Outward-Focus Disciple-Making

Outward-Focus Disciple-Making

​Churches across the U.S. are eager to embrace new approaches to disciple-making. Many love the idea of micro-groups, relational disciple-making, and obedience-based practices. Yet there’s one persistent challenge: most churches instinctively disciple those already inside their walls while avoiding those on the outside.
This is not how Jesus began. For Jesus, disciple-making started with those far from God. His invitation to fishermen, tax collectors, and outsiders set the pattern: discipleship is not an internal program for the already convinced, but a discovery process for the not-yet-believing.

Two Different Goals, Two Different Approaches

​One of the common mistakes churches make is trying to disciple people who are far from God in the same way we disciple those who are already following Jesus. Both groups need discipleship, but the goals differ:

• For those who already follow Jesus, the goal is daily surrender to King Jesus -the Lordship rhythm that forms the foundation of Kingdom life. We disciple believers to hear His voice, obey His Word, and walk in His ways every day.
• For those far from God, the goal is discovery of who Jesus is and what it means to embrace Him and His Way. Here, discipleship begins with exposure to the Gospels by asking simple discovery questions about specific stories you read together:
  • What does this story say about God?
  • What does this story say about people?
  • If this is really God’s word, what changes would I have to make in my life? 
  • Who can you share this story with? 

This isn’t about imparting religious knowledge, but about inviting people into an encounter with the living Christ.

One Framework, Adaptable Tools

​At Planting the Gospel, we use the same 5.3.2. Disciple-Making Framework across all our disciple-making efforts:

• Five principles: 1) simple enough to reproduce, 2) the Gospel as our curriculum, 3) the Holy Spirit as our teacher, 4) following Jesus as our objective, and 5) relationships as our vehicle.
• Three relationships: 1) I invite you, 2) you invite someone, and 3) together we form a micro-group.
• Two rhythms: 1) daily surrender to King Jesus and 2) weekly accountability to one another.

This framework doesn’t change. What changes are the tools we use depending on the type of disciple on our Disciple-Makers Pathway - pre-disciples, new disciples, growing disciples, disciple-makers, and catalytic disciple-makers.

• With disciples, we use tools like the Gospel Disciple Life Journal and the Disciple-Makers Journal to establish daily surrender and weekly accountability.
• With pre-disciples, we use the Discovery Jesus Journal, designed to ask Discovery Bible Study-type questions and simple Gospel readings to foster discovery and openness.

In both cases, the process is relational, reproducible, and designed for multiplication.

Why This Matter

When churches only disciple insiders, they create a closed system that struggles to multiply. When churches focus outward, disciple-making becomes a missionary movement that reaches neighborhoods, workplaces, gyms, schools, and families.
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Bigger programs will not define the future church, but ordinary believers equipped to disciple both insiders and outsiders, adapting their approach while remaining faithful to the same simple framework.
Outward-focus disciple-making is not an optional add-on. It is the way of Jesus.

 Join the movement.

​Sign up for our free workshop, Outward Focus Disciple-Making, on October 23, 2025, from 1 PM to 2:30 PM ET.  
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You can grab our new Disciple-Makers Journal here.