments.

Any change is best accomplished in smaller increments. Driving even on a straight

road requires constant corrections at the wheel. It may seem that youre going straight,

but careful examination reveals a long line of small corrections. By contrast, most of us


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have been distracted while driving only to be frantically forced into a major correction

and a very dangerous situation. Big change divided up into lots of smaller, more

manageable adjustments is a healthy strategy for churches.

Communication of deep change needs to begin at the top. The last thing a leader

should do is to start communication from the pulpit. If the change is more important

than the primary leader, then the more leaders that own it and carry it to the

congregation, the better. I began with my top staff. I took them with me to see what I

had seen, put them in proximity to those who were actually walking relational

discipleship out, and then debriefing them on their thoughts. They saw what I saw and

more! My understanding began to expand in the soil of collaboration. New ideas began

to come to light as we imagined together how relational discipleship would look in our

context. Now relational discipleship wasn't just my conviction, it was ours!

Next, I shared with our eldership. They could feel the weight of my conviction as I

shared what I had experienced. They saw that it was a shared conviction of the staff. I

gave them Coleman's book to read, brought Jim Putman and some of his staff in to

speak with them and ask questions. I asked them to pray. We discussed the cost of the

changes. Now the conviction to change was shared by all the leadership in unity.

I remembered how Henry Blackeby had taught in Experiencing Godthat God speaks

through His Word, the church, circumstances, and prayer. All of those came together to

further my resolve in moving this way. It was obvious from the Word that this was

Jesus' method and the substance of His commission to the church. The circumstances

put me alongside people who were further down the discipleship road than I was to

teach me. My prayers had done nothing but confirm my conviction and now the church

was starting to move in unity from the top down.

We began to strategize on promoting relational discipleship in attractive ways to our

congregation so that instead of resisting, they would embrace it. I had already been

using a teaching strategy I had developed some time before to help the staff and

leadership understand how The Crossing would seek to build spiritual maturity in

people. I called it "The Dot". Relational discipleship provided the dynamic piece to

complete that model. This is how I would communicate how relational discipleship and

attraction would work together to make mature followers of Jesus Christ.


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Shift #4

The Message

Relational Discipleship...What is it?

Relational discipleship is not a small group program but it was hard for me to see

that. In fact, its not a program at all. Since I ve always considered myself to be an

evangelist, small groups have always been more of a necessary chore than a great

opportunity to me. It has always been difficult to get them going and even harder to

keep them going. You are constantly required to police whatever book or study theyre

going through. Getting people to lead them or host them has always been hard. Often,

people dont like others in their group and want to move or quit going all together. Many

successful groups might tend to want to be exclusive. New people are not invited in

and the group wont establish new leaders and new groups.

When I first saw relational discipleship in action, it appeared to be just another small

group program but a more careful look showed something else entirely. It was making

disciples using a balance of three things: an intentional leader, a relational

environment, and a reproducible process.

An intentional leader is someone who has made it his business to reproduce

disciples for Jesus. He does this more by watching and listening than by teaching.

Compare this to a coach interacting with a player in practice, correcting him, watching

him do it again and again, and adjusting and readjusting until the player is able to

reproduce what the coach wants. The attractional model alone reduces potential

players to spectators or fans coming out to watch the professionals play. Churches

committed to relational discipleship are full of potential intentional leaders both inside

and outside the church who have never been coached to coach.

A relational environment is one that allows the kind of individual attention to take

place so that meaningful one-on-one dialogue can happen between a group member

and a coach. Parents know that larger class sizes at school are never preferable

because individual attention is critical for teachers to know the progress of their

students. Small groups work when they are relational environments where this

intentional leadership and coaching can happen.


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A reproducible process means that what the intentional leader is doing is designed to

be reproduced in the follower. It is a means of coaching that makes the process of

discipleship measurable. Having some sort of metric to track spiritual growth has been

elusive in the church. We tend to put lots of options in front of a congregation and hope

they find something that fits them that they can grow in.

