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During a recent trip, my daughter lost my keys. Luckily, we had my wife’s set, so it didn’t ruin the entire day, but it was still annoying. They disappeared between climbing out of the truck and walking through an outdoor mall. She retraced every step, checked every store, and asked every worker, but the keys were nowhere to be found. Here’s the thing: keys matter. They give you access to what’s already yours. Without them, you’re locked out. You might have full rights to something, but no way in. You’re stuck. Or worse, you waste time and energy trying to force your way in.
Jesus said something powerful to His disciples: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…” — Matthew 16:19 That’s not just a spiritual soundbite. That’s a game changer. But for many believers, it ends up in what I call the “mystery box”, one of those things we nod at but don’t understand or live into. So, we admire the idea of the Kingdom, but rarely experience its reality. I don’t believe Jesus ever intended for the Kingdom to be a mystery. And he didn’t give us the keys to hang them on the wall. He meant for us to use them every day. Accessing the Kingdom Today The Kingdom isn’t just a future hope; it’s a present invitation. It’s where Jesus reigns now. His presence changes lives, marriages, families, and communities. Without access, we’re left with a religion that lacks intimacy, fruit, and power. We settle for activity that lacks impact. We replace belief with obedience. We fill our calendars but miss the Kingdom. But here’s the good news: Jesus didn’t just preach the Kingdom...He gave us the keys. So, what are they? The Keys Are Simple: Hear. Obey. Share. If we want to live the life Jesus offers, not just someday in heaven but today on earth, then we need to reclaim these three simple yet powerful keys: Hear – The first key is learning to listen. Not just reading Scripture for information but listening for transformation. Every morning, we open the Gospels and ask, “Jesus, what are You saying to me today?” Hearing His voice is how we begin to walk in the Kingdom. Obey — Jesus made it clear: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice…” (Matt. 7:24). Obedience is how we step through the door. Without obedience, we remain outside, knowing the truth but never living it. Share – The final key is sharing what Jesus does and says in us. We open the door for others through simple conversations, acts of kindness, or intentional relationships. This is how the Kingdom multiplies. This is the way of movement. Why It Matters A disciple who doesn’t learn to hear, obey, and share will eventually settle for something less. They may be sincere but stuck, busy doing church things, but missing Kingdom life. They may know all the right answers but never walk in the authority, presence, and power of King Jesus. That’s why daily surrender is foundational. It’s not just a good habit, it’s the gateway to the Kingdom. We call it the Lordship rhythm: hear His voice, obey what He says, and share it with others. This rhythm is the keystone habit of every disciple-maker. Everything else in the Gospel Disciple Life flows from here. The Kingdom comes one life at a time. When we hear, we gain access. When we obey, we enter in. When we share, we become Kingdom gatekeepers, opening the way for others. And here’s the beauty: You don’t need to be a pastor, a theologian, or a spiritual expert. You just need to be a surrendered disciple. When we equip everyday people to hear, obey, and share, we place the keys in their hands. Let’s stop misplacing the keys in the mystery box. Let’s pick them up. Use them. And give them away. The Kingdom is waiting.
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Jesus gave the Church a clear and compelling mission: “Go and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded” (Matthew 28:19-20). And yet, according to discipleship.org, in the U.S. today, less than 5% of churches report having a culture of disciple-making. This is more than a leadership challenge. It’s a crisis of mission, vision, and obedience.
The Problem: We’ve Drifted from the Mission Many churches are busy with services, programs, and Bible studies, but activity isn’t the same as transformation. People can attend for years without ever being equipped to make disciples. Information alone doesn’t change lives. Jesus modeled a relational, intentional approach based on hearing, obeying, and sharing. He didn’t build a crowd; He formed disciples who made disciples. What’s Gone Wrong? Performance Has Replaced Presence Churches have become mostly about the weekend, where pastors become the performers and the people become the spectators. We must return to Jesus-style disciple-making, where people are equipped, empowered, and sent. We’ve Created Consumers, Not Missionaries Most Christians enjoy worship and teaching but never see themselves as everyday missionaries created to enter the harvest, plant the gospel, and make disciples where they live, work, play, and study. We’re Using the Wrong Scorecard We often measure our success as churches based on worship attendance and financial contributions. What if we developed a Great Commission Scorecard with an endgame of gospel saturation? What if we redesigned our scorecard to include: the quality of disciples-made, disciple makers, and ordinary people living sent as missionaries? We’ve Made Disciple-Making a Staff Role Pastors and staff are considered disciple-makers in many of our churches, and the people are the disciples. What if we began to see the role of disciple-maker as every person’s calling and responsibility? The Good News: There’s a Way Forward Disciple-making movements (DMMs) flourish worldwide in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. They’re built around simple, reproducible practices fueled by obedience, prayer, and ordinary people. It’s time we learn from these global movements and reimagine the church around Jesus’ way of making disciples. Introducing: The Re-Disciple Cohort A 6-Month Coaching Experience for Church Leaders Who Are Ready to Shift from Programs to Disciple-Making. This isn’t another ministry program. It’s a catalytic process designed to help your church. Our Deliverables: - Assess your disciple-making culture - Practice Jesus-Style Disciple-Making - Build your own Disciple-Maker’s Pathway -Align your Culture around Disciple-Making - Develop your Disciple-Making Plan Each month includes: - 90-minute live cohort session - Actionable frameworks, tools, and coaching - Real-time implementation with peer support - Stories from leaders who are making the shift Is This for You? This cohort is for pastors, planters, and leaders who are: -Discontent with church-as-usual -Hungry to see real transformation -Ready to trade performance for presence -Willing to lead their church into a new future Ready to Re-Disciple Your Church? The Church doesn’t need more programs, it needs a movement. If we don’t re-disciple the Church, we’ll continue to drift. But if we do, we might witness a fresh move of God in our generation. Let’s return to Jesus-style disciple-making's simplicity, beauty, and power. For more information or to sign up for the next Re-Disciple Cohort HERE. Spots are limited to ensure depth, interaction, and real transformation. The initial data is in and things aren’t what many of us thought. Our people aren’t returning to church as fast as we would like. Those who have reopened are only having 20% to 50% of their worship attendance. The early spike in online engagement has settled down and is even declining. The virus is spiking and many church leaders are discouraged.
