Make Disciples: Training for the Local Church

We'll Help You Train 65,000 Disciples in 15 Years, One Person at a Time. Are You Ready to Revolutionize Your Ministry?

The Gospel is to be preached to every nation. Can it be done in this generation? Only if the laity is trained to spread the Gospel message. When we speak of "laity" or "layperson" we are referring to men and women who are not professional ministers. They compose 99% of the church population. Rather than separate the clergy [ministers] from the laity, we must help each born-again believer realize his personal responsibility in fulfilling the Great Commission. The world will never be reached with the Gospel if only the ministers are responsible for sharing the message. There are not enough professional ministers to get the job done.

Involvement of the laity was one of the keys to growth in the early Church. In Acts 8:1 we read that the persecution of Christians resulted in their scattering throughout Judaea and Samaria. Church leaders remained in Jerusalem and we find...

...they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the Word. (Acts 8:4)

Not only the leadership, but also the laity who were scattered, fulfilled an important role in the spread of the Gospel message.

From the beginning, the spread of the Gospel was a lay movement. Men like Peter and John were untrained fishermen. The majority of ministry and missionary activity in the early Church was accomplished by non-professionals, ordinary men and women involved in secular work as occupations. When Saul tried to destroy the early Church, the Bible records that he entered into the temples and into "every house" taking believers captive (Acts 8:3). He recognized that eliminating only the churches and professional ministers would not stop the spread of the Gospel. Each layperson was a reproducing Christian and each home was a center of evangelism.

If we are to reach the world with the Gospel, the clergy and laity must join forces. Believers are not just fragments of the Church scattered throughout the community who come together for worship, instruction, and Christian fellowship. In daily work and living they are representatives of the Kingdom of God who can reach people who will never enter a church or attend a religious meeting.

Paul told Timothy to select faithful men and commit to them the things he had been taught. These faithful men were to have the ability to teach others. Through this organized plan of training the laity, the Gospel would be spread throughout the world. It is the selection of these "faithful men and women" that is the key to effective training of the laity. The world takes talented people and attempts to give them character. They focus on creating professionals. God said to take "faithful men" of character and He will empower them with talents and abilities to be spiritually effective.

By following the plan given in II Timothy 2:2, the Church can experience tremendous growth. Even on a one-to-one basis the multiplication is amazing.

Look at the following chart. This chart uses the period of a year as the average time necessary to disciple [train] a new convert and make him a reproductive Christian. In reality, the process could take more or less time, depending on the people involved.

Our Strategy for Discipleship and Multiplication

But using a year as an average, if a believer would reach just one person and disciple them each year and have them pledge to disciple one person each year, the world could easily be reached with the Gospel message.

Observe on the chart that during the first year the believer is discipling one person. At the end of that year, there are now two faithful men, the believer and the person he has discipled. During the next year, each of them disciple one person. At the end of the second year, there is a total of four people, each of whom will disciple one person the following year.

Year	Discipler(s)	Disciples
1	1	2
2	2	4
3	4	8
4	8	16
5	16	32
6	32	64
7	64	128
8	256	512
9	512	1,024
10	1,024	2,048
11	2,048	4,096
12	4,096	8,192
13	8,192	16,384
14	16,384	32,768
15	32,768	65,536

When you take an average church membership of approximately 100 people and increase this chart to 100 people each discipling one person each year and these disciples in turn continue the cycle, it is easy to see how we could reach the entire world in this generation.

Jesus entrusted the laity with major responsibilities of the Gospel cause. Taking fishermen from their boats, He made them into fishers of men. He believed that ordinary people could become extraordinary when empowered by the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of Vision International Education Network is to spread this vision of training the laity throughout the world which is God's methodology of multiplication. It is to the laity that the Institute is geared and to the reproductive process of II Timothy 2:2 that we are committed.

Are You Ready to Make Disciples With Us?

The next step is for you to start a School of Ministry, what we call a "Resource Center" to train your leaders. Are you ready?

Click Here to Start a School of Ministry