The process of relational discipleship was revolutionary to me. It divides spiritual

maturity into 4 stages: 1) infant 2) child, 3) young adult, and 4) parent. Someone at the

infant stage may or may not be a Christian. If they are, they are only attending as a

spectator. Someone at the child stage is involved in a relational environment (small

group) and is starting the process of being coached by that groups intentional leader.

Someone at the young adult stage is putting what he is learning to work in ministry.

His small group is a place where he puts what he is learning into the context of his

ministry and his intentional leader is looking for ways to move him into a coaching role.

Someone at the parent stage has become the intentional leader, reproducing what has

been done in him and looking strategically at how to move individuals under his

coaching forward. Notice that the word stage is used and not level. The reason is

because people need to be valued no matter which stage they are in. There will be

some in the infant stage that will be far more effective in later stages than many

already there.

Coaching happens by listening to the questions and comments in the group and

then driving the question or comment deeper into the person who gives it. As the person

explores the comment on a deeper and more personal level, the coach is watching,

listening, and getting a bead on the stage of his group member. A typical comment

might be made about the story of Jesus washing Judas feet. The group member might

say, I would never wash that jerks feet! (Infant stage) He might answer, It is so

awesome that Jesus washed his feet! (Child stage) He might say, We all need to

figure out ways to wash the feet of others. (Young adult stage) Or he might say,

George, how does that hit you in the context of your divorce? (Parent stage) The

answers the coach hears will let him know what stage his people are in. That cant

happen in a preaching environment. The dialogue requires it to be relational. The

leader is being intentional. His intention is figuring out where they are in order to move


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them forward. Look back at the infant stage answer. The coach would drive the

comment back into the group member with something like, When have you ever felt

betrayed? How did you respond to it? How do feel about your response? When one

group member starts getting transparent, it gives the whole group freedom to open up.

Before long, the intimacy level is rising and the coach is getting a great read of the

phase of each group member. All of that strategy is great but how does a leader

insert it into the DNA of an already living and growing church without killing it?

Relational Discipleship as a Maturity Strategy

We already had what I thought was a maturity strategy at The Crossing. I called it

"The Dot". It helped us to communicate what we were shooting for as we moved people

forward after being attracted to our church. It had already helped our people to be less

change resistant and willing to try new things. The exercise is important in an existing

church because it gives a clear view where changes need to be targeted, where

communication will be most effective, and whether or not the shifts will be accepted.

The problem was that while "The Dot" helped us to pinpoint where we were, and that is

critical, it really didn't give us a specific process to use when it would be most effective.

This is how "The Dot" works:

Whether we mean to or we do it by accident, every church puts out a product that is

more effective to at least some subset of people. Every church has a target. It may not

be intentional, as traditions tend to take on a life of their own but it s there just the same.

Look at the style of your music and worship. Who is attracted to it? Look at the church

budget. Who gets the most money? Look at the use of the building. Who gets the

most space? Look at the style of the building and its furniture. Is it antique? Does it

have colors popular in the 1970s? Your church will tell you whom you are targeting.

Now look at who is sitting in the seats. Dont figure in children under 13, as they have to

go wherever their parents drive them. What is their average age? When you put all

that together, you will know whom you are targeting. That is your dot. Now find an age

range of about 5 years with 2 and 1/2 years on either side of the dot. That is the sweet

spot.


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The Sweet Spot

The sweet spot is that space of time where relational discipleship and attraction

come together. It happens on both sides of the dot and the better we are at it, the wider

that sweet spot becomes. It gives us more time to implement and reinforce discipleshipthrough motivation, relationship, and training to make it stick. The focus on discipleship

does not take away from the attractional emphasis...it enhances it! This focus closes

the back door of the church and as people move through The Dot, the reproducible

process of discipleship transitions them from self-focused to others-focused. They dont

leave because a new set of selfless priorities has replaced the set that attracted them.

