From Programs to People: Introduce “DiscipleShift” to Your Team
Many churches are busy but not always effective. Attendance, activities, and even “decisions” can rise while life change stalls. DiscipleShift by Jim Putman and Bobby Harrington (with Robert E. Coleman) calls leaders back to the engine Jesus used—relational discipleship—and shows how to rebuild a church around it. The book lays out five practical shifts that move a congregation from information transfer to transformation in real relationships.
Why this matters now
If your “wins” are mostly weekend metrics, you’re measuring the wrong thing. The question is whether people are becoming like Jesus—and helping others do the same. DiscipleShift argues effectiveness comes when churches make disciples in relational environments (not merely converts or consumers) and offers a clear path to get there. Think fewer quick fixes, more culture change.
What’s inside
Five Shifts that re-center the church: from reaching → making, informing → equipping, program → purpose, activity → relationship, accumulating → deploying.
A practical definition of a disciple and a plan to form them in real community.
Leader as Equipper: specific roles pastors play in a disciple-making culture.
Relational small groups that actually form people (not just meet).
A new scorecard for success and a step-by-step implementation chapter to roll it out.
The Discipleship Wheel (useful visual for your rollout)
What it is. Often called the Navigators “Wheel Illustration,” this classic model pictures a balanced disciple: Christ the Center (hub), Obedience (rim), and four spokes—The Word, Prayer, Fellowship, Witnessing—as the regular rhythms that keep growth moving.
Why it helps. It translates “be like Jesus” into doable habits. If a spoke is weak (say, prayer or fellowship), the “ride” gets wobbly. It’s memorable, coachable, and easy to multiply with new leaders.
How it complements DiscipleShift. The book gives you culture and structure (relational environments, leadership roles, new scorecard). The Wheel gives you daily/weekly practices inside those environments (hear/do the Word, pray together, real community, everyday witness). Use both: design your groups around the five shifts, then measure health by the spokes.
Attribution: Adapted from The Navigators’ Wheel Illustration (Dawson Trotman tradition).
Use it this month: 5-step mini-playbook
Align the bullseye. In your next staff or elder meeting, restate success as “people becoming like Jesus and making disciples,” not program attendance.
Introduce the Wheel. Teach the hub–rim–spokes in 10 minutes; ask each leader to identify their strongest and weakest spoke this month.
Pilot one environment. Pick a group/class to redesign around apprenticeship: meet weekly, practice a spoke together, and end with an “obey this week” step.
Reset the pastor’s role. Choose two concrete equipping moves (e.g., train table leaders; hand off a counseling lane to a mentored lay leader).
Revise the scorecard. Track three outcomes monthly: new disciplers trained, groups multiplying, and stories of obedience (one per month per group).
Pro Tips
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Language → practices → structures. Don’t bolt a new program onto an old culture.
Leaders go first. Model a discipling relationship; teach what you’re living.
Tell better stories. Chart “spoke wins” in team meetings—brief, specific, and reproducible.
Block 30 minutes today to pick your pilot environment, name a leader, and calendar the first training session.
Mark Maestas
Growth Team Leader, markmaestas@ibsa.org