There is good news! Your church can thrive in spite of the uncertain season we are in. I want to give you a simple way forward where you can experience a disciple-making movement regardless of your churches size. In this webinar you will discover: 1) Two simple disciple-making rhythms 2) Five principles that lead to rapid reproduction 3) A simple non-program approach to disciple-making that anyone can lead 4) Five different types of disciples Anyone signing up or participating will receive my brand new resource, The Gospel Disciple Life: A Micro-Group Strategy for Making Disciples that Make Disciples. Register now and join us August 13th at 1PM ET for this free webinar on "Micro-Discipleship". See you there! I once heard Len Sweet describe the movement of God is like a tornado in that it touches down randomly opposed to a hurricane that swipes across a landscape destroying everything in its path. He paused and went on by saying if we would ever learn to connect the dots. I remember reflecting on this conversation and thinking I want to spend the rest of my life connecting the dots.
That's precisely what I've done with Gospel Disciple Life Micro-Groups, I've connected a lot of dots. I don't claim any originality with this approach. However, there are some of my unique nuances. Let me say before I give you the principles that drive this approach that my goal was to make it as reproducible as possible, and I believe I have. Gospel first approach. There was a season in my life when I went on a kind of fast. I spent a year reading through the gospels. In that year, I read nothing else. My goal was to rediscover the simplicity of Jesus and His ways. The Gospel Disciple Life is a gospel first approach. Those who participate will spend up to 18 weeks reading through the gospel. Simple enough to reproduce. Micro-groups can be led by anyone, at any time, and in any place. They are designed for three people, with one serving as a facilitator. The goal of the micro-group is rapid reproduction by making disciples that make disciples. A healthy micro-group can consist of pre-disciples, new disciples, growing disciples, leading disciples, and catalytic disciples (types of disciples). The goal is not to control them, but to allow them to multiply through natural relational networks rapidly. By limiting them to three, it forces you to reproduce new groups to grow. Scripture is our curriculum. Each micro-group begins by working through the gospel as a scripture-only approach. It is recommended that a new group start by reading through Mark. Mark is the shortest and, in some ways, the easiest to read of the four gospels. It will take approximately three weeks to get through Mark. It is important to note that it is not necessary to complete all four Gospels to multiply. Some groups will be ready or designed to reproduce after completing their first gospel together, while others will complete all four. Holy Spirit is our teacher. Key to the Gospel Disciple Life is learning to hear the Spirit. Each day you will read the Scripture while asking, "What is Jesus saying to me through His Scripture?" and "What am I going to do about it?" Following Jesus is our ultimate objective. A disciple is a follower of Jesus that is learning to live like Jesus, love like Jesus, and leave what Jesus left behind. Therefore, our goal is to learn to see God at work, hear His voice, understand His ways, and to follow Him, which is why we continually ask, "What is Jesus saying to me through His Scripture?" and "What are you going to do about it?" Invite your one approach. Inviting your one is absolutely key to making disciples that make disciples. A new micro-group is launched when someone asks their one to read through the gospels with them when you find that one, you invite them to invite one more. Once you invite your one, you have taken the first step in making disciples. That one can be an existing disciple or a pre disciple. It's that simple. You are now ready to get started. For more information sign up for our free coaching call! A few years back, I wrote a book called Breaking the Discipleship Code. My goal was helping churches transition from a weekend-mostly to a disciple-making culture. Then it happened; we experienced a radical shift in culture. We went from developing strategies to reach 'seekers' to trying to figure out how to get the attention and engage the 'nones', not an easy task.
Just about that time, I felt as if we were getting a handle on disciple-making, well we had a pandemic. Who among us could have imagined something coming our way that would stop our worship services and our small group meetings? While this time has been challenging, it has also served up a fresh batch of hope for the Church. It's amazing how the Church keeps finding a way. When Jesus declared that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church, He was spot-on. Our ecosystem as a church has radically changed over the past few months. People are showing up online and in parking lots who have previously stayed away at any cost. Our mission of making disciples has resurfaced as our go-to strategy for being the Church. New forms and expressions, both new and old, had led the way. One strategy now stands head and shoulders above the rest, they go by different names, but I call them micro-groups. They are simply groups of 3 to 5 disciples that are committed to rapid multiplication. This strategy is the most bulletproof and straightforward approach to being and making disciples that I have come across. Here's a little taste of what's to come in our next webinar in the form of four principles that every micro-group follows. Principles:
Join me in our upcoming webinar on May 19th, where I will lay out this simple strategy that you can integrate and make a part of your new normal. See you there! |
AuthorDavid Putman is the founder of Planting the Gospel and a Senior Lead Navigator with Auxano the category leader in vision clarity. When David isn't writing or consulting he enjoys staying fit and competing at Crossfit. Archives
July 2025
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