Further, there is a greater sense of unity that comes from alignment with the staff to

meet the shared goals of growth in numbers and growth in maturity. Maturing

Christians let personal wants take a back seat to whatever is most effective to get

people through the sweet spot. The result is a healthy, growing, deepening, and unified

body.

Focusing on the dot was the Crossing's first step in a winning strategy. The missing

piece was what we were going to do in that time of maximum effectiveness. The

conversion to relational discipleship and the communication of that message was

exactly the strategy we needed to communicate in that highly fertile space of time. The

Crossing's sweet spot has always been pretty wide, especially since we have very little

in the area of sacred cows or church traditions. Our problem wasn't either establishing

or widening our sweet spot, it was using it most effectively to make disciples. If we were

going to understand our "win" was making disciples in relational environments, then our

whole organization would need to be aligned to that from the top down.

Look a little closer at the dynamic. As people approach the age range where the dot

is, everything is becoming more and more relevant. You are getting the maximum

impact for your work. As things begin making more and more sense for the person,

they are getting into the dot. This is the place when our hearts are the most open, were

the most teachable, and discipleship traits like worship, ministry, prayer, and Bible study

really revs up. Those 5 or so years are absolutely critical to discipleship. While were

there, the church has to establish proper priorities, values, and a Christian world- view


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in the hearts of targeted people. In the dot, people learn how important people without

an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus really are to Him. They develop disciplines

to value spiritual change in others more than personal comfort. They get involved by

committing to be part of the solution by discovering their shape in ministry and putting it

into practice. Its a critical time because before long, were moving out of it. We cant

stop the march of time in our own lives. The goal is that by the time the church is

becoming less personally relevant to us, we have traded in our own needs for the

bigger yes of seeing the effectiveness of the church and our own ministry on those

coming up. We incorporate our gifts into the rest of the body as we join together to

reach into the lives of those hearts coming into full bloom. But what about people on

the older side of the dot? Are they neglected? If the church has done its job, there

really isnt a problem. Its not about us anymore. That is a simple definition of Christian

maturity.

I cant overemphasize just how important it is to communicate this philosophy to the

leaders and congregation. It goes beyond what were doing to answer the question of

why. When we know why it gives substance to our purpose. Were making a

difference thats going to outlive us. When we look hard at it, we know better than to be

self-centered. Now were not looking at a church an inch deep and a mile wide.

Relational discipleship can also help the church become immortal. Many churches

wonder why they are getting older and smaller or why the struggle attracting younger

people. If you want to do ministry the same way you have been, youll continue to be

effective with that age group of people. How close are they to dying? Lets say 80. If

your dot is 55, it means that your church has 25 years to live. Its mortal. If the church

continues doing the same thing, in 25 years it will only be relevant to the people in the

cemetery. Thats a sobering thought but nonetheless very important to understand.

This is the reason. Unless you have figured out how to make the sun stand still, time

will continue to march on relentlessly. As time marches on, the dot will move with it.

The dot is bound to time as long as we continue to be most relevant to the same

people. The only way to change this is to change the target. If the church can apply

pressure to the higher side of the dot by focusing the target downward, time won t slow

down but the dot will. Our goal is to stop the dot from moving at all or to reverse it.


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How do we get the dot to stop moving? You cant stop timebut you can stop the

dot. The way to do it is by focusing downward. We must continually look to be the most

relevant to the people who are approaching where your dot presently is, not the ones

already there. It keeps you stretching downward to adjust to new ways to be relevant.

This forces the church to look at the changing culture and adapt to it. There is no need

to compromise doctrine or vision, just the means and methods of how they are

delivered. It means we have to embrace new forms of technology, new styles of music

and worship, hire younger staff members, spend more money and expend more energy

in programming in that direction. When outward and downward focuses are coupled

together, the church has set itself up for immortality. If the dot isnt moving, even though

there are people in the church getting older, the church isnt getting older. Coupled with

an outward focus, there is a steady stream of the 80% who are unchurched coming into

a relationship with Christ being attracted by the relevance defined by the dot. Using the

strategy of relational discipleship maximizes the churches effectiveness at the most

critical time and redirects older, more mature believers onto the field as players instead

of sophisticated consumers.


