Keep in mind when reading this verse that the first church had no local church campuses, no books on church growth, or seminars and conferences on growth. All they had was the model and training that Jesus gave them. Jesus was a communicator who understood how to keep his vision simple: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them…” (Matthew 28:19, NKJV). That’s it! GO, MAKE, BAPTIZE!

FOUMODEL THE BEHAVIOR

Paul reiterated Jesus’ leadership model in Ephesians 4:11. He situated the fivefold ministry as the spiritual authority of the local church. He said that their job description was to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Church leaders are directed to

lead, train, and share ministry with those they lead. The result will be a world impact. We will never reach the world without a fully engaged fivefold ministry, along with a trained, equipped, empowered, and released ministry of the saints. Let me pause and mention that the average size congregation in America is seventy-five. The reason is that a local church can survive at seventy-five. They can raise enough money for a facility, they can pay their bills, they can have programs, and be part of a faith community. As long as the pastor is the primary “minister,” and doing most of the ministry, the growth of the church will hit the “75” ceiling. The only way that a local church can continue to grow is if the pastor decentralizes the ministry and shares it with qualified and equipped leaders and saints in the congregation. Sharing the work of the ministry could not be better demonstrated than the decision that the apostles made in Acts chapter 6 when they ordained seven deacons. Their initial job was to serve tables, but Stephen and Philip (who started out as saints) soon moved into spiritual ministry by working miracles, casting out devils, preaching, and baptizing (Acts 6,7,8). As a result, disciples multiplied and at least one church was planted (Samaria). Every pastor has to ask themselves the question, “Who am I willing to train, release, and allow to do the work of the ministry?” Many pastors are content to see their new or old church members come to services, pay their tithes, and sing in the choir. But Jesus and the apostles had a much different expectation of the work of the ministry among the saints.

Jesus apparently believed in the saints when He prophesied that signs would follow (the believers) faith, including laying hands on the sick for their recovery, casting out devils, speaking with new tongues, etc. (Mark 16:17-18). A close reading of the Acts narrative demonstrates that church leadership and saints worked together in spiritual ministry to impact their world. Peter picked up the importance of rightfully situating the saints in the place of spiritual ministry when he addressed them as “A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation…” (1 Peter 2:9). According to Peter’s language, saints are qualified for more than folding bulletins, opening doors, and passing offering plates.

We will never reach the world without involving equipped saints in the work of the ministry as Jesus and Paul directed. Perhaps the book title “The Acts of the Apostles” could have been called “The Acts of Apostles and the Saints.” In the first church, saints worked miracles, baptized (Acts 9:17-18), opened cities with the gospel (Acts 11:19-20), went everywhere preaching (Acts 8:4), released Saul of Tarsus into the night (Acts 9:25), spread the Word throughout all Asia (Acts 19:10) and so on. Would you agree that this is a little different picture than what saints do today? Why do we not think of saints doing this magnitude of ministry? Saints are sheep and need to be led, but I tend to have a high view of the saints. The word “saint” carries the idea of being holy, set apart, sanctified, and having status. It’s a wonderful thing when the saints believe in the pastor, but it’s even more wonderful when the pastor believes in the saints. Do we view the saints as just a number to count on Sunday, our ATM, or our “Amen” corner? Or can we see them like the apostles saw them in the first church, as ministry partners sharing the work of the ministry and reaching the world? The primary ministry of the saints should be as Jesus directed, to go and make disciples.

This simply means following the model of Jesus who turned sinners into friends (Matthew 11:19) and friends into disciples. If saints can make friends, they can make disciples. Making disciples requires the same skills it takes to make friends: be friendly, love, accept, share, and so on. It also requires bringing the taught Word of God into the relationship so that they can obey the gospel.

Living as a first-century disciple is a different idea than living as a typical 21st-century Christian. For example, there are Christians today who don’t believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, 80 percent of professing Christians in America are not in church on Sunday, and the average Christian gives less than 2 percent of their increase to the Lord. Today’s Christian is typically a consumer who is looking for the best attraction-model church where they can come, sit, sing, and soak. But Jesus said, “And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27, NKJV).

When I was pastoring and I preached or taught about evangelism or outreach, I could see a glazed look come over 95 percent of the people as they disqualified themselves because they were not extroverted or triple-A personalities. They were not excited about unnatural calendar events like door-knocking, street services, cold-turkey conversations with complete strangers or big Sunday visitor contests.

Temperament has nothing to do with making disciples, but it has everything to do with obeying Jesus. In fact, in John 14:15 (NLT), Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” Anyone who can make a friend can also make a disciple.

If a pastor desires to release saints into the harvest using a disciple-making model, there are four steps to creating a disciple-making culture in the local congregation:

Model the behavior you desire to see reproduced. People don’t do what we say, but they do what they see. We can’t lead from behind a pulpit, but we must come off the platform, love sinners, and make our own disciples. I have personally disciples and baptized future church board and staff members, missionaries, and denominational (ordained) ministers.

Place an expectation on your staff to make disciples. Why do we need any ministry if it is not on the mission to make disciples? Too many of our ministry endeavors are inward rather than outward. Why can’t worship leaders, youth pastors, and head ushers make disciples? Just because they have a ministry doesn’t mean they get a pass from the mission.

Have regular training on how to turn sinners into friends and friends into disciples. Share the training with your staff members who are doing it. Build disciple- making expectations among them and let them share their example and stories throughout the congregation.

Tell their stories. Don’t just tell your stories, but let your staff and saints tell their stories among the congregation. You can certainly do live testimonies but it’s best to record them and show the video. A video can be edited for content and time. These stories will inspire other members of the congregation to get involved in making disciples. Their attitude will be, “If they can do it, I can surely do it.” Disciples can be made one-on-one or in small groups. It’s wonderful to have a discipleship track at some point during your weekly church schedule. The most common time would be during a Sunday morning Christian Education session. You can offer various levels suited for degrees of spiritual maturity. Pentecostal Resources Group provides many wonderful discipleship training resources.

The Acts model multiplied disciples, ministers, and churches. By definition, disciples make disciples. If someone does not have a disciple, then they themselves are not a disciple, but if they have a disciple, they are on the mission. The apostles and their associates multiplied other members of the fivefold ministry. Peter discipled Mark, Aquilla and Priscilla discipled Apollos (Acts 18), Paul discipled Crispus (Acts 18), Paul discipled elders in Ephesus (Acts 19), and perhaps most remarkably, Acts 6:7 says that a great company of priests were obedient to the faith (i.e. denominational church leaders).

In summary, when pastors and their fivefold ministry partners each do their job of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry, leaders will be trained, disciple-makers will be released, ministry beyond the walls of the church will dramatically increase, disciples will multiply, revelation will break in around the community and denominational pastors can receive more truth. In addition, churches can multiply through planting or absorbing existing congregations and properly incorporating them into the UPCI (this is happening more frequently among us).