Starfish can only survive in the right environment. Just as starfish need oceans to thrive, multiplying disciples require the right ecosystem to flourish.
Starfish don’t belong in mountain crags or deserts; similarly, multiplying disciples won’t thrive in the wrong setting.
Starfish are keystone species found primarily in coastal ecosystems, meaning their presence is crucial to maintaining balance. If removed, it causes a domino effect, impacting the entire ecosystem. In the same way, multiplying disciples are keystone in God’s plan, and they must thrive for the peace of God to fill homes, cities, and eventually the earth (Habakkuk 2:14).
Healthy ecosystems are communities where organisms and their physical environments interact harmoniously, from forests to deserts. When functioning correctly, they sustain and reproduce life. A striking example is Yellowstone Park, where the reintroduction of wolves in 1995, after their eradication in the 1920s, brought about dramatic change. Their presence controlled the elk population, which, in turn, revived vegetation, songbirds, beavers, and even reshaped rivers. The park underwent a profound transformation, akin to the revival in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where Narnia bursts back to life.
In much the same way, microchurch networks and all faith communities have their own ecosystems, where small changes can bring about far-reaching effects. The challenge is to make strategic shifts that encourage the flourishing of multiplying disciples, causing a ripple effect of God’s shalom to spread.
This is where the Disciple-Making Ecosystem Starfish comes in, a framework offering five essential questions to foster thriving disciple-making communities. This set of five provocative questions – focused on key elements of disciple-making – help us think about our entire network of microchurches as a disciple-making ecosystem where disciple-makers are the “keystone species.”
Microchurches emerge from disciple-making among a very particular people in a very particular place, who don’t yet know how much they matter to God. Disciple-making under the Lordship of Jesus is our core task.
This will be a quick flyover. If you want a deeper understanding, you can check out Chapters 15-20 of The Starfish and the Spirit. Under each question are additional questions to consider. Consider prayerfully your answers or lack of them. Hold the tension with curiosity. Use this as a guide for conversation with your team. Each of these questions will trigger other questions in your mind. That’s good. Keep a journal handy. Pray your way through.
Disciple-Making Ecosystem Question #1:
The Vision Question asks: What is your definition of a disciple?
This question challenges us to begin with the end in mind, much like a factory that must know what product it is producing before it designs the process to produce it. Imagine touring a bustling factory but never actually seeing the product it claims to make. The analogy highlights a common issue in churches – many programs are labeled as discipleship, yet without a clear definition of what a disciple is, the real goal remains unclear. Furthermore, all the data shows that the church in the West is struggling to produce disciples who are becoming more like Jesus and joining him on mission.
If the mission Jesus gave us is to make disciples (Matthew 28:18), then we need to know what that means. What exactly is a disciple of Jesus?
Often, church leaders fall into two traps when asked to define a disciple. Some are left speechless, unsure how to articulate it beyond describing the activities of their church or a catchphrase. Others offer complex theological explanations that are too detailed to remember or reproduce. In both cases, clarity is missing.
Definitions matter. Without a clear definition of a disciple, we can’t measure success in disciple-making. To create an effective definition, consider these five criteria:
- Is it Biblical? Does it align with deep, time-tested biblical convictions and witness of the Church through the centuries?
- Is it robust? Does it reflect the kind of disciples we see in the New Testament, who radically impacted the world?
- Is it simple? Can a young person understand it?
- Is it reproducible? Can the average person remember and share it with others?
- Is it compelling? Does it inspire people and remain true at all stages of spiritual maturity?
A well-defined disciple is essential for building a movement of disciple-makers. When we know what a disciple truly is, we can cultivate the right answers to the next four questions.
To define a disciple, consider these three building blocks: linguistic study, biblical survey, and examples from disciple-making movements.
Linguistically, the Greek word for disciple, mathetes, means learner, student, or apprentice. Like an apprenticeship, it involves not just knowledge but the practical application of skills through close mentorship. Jesus envisioned disciples as apprentices learning the art of living from him, the Master. Consider what keywords you want to do a word study on.
A biblical survey explores the passages where Jesus defines what it means to be a disciple and how he disciples, as well as other examples within the early church in Acts and the epistles.
Finally, studying effective disciple-making movements throughout history offers real-world examples, “What is the definition of a disciple these movements embrace?”
Here’s a handful of examples from other practitioners in the West who have done this work.
A disciple is a follower of Jesus who loves God, loves people and makes disciples. (Zume)
A disciple is a fully alive and multiplying follower of Jesus. (Disciples Made)
A disciple is someone who is following Jesus, being changed by Jesus, and is committed to the mission of Jesus. (Real Life)
A disciple is a follower of Jesus who hears and obeys his voice, in order to grow in their own character and calling while helping others do the same. (KC Underground)
A clear definition is an essential foundation for creating a disciple-making ecosystem.