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Shift #5

Alignment

In their book Simple Church, Tom Rainer and Eric Geiger opened the eyes of the

church to something much more critical than a new buzzword...alignment. The concept

caught the attention of cutting edge churches and leaders sought to implement the

strategy. Even though the books flew off the shelves, the practical reality and

implementation of true alignment has remained elusive for many churches. For the

Crossing, alignment was the next critical step in our disciple-shift. Leadership needed

to be aligned relationally, theologically, philosophically, and organizationally in order to

be effective. While the idea has captured the church at large in theory, very few

churches are effectively walking it out and the Crossing was no exception. For

relational discipleship to happen, there has to be a context of alignment, starting with

the leadership. Our alignment process focused in these most critical areas.

Alignment in our relationships (relational)

I wonder how many churches are attempting to change the world for Christ, filling

their calendars with programs and processes all designed to bring people into a lasting

relationship with God and each other without realizing that the staff and leadership are

not in relationship let alone alignment. My experience in coming alongside church

leaders has revealed a huge blind spot in many churches...relational alignment. The

reason I can see it is because it had to be pointed out to me.

If the church, leadership, or staff is going to come into alignment, it needs to begin

with me (the senior pastor). Concepts taught but not modeled are hypocritical and no

one wants to follow a hypocrite. Relational alignment with my key leaders was my first

step.I will never forget sitting around the table with my executive team organizing and

leading a "two for one". For those of you wondering, it's an exercise where everyone

has permission to speak out two praiseworthy things about everyone at the table and

one issue where work is needed, one person at a time. The response by the one being

critiqued is only to repeat each observation back to the satisfaction of the one speaking


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followed by a polite "thank -you". There is no defending, explaining, rationalizing,

excusing, or rescuing allowed. Both the one giving and receiving the two for one have

to look directly at each other. The exercise should be done with a coach in the room to

keep the exercise on track.

Since I was the leader of this group of leaders, it was my responsibility to lead by

example. The experience was a little disturbing but highly enlightening as it exposed

areas in my life and leadership that needed to be addressed as well as showing me

where I was truly admired and respected. It was amazing how well they saw me. The

negatives stung but I could see the validity of the areas that needed work. At first, the

other participants were cautious, wondering if I could even receive the criticism. I wrote

the words down wanting to repeat them back accurately. My acceptance and

appreciation of their words prompted a greater boldness in them to speak honestly and

transparently. Before long, some big stuff was being thrown out that had really limited

us as a group. Many of the praises and concerns needed attention and it started to

become apparent just how far out of alignment we were.

It's amazing what happens when thoughts or feelings are spoken into existence

honestly and face to face. In that moment they become real and when they are

repeated back accurately, the one who shared the opinion has genuinely been heard,

maybe for the first time. I wonder how many leaders of churches would have the guts to

do this exercise with their key players. People may have worked together for years but

have conveniently avoided any real relationship and without relationship, there can be

no real alignment. If our mission is based on loving God and each other, how can we

expect to see it in our people if we are unwilling to do it ourselves. It's not easy, but

through the process of alignment I learned that relationship is something we can't just

expect, it's something we have to fight for.

In one meeting, I was amazed at what was shared with me and used what I had

learned in the two for one to move the relationship forward. I listened as a committed

couple shared their hurt and pain, much of it connected to me, feeling that they had

been misunderstood. I listened in silence until they were through, then repeated their

hurt feelings back to them. I thanked them for their honesty and then apologized for the

pain. Even though many of their presuppositions were wrong, they were valid to them.


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Speaking the issues into existence, being fully heard, and then fighting for the

relationship changed the entire dynamic.

