notes from session at the North Carolina Baptists Disciple-Making Conference  

Of everything that can go viral from your church, what we really want to go viral is a culture of disciple-making.

Disciple-making for 2030 is a cultural issue in your church because your church has a culture and you’re either shaping it or sustaining it. 

If you’re not creating a culture of disciple-making, you’re probably creating a…

…culture of program supporting   

…culture of pleasing people

…culture of pastor elevating 

…culture of place idolizing

3 Big Questions: 

• Will you create a culture of disciple-making?
• How will you create a culture of disciple-making?
• Once created, how will you sustain and fuel this culture of disciple-making?

Culture is a word for the ‘way of life’ of groups of people.

Culture is whatever is normal for a group of people 

What is normal for your church? 

Most answers are anecdotal or assumptive and not analytical 

If culture is what is normal for a group of people, then a disciple-making culture must be built on investing in people. 

Every-one and everything work together to form your church culture, but you have to start with language.

Language shapes culture, and at Auxano we say words create worlds.

Culture is shared in calling – what is our disciple-making mission?

Culture is protected in convictions – what are our disciple-shaping values? 

Culture is formed by process – what is our disciple-moving strategy?

Culture is proven in rituals & practices – what are our disciple-defining marks?

Culture is lived in dreams – what is our disciple-inspiring future?

Here’s a MAP to make disciple-making normal for the group of people called your church:

1. MODEL disciple-making in your own life (preaching doesn’t count)
2. ARTICULATE the language of your church’s unique disciple-making culture (don’t steal)
3. POSITION disciple-making as what success looks like (what gets rewarded gets repeated)