Disciple-Making Ecosystem Question #2:
The Voice Question asks: Who listens to you and is ready to respond?
This question emphasizes the importance of starting the discipleship journey with the right trajectory. Just as a two-degree error in navigation at takeoff can cause the plane to fly hundreds of miles off course, being off trajectory in who we invite and how we invite people into discipleship can lead to profound consequences.
Like the early disciples, we begin with Jesus’ invitation, “Come and see!” (John 1:39-40). But eventually, there comes the invitation to move out from exploration to surrender, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Like Jesus, we are called to make this invitation, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” That movement of invitation is profound. That is when we discern, “Who is listening to our voice and is ready?” Furthermore, knowing how to invite that potential disciple-maker in the way of Jesus makes all the difference.
Many leaders invite broadly or prioritize “usual suspects,” but Jesus used a different approach. He combined high invitation – creating a welcoming sense of belonging – with high challenge, asking for deep commitment and sacrifice. For example, Jesus’ invitation to Peter (“Come, follow me…”) was both a deep invitation into life together and a profound call to action. Jesus made this invitation to a few, strategically and intentionally.
Jesus selected disciples based on their readiness to respond and their willingness to invest in others, not their status or achievements. He spent extensive time in prayer, asking his Father to reveal those he should invite. Then, Jesus invited them personally to follow him in a powerful way that created a moment of decision. He invested in a few, with 12 disciples and an inner circle of three, ensuring quality relationships and deep transformation, so that eventually they would do the same with others.
We can and must adopt a similar approach by praying for the Spirit’s guidance and identifying those who are hungry, teachable, and responsive. Then, we personally invite them into deeper relational rhythms with us, where we begin to develop them and we limit that number in the inner circle.
Starting right and staying right means ensuring that the invitation to disciple-making is intentional, selective for a limited number we will invest in, and aligned with Jesus’ model. Leaders should ask themselves: Are my invitations both high invitation and high challenge? Is my selection of my three and 12 saturated in prayer and based on Jesus’ criteria? How am I personally and meaningfully inviting people into this journey? Following Jesus’ playbook leads to committed disciples who will go on to disciple others.
Consider, the following questions for your context:
- Who are my three, my 12, my 72?
- Who demonstrates that they are hungry, open, and willing to make themselves available?
- How much have I prayed and asked the Father to show me the faces of my three and my 12?
- How have I invited them into the journey? To what degree is it marked by both high support and high challenge?
Disciple-Making Ecosystem Question #3:
The Vocabulary Question, “What language and tools will we use to make disciples?”
Language is critical in disciple-making because it brings order out of chaos. From the beginning of the Bible in Genesis 1, we see that God’s words create new realities, not just convey information.
Scholar Pete Enns points out that God forms spaces before he fills them – creating light before the sun and moon, and seas and land before living creatures.
This pattern of “forming and filling” shows how language and words shape creation.
Language also creates culture, and in any area of expertise, learning the vocabulary is essential. Tools then amplify and realize what words describe, much like the stone, bronze, and iron ages defined human progress. In disciple-making, Jesus provides examples of both the language and tools for effective disciple-making. We need Jesus’ methods, not just his message.
Jesus’ Language
Jesus masterfully used language to shape his disciples and invite others into new realities. His phrases, such as “I have come that you might have life” (John 10:10) or “Repent and believe” (Mark 1:15), are powerful and still resonate today. These words act like a slow-release medicine, shaping hearts over time. Jesus’ ability to craft unforgettable, life-changing statements makes his language a crucial tool in disciple-making.
If you’re interested, here’s an updated “lexicon” of the KC Underground’s language we intentionally use across our network to help us create a disciple-making ecosystem. We aren’t “word nazi’s,” but we are intentionally creating a culture with our language, which we hope paints a Kingdom Picture.
Jesus’ Tools
Beyond language, Jesus had various tools for disciple-making. His practices – such as Scripture engagement, prayer, fasting, and Sabbath rhythms – are integral to spiritual formation. He also used parables, which serve as pictures, mirrors, and windows for deeper understanding. Lastly, Jesus employed specific procedures, like alternating between engagement and retreat, action and reflection, and teaching followed by debriefing. These methods ensured his disciples grew in wisdom, faith, and practice.
If you’re interested, you can take a look at the KC Underground “toolbox” and gain access to the many of the tools we are using daily in our context to make disciples. Head to kcunderground.org/toolkit and register for free access. You’ll see we organize our tools around a mobilization path we call The Missionary Pathway.
Consider, the following questions for your context:
- What would we discover if we audited our language?
- What words and phrases do we want to seed into our disciple-making ecosystem?
- What words and phrases do we want to remove?
- What tools do we currently employ? How effective are they?
- What tools need to be retired? What tools would we like to introduce?
- How do we organize our tools? How do people know when to use what tool?
We will continue with the next two questions in Part 2 of this article.