Relational alignment pays big dividends for a church leader. Real love is

communicated through ascribing value and that comes through hearing to the

satisfaction of the people around us. It doesnt mean that they necessarily get their

way, but it does mean that their viewpoint is valuable and it has legitimately been heard.

Its far easier for our players to be in alignment when they know their leader is hearing

them.

Alignment in our understanding (theological)

Like most churches, the Crossing had a doctrinal statement, a mission statement, a

list of core values, and an introductory 101 style of class. We had a membership and

leadership and bylaws. I had written or changed most of them myself. What we didn't

have was theological and philosophical alignment. There had been no serious

discussion or collaboration in their creation so many were operating on a whole host of

assumptions that created a lot of confusion. What do I have to do to be a member?

What do you believe about baptism? Is there a literal hell? What roles can women

have in this church? Why are there so many different bibles? Are you Spirit filled?

There were leaders who leaned reformed, some who had experienced Spiritual gifts,

some focused on missions, and others fixated on growth or debt. It would have been

hard to get the same answers out of any two of them.

These were among many concerns that were pretty vague, and there was little

sense of what issues we would all die on the hill together for. There were also a host of

issues that weren't considered doctrinal ( heaven or hell issues) but more unity

statements, kind of like our play book. Those are statements that are clear expressions

of how we choose to conduct ourselves as a church by our best understanding of

scripture.

The leadership needed to be crystal clear on both, and in complete unity as we

communicated with our teams, the congregation, and those who were checking us out.

It was a great exercise and when we were through, there was a great deal of peace in it.

We had clear expectations for potential leaders and encouragements for new believers


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and members. Since the leaders collaborated on the statements, problems were all

addressed and remedied before we faced the congregation. We stood together.

Our statement came in two parts: The doctrinal statement and the unity statement.

The doctrinal statement spoke our core beliefs. They were the scriptural truths that

formed the foundation of our faith and were considered absolutely essential for our

salvation and our fellowship. Our unity statements were interpretations of scripture that

were open for debate but reflected our viewpoints for the purpose of being undivided. It

was designed to elevate the value of unity and liberty while clearly setting expectations

on our approach to minimize misunderstanding. Creating clear boundaries helped to

clarify if a player was getting out of bounds and threatening our unity.

Our highest level leaders collaborated to make the document. While this was very

important to use for good congregational understanding, it was even more important for

the leaders. It forced the tough questions of whether or not each player was willing to

stand in alignment theologically. This exercise strengthened the basis of our

relationships, the common ground that we stood on and represented to the world.

Our next project was to clearly communicate or vision, our mission, and our process.

Our vision was taken from Matthew 22:37-40, to love God and each other with all we

are and have. Our mission describes how we are to accomplish that. Taken from

Matthew 28:18-20, we want to make disciples who have an intimate, personal

relationship with Jesus Christ. We see no better was to love God or each other. Our

process is taken from Matthew 4:19, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

We seek to attract followers who can be changed by Christ in relational environments

by intentional leaders who can then join Christs and our shared mission.

All of our key leaders agreed to these statements. It then became clear that we

needed to be in alignment across our campuses in communicating these statements to

our congregations. Each campus had their own 101 style of introductory class. Now

we would all teach the same material and convey an aligned approach setting

expectations for church members and leaders. We also tackled our process of

developing leaders and elders, setting clear metrics for each role.

The result of this theological alignment was focus and intentionality. The place

where we stood was solid and there was plenty room for everyone to stand together.


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Alignment in our approach (philosophical)

As I touched on briefly in the creation of our statements, we zeroed in on Matthew

4:19 for our approach. Before we understood the critical nature of relational

discipleship, we had grown as a primarily attractional church. We were very intentionalabout getting people through the front door and in the seats. As we pursued our desire

to follow Jesus method of discipleship in relationship, we recognized that our

concentration on attraction wasnt wrong, it was just incomplete. Jesus used attraction

through His teaching and His miracles to pull together huge crowds. It was out of those

crowds that discipleship formed. We used our worship services as primarily attraction

events designed to introduce people to Jesus or to witness what Christ followers look

like. We concentrated on breaking down barriers, disarming, uplifting, and challenging

as many people as possible.

Out of that crowd, we needed to call out for real Christ followers. Like in Kyle

Idlemans book Not A Fan, we had to become serious in the development of a pathway

from fan to follower. We incorporated Jesus own method of leading learners in

relatively small relational environments. We had already said that real change happens

best in small groups. We just started putting that into action using properly prepared

relational leaders in those environments. They would concentrate on reproducing this

process over and over. As people were being changed by Christ, they would submit to

the discipleship of these leaders and then become leaders themselves on mission for

Christ fulfilling Jesus Matthew 4:19 method.

Philosophical alignment travels from the top down but eventually everyone needs to

be on the same page. As I already shared, we developed a new membership class to

create a common understanding of our theology and unity. The same class was used to

explain our approach to ministry and our expectations of both members and leaders.

This teaching became something we wanted everyone who called the Crossing home to

go through. Philosophical alignment removes so many potential pitfalls from

misunderstanding, replacing them with a sure footing of common cause.

Philosophical alignment also creates a platform for setting and measuring

expectations in our staff and other leaders. Clear expectations have a huge impact on


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intentionality. Many key players are not succeeding because clear expectations havent

been set causing their ministry to drift. The leader is responsible to cast vision so that

the player can articulate the wins in his ministry area. Wins however are not enough.

Without a path to get there, drifting will continue. Players need to map out specific

measurable ways that their win is achieved. It should become clear to them in a

relatively short amount of time whether or not their strategy is producing the win they

are looking for and the leader is expecting. Clear communication can make the strategy

the problem and not necessarily the person. Good strategies also create the wins that

can be celebrated and used to encourage even higher expectations.

Expectations are funny things...they can be completely unrealistic causing big

problems in relationship without even being noticed. It may be that the senior pastor

says he wants to be in relationship with his key team. That statement may mean two

completely different things to the pastor and those he said it to. The pastor may feel a

growing resentment from a player only to find that the player s expectation for

relationship was much more involved. Maybe the pastor feels that a monthly meeting is

sufficient but the expectation of the player was twice a week. Resentment can form

without clarity on expectations. A good leader listens well to his players and then asks

what the player means when they state expectations.

Alignment in our structure (organizational)

Our organizational alignment is very specific to our organization. I understand that

many of those reading this operate in a single location but the values expressed in our

organization are a reflection of when we were a single location. We however have

always sought to be a flat organization, place a high value on leadership, reflect core

values, and push vertical opportunity. These values have found their highest levels of

effectiveness within the pursuit of relational discipleship. With 7 campuses and literally

hundreds of ministries, The Crossing has become a fairly complex organization. There

are plenty of potential negatives that go along with this kind of growth. There is a

tendency to become more corporate or departmentalized creating a colder, more

detached staff and ministry. More attention might be paid to a particular bottom line

rather than relationships and communication. Organizational structure could become


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fuzzy with people answering to more than one supervisor or just choosing the one they

want to listen to.

Another issue is that while theological, philosophical, and relational alignment should

stay relatively static over time, organizational alignment is something that is constantly

changing. If it doesnt change with growth, growth will stop. While constant evaluation

and change of organizational alignment is critical to the health and growth of the church,

it is also potentially frustrating to staff, leaders, and players who feel like the goal posts

keep moving. Because of this nature of change, organizational alignment needs lots of

communication and re-communication. Our organizational structure reflects certain

values that stay static even as the structure itself changes.

Value #1 The organization stays flat. Organizations that get large can lose sight of

the value of each player on the team. Relational discipleship flourishes in an

environment of high communication and transparency. There is a tendency to build

structures vertically like skyscrapers rather than a flatter, more spread out model.

