Four Core Values That Help Shape An Effective Disciple Making Plan
Raimer Rojas
Discipleship • Core Values In A Church • The Core Values Of Jesus
Raimer Rojas
Discipleship • Core Values In A Church • The Core Values Of Jesus
Core values play a vital role in shaping a church’s identity, guiding its practices, and defining its approach to ministry. While many legitimate values can bring distinction to a particular church, certain specific values are essential for forming a disciple making plan that fosters growth and provides a healthy, clear pathway. Here are four foundational core values to guide and strengthen the disciple making plan of a church committed to "making disciples who make disciples": Integration, Discovery, Reproducibility & Depth.
1. Integration - Disciple making that is unified and consistent, not fragmented
Disciple making flourishes when a church's discipleship framework—its values, practices, and teachings—is intentionally interconnected, creating a unified, consistent, and transformative pathway for spiritual growth.
A cohesive disciple making framework ensures that every element is purposefully interconnected. This intentional alignment creates a unified approach, where core truths, values, and practices are consistently taught and modeled across all settings. By emphasizing repetition (even in redundant ways) and connection, disciple making becomes consistent and holistic, avoiding fragmentation, compartmentalization and mixed-messaging.
For instance, if a disciple is defined in your church as someone who chooses to "Be with Jesus, Become like Jesus, and Do what Jesus did," then every aspect of the framework should reflect these principles. Spiritual practices will be designed to nurture an ever deepening and abiding relationship with Jesus, foster Christlikeness, and encourage active participation in His mission. Christlikeness will remain the central focus, highlighted in everything the church does, with the understanding that this pursuit requires the posture of an apprentice—one committed to learning and growing to reflect every aspect of their teacher’s life (our teacher or Rabbi being Jesus). Furthermore, "Do what Jesus did" prioritizes disciple making, ensuring that following Christ naturally leads to equipping and empowering others to do the very same thing (make disciples who make disciples).
2. Discovery - Disciple making through curiosity and revelation
Disciple making flourishes when people are invited to explore God’s truth through honest questions and shared discovery. Instead of simply being told what to believe, they learