Question:

Discipleship and Assimilation – It seems that the only discipleship format out there that is working is the cell group.  Is anyone doing anything different that is working?  How are pastors plugging new believers into their churches and assuring that they are getting grounded in the Word and in fellowship?

Responses:

Pastor Bill McRay – Nashville, TN
I believe that both scripturally and practically, corporate teaching and small group ministry are still the most effective means of discipleship.  Teaching alone will not mature a Christian.  Teaching and Mentoring will.  That is the example that Jesus set before us as He developed His disciples.  Through corporate teaching in our worship services and whatever other teaching opportunities that our churches may provide (Bible Schools, etc.), believers receive the impartation of the Word.  Through small groups in whatever form they may take in any given church, people live life together applying the Word as they go.  Under the oversight of a qualified mentor (small group leader) this becomes a lifetime process of growth and maturity.  None of this is just going to happen.  We must put workable systems into place that cause it to happen in a systematic way.  Too often we become so spiritually minded that we neglect the natural side necessary to release the things of the Spirit into our lives.  One of the reasons many of our churches have not been as fruitful as they could have been is that we have not put the natural systems in place that form a framework through which the Word and Spirit can work and produce fruit. 

One of those systems is assimilation.  Assimilation is what takes place from the time a first time guest first drives onto our parking lot until he becomes a fully functioning member of our church.  The average church manages to assimilate approximately one out of 20 first time guests.  A church with a strong assimilation system in place can actually assimilate up to one out of three.  That's where your disciples are my brothers and sisters.  The Lord sends them to us through many different ways and we expect to land them with our spirituality and anointed teaching.  But we lose them and never see most of them again before they can even recognize the presence of God or the things of the Spirit.  When people come to our churches, most of them are almost entirely naturally oriented.  As Brother Hagin used to say, they wouldn't recognize the Holy Spirit if He met them at their car in a red jump suit.  The reality is we have seven minutes from the time a first time guest drives on to our parking lot to make a first impression.  That first impression usually determines whether they will ever be a second time guest.  Thus an assimilation system is imperative.  Allow me to recommend a book to you entitled, "Fusion, Turning First-Time Guests into Fully-Engaged Members of Your Church," By Nelson Searcy, published by Regal Books.  (www.regalbooks.com).  This little book will take you a couple hours to read and contains a powerful assimilation system all laid out and ready for you to put in place.  It is exceedingly simple, yet powerful.


Pastor Sam Smucker – Lancaster, PA
We are using the Alpha Course as a way of reaching seekers. Many give their lives to Jesus as they go through the course. Close to the end of the course we take them on a retreat to teach about the Holy Spirit and give them opportunity to receive prayer to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

The next step for them is the Beta Course which teaches the fundamentals of faith and the Christian life. We also help them get involved in a small group to interact with other believers. After the Beta Course we encourage them to serve in the church in some way and bring others to the Alpha Course.

Also, we offer many other courses on Wednesday nights such as parenting, finances, marriage, Bible study course, etc., that they can take on an ongoing basis. We are having a good percentage of new believers following through with this path.


Pastor Matt Beemer – Manchester, England
I see Discipleship and Assimilation as two separate things that work well together but should not be limited to only working together. Programs are great and I want as many discipleship options as possible so that people who have different ways of learning and different backgrounds can find a discipleship format that fits their ‘bent’.  But I’m most passionate about developing a culture of 'discipleship and caring one for another' throughout the entire ministry. We are working to create a culture where people take responsibility for each other in these areas instead of looking to one particular person, or a program to do it for them.  It takes time to change culture so its early days still, but this way of thinking is starting to get into the hearts of everyone in the church.

The following is some of what we do, but our focus is on developing the culture of discipleship throughout.

For Assimilation (I like ‘connecting’ better), there are two things we do that work especially well for us.  Firstly, we have a ‘Church That Works’ team that meets occasionally to watch over the entire ‘connecting’ process to continually evaluate and improve it.  Everything is looked at from how does a person make first contact with the church, through to their being established in the place of service that is a perfect fit to their grace.

When the team discovers gaps or weakness in the process, they are responsible to brainstorm and implement solutions.  Also, when there’s an area they need to bring real improvement, for example the welcome team, or maybe the website, they then invite that teams leadership to the meetings so they can discuss ideas about how to ensure there is a seamless and helpful journey for all who come to the church…

Secondly, as part of our ‘connecting’ process we have what we call Partnership.  This is our version of membership, but it has been especially designed to help people connect with the ministry.  We kick it off with a special ‘Meet the Pastors’ fellowship for anyone who is new to the church.  Here everyone new to the church has opportunity to get to know each other and they start getting to know the pastors and other leaders in the ministry.  We have some laughs, a question and answer time, and then introduce Partnership telling them how to attend.

The following five weeks are five 1 hour sessions where the focus is two fold, “Connect with the Church & Connect with their Calling.”

The first sessions tell about the history of the church, we show some pictures and video clips and tell some funny stories of our pioneering days.  Then we share our annual vision as well as talk about our future aspirations.  All of these sessions are designed for people new to the church to quickly connect with where we’ve been, where we are, and where we're going.  We even have a glossary of terms to help them understand our churches ‘lingo’.  We are working hard to assist every new person in the church to establish a quick and vital connection.  There are also a couple practical sessions about what partnership is and isn’t.  Finally, we focus on getting to know the persons gifting, dreams and passion.  Every evening has plenty of tea and coffee time for fellowship and connecting with each other as well.

These final 'connect with your calling' sessions are the most important part of the process because we want to help people find a place in the ministry where their graces are expressed to the fullest; a place where they will be able to serve with joy and be fulfilled personally while enabling the ministry to fulfill its mandate.  So they complete a questionnaire and that is given to a trained guide who schedules a 'guidance chat' and then helps them connect with a ministry team.  The guide will assist them until they are fully intergraded into a team and doing well.

This is where our ‘connecting’ process and discipleship meet – in their team.  The team leader, having caught the vision to disciple their team members, takes on a discipleship responsibility for that person as long as they are part of that team.

If the person wishes to switch teams at some point then they meet with their current team leader and do a kind of casual ‘exit interview’.  Their current team leader’s job is then to ensure that they leave the team properly, but also they are to ensure that the person gets plugged into a new team quickly so the discipleship process can continue.

The leader will also ask if they can communicate any issues and ‘personal development goals’ that may have arisen in their appraisals to their new team leader so that the new leader can build on the success and advances they made in the previous team.

Because everyone who is a 'Partner' must serve at least once per month in some ministry team, we are sure that all the Partners are being discipled.

So our assimilation process links into the discipleship culture we are creating throughout the ministry, but we also do many other programs to disciple church members.

We also have small groups that we call Covenant Groups and in these groups the focus is on relationships and ‘caring one for another’.  The Covenant Group leaders are to disciple those in their group and facilitate the 'care one for another' culture among the group members.

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