Structures constructed vertically might look imposing but in fact they are susceptible to

higher risk. Flatter models spread out key relationships and give lots more people

places to play. They actually reduce exposure to risk. This is one reason why The

Crossing believes so strongly in multi-site. Im writing this on September 12th and

reflecting on the 9/11 attack. We all remember the visual image of the towers coming

down in New York. We know that another plane hit the pentagon but it doesnt evoke

the same image. Why? Even though the pentagon was damaged and lives were lost,

the structure itself stood strong and was rebuilt. Apply that idea to the church. Vertical

organizations can fall if a key player fails but flatter organizations spread the weight out

so that it is less vulnerable.

The Crossing has meetings...lots of meetings! Each week, each campus pastor

pulls everyone on his team in to share, cast vision, and problem solve. Each week I

video chat with all the campus pastors doing the same thing. Every month, we pull the

entire staff together for worship, encouragement, celebration, sharing, and a meal.

Everyone being heard and valued helps them in accepting and adjusting to necessary

changes. That, once again, is a reflection of relational discipleship.


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Value #2 The organization silos under campus pastors instead of ministries. In

order to be a good follower, there has to be close proximity to a leader. We learned

pretty early that the leadership of each campus-based ministry needed to flow through

the campus pastor as opposed to a ministry leader. Having both ministry leaders and

campus pastors created a two boss scenario that wasn't sustainable. Multi-site ministry

leaders operate primarily in a resourcing capacity and only function as leaders as they

communicate through the campus pastor. Discipleship especially flows through staff

hierarchy and trust is earned by example and learned visually. Campus pastors then

become the linchpins of the organization, building relationship with their staffs doing

ministry side by side. Whether investing in campus pastors like I do, or ministry leaders

in a single site church, or volunteers in a young or smaller church, relational discipleship

is how that investment is made.

Value #3 Our structure reflects our core values. We value relationships so our

structure is defined by it. The top of our organization is called the executive team. It is

primarily comprised of our 7 campus pastors. It is my first priority of relational

discipleship as i seek to shape them into the vibrant leaders God intended for them to

be. This is my favorite part of ministry...and the most fruitful evidenced in the

multiplication of fruit. Relational discipleship is best exampled in leadership so we

spend a substantial amount of time, money, and energy on it.

These leaders in turn, reproduce this relationship in their individual staffs. Each staff

member reproduces it in their volunteers. Our church structure then becomes an

example for the expectations we set in the discipleship of every member. I believe

every church structure should reflect the image of Christ and His discipleship example.

Value #4 Structure is flat but potential is vertical. In his book Good to Great, Jim

Collins writes about getting people in the right seat on the bus. At the Crossing, we

have recognized the value of moving people from right seat to right seat. Getting a

good understanding of this happens in the context of a strong relationship. A flat

structure means that there is a place for every opinion to be voiced and valued. There


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is a sense of equality even in the midst of hierarchy. The system lets people move fairly

freely within the structure, exploring where talents and gifts connect with the church's

needs. This vertical movement and the backfilling that comes after it is key to making

our system work. Some of our best success stories have come from this vertical

movement.


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Shift # 6Empowerment

With the defining of the direction of discipleship and the alignment of the

organization, it's time to actually do the work of making disciples in relational

environments. This process has to start with the training of leaders. Once leaders have

completed the training, it's time for them to put their skills to work. Even this happens in

the environment of relational discipleship as the small group leader is in relationship

with a small groups pastor. The training is designed to equip leaders to make disciples

in relational environments. The training uses small groups as a platform on which to

build ideas and discussions, but most of the concepts are applicable to any ministry

context. The entire training is accomplished in a small group format. We limit the

number of participants to around 10. Groups are typically led by a training team

consisting of a lead facilitator, co-facilitator and an apprentice facilitator. The training is

designed to get leaders to think much more intentionally. The key to the training is

what happens after the training is completed. The participants are encouraged to work

and improve upon the various skills and concepts that were covered in their training.

