Scattering Gospel seed may be done accidentally…without planning nor intent, just responding to people as they ask us about our faith…or we can become intentional in how we scatter Gospel Seed. In the Bible’s era, farming was done in a haphazard way by throwing the seed on the ground, and then tilling the soil over it. But today, we have machines that are far more effective at planting seeds. In fact, these machines can be configured to insert one seed for any distance programmed, from inches to feet apart. The result is that harvests today are far more plentiful than in Jesus’ day (Yes, I know other factors are involved, but please let me stick with my analogy).
For the contemporary church, today, most have given up on intentional disciple-making. They have adopted a PASSIVE model of disciple making that challenges people to attend Sunday morning services and join an unstructured social small group. That’s it! That is PASSIVE DISCIPLESHIP. It is like throwing seed across the ground hoping something will grow, rather than intentionally planting seeds to gain a greater harvest. When I asked church leaders why they did not have an ACTIVE DISCIPLESHIP program for adults, they said it was just too difficult to program and support people over their various phases of spiritual development. As a result, AssessME.org built a seed-planting machine that any church can use…it is called: NextSteps Discipleship Tracking & Equipping. Then, David A Posthuma authored a leadership training book to go along with the software entitled: Active Discipleship.
Active Discipleship is written for church leaders to provide the theology, philosophy, systems, and solutions that enable the revitalization of the lost classical art of Active Discipleship within any local church. This book is the culmination of fourteen years of market research and alpha-model market testing with scores of churches differing in sizes and theological traditions, ultimately resulting in the development of a customizable disciple-making software platform called NextSteps. Christians, all Christians, are called to participate in the God-given mission of making disciples for Jesus Christ. Yet, how do we do that? How do we organize, train, and mobilize the body of Christ so that each and every believer is both a disciple, and a contributor to the disciple-making process in the lives of others? This goal requires more than training. It requires a support system and organizational infrastructure. Unfortunately, most pastors are not gifted at building support systems nor building organizational infrastructure. This is why we have partnered the book Active Discipleship with the NextSteps Discipleship Tracking and Equipping Platform hosted by AssessME.org. This book, Active Discipleship, provides the intellectual framework for how and why to revitalize the lost classical art of Active Discipleship in this digital age, while the NextSteps software provides the systems architecture your church needs effectively implement the Active Discipleship principles.
Active Discipleship, in partnership with the NextSteps software by AssessME.org promises to revolutionize your intentional and interpersonal discipleship efforts. Empowering your church to make disciples of Jesus Christ more intentionally, and more effectively, than ever before possible.