Also, connecting the leaders with a mentor who is committed to having an intentional

relationship with them is critical.We begin by simply building a model a small group using biblical story telling as a

method. We go over several basic ground rules setting expectations and begin to

speak the environment into existence. We also do some vision casting about the

importance of relational discipleship and the vision for what God wants to do through it.

We then debrief, going through all the intentional things that were going on in the

modeling of the small group and talking about the importance of each. This gives

prospective leaders a much greater understanding of their role and a much higher

sense of being equipped to lead.

The training covers how to prepare for a group, how to manage typical challenges in

relationship like over-talking, under-talking, crisis situation management, and keeping

discussion moving and interesting. We teach practical skills to manage a variety of

challenges that arise in relational environments, helping potential leaders to learn how


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to think through problems and issues. We teach listening skills and develop them in

ways to look below the surface, designed to take people deep, discovering motivations

for issues and problems in their lives. We teach how to rightly apply scripture into

practical realities like sin, surrender, and accepting God's truth. These skills operating

in real time begin to change both the intentional leader and the ones learning and

following into real players in the Kingdom.

Before long, regular church people are beginning to look a lot like shepherds, caring

for a small flock and raising up new leaders learning the same skills in an active

environment. These leaders learn how to chase the strays and how to restore them

back into relationship. This all happens under the active authority of the leader being in

relational discipleship himself, learning while leading, always with a leader to answer

questions, to encourage, and to celebrate wins. Our leaders develop as shepherds who

provide pastoral care for those they lead, promoting the biblical concept of those in the

Body caring for one another.

Intentional leader development always includes how to open doors to relationship

with people outside the church. We show them how to have an intentional relationship

with a non-believer and how to handle the conversation when it shifts to God. They

learn how to share their personal testimony and how to navigate that relationship to and

through conversion.

We train our disciplers on how to choose an apprentice, cast vision into him, and

how to empower him to start a new group through branching. There are truly

exponential opportunities in the reproduction of leadership through this model. People

have the opportunity to achieve their highest potential in bearing fruit for the Kingdom.

It automatically creates a pipeline for future volunteer and paid staff leaders with the

thorough vetting that comes through intentional relational discipleship. Small group

leader training happens in a discipleship context and not only develops a disciple but

creates a discipler. The small group becomes its own engine for producing a

reproducing disciples and leaders through apprenticeship and branching.

Where Are We Now?


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The first thing that needs to be clear is that we haven't figured all this out. I'm sure

that God is moving in many churches to discover the necessity of real relational

discipleship, but I can say this for sure...I know that we are moving in the right direction

and every day we are getting better at doing it! I can honestly say that relational

discipleship does not hinder growth...it enhances it! I can also say that it produces a

pipeline of dedicated leaders, both volunteer and staff, that will take kingdom ground

like never before! I can also say that creates a much healthier work and ministry

environment!

There was a time that the Crossing had basically 3 main measurements of perceived

success...attendance, decisions, and giving. Now we can measure numbers of existing

relational environments, numbers of trained leaders, numbers of branched groups,

numbers of apprentices, ratios to overall attendance, and so forth. I believe that

consistency of attendance, volunteerism, financial giving, and true worship from the

heart are all aspects of Christian maturity and that maturity is grown in the greenhouse

of discipleship. The healthiest church focuses on both attraction and discipleship

without neglecting either. A church focused exclusively on discipleship misses

evangelism and stagnates in growth becoming inwardly focused and self serving. A

church focused on attraction becomes shallow and irresponsible to new believers while

failing to mature anyone beyond sophisticated consumers. Put them together and the

church begins to look the way that Jesus intended it. To get a clearer picture of The

Crossing, check out www.thecrossing.net. To get serious about relational discipleship,

hook up with Relational Discipleship Network, a network of churches helping each other

to walk out intentional relational discipleship in their churches and the world, one person

and one church at a time.
http://www.thecrossing.net/http://www.thecrossing.net/http://www.thecrossing.net/

shifted (jerry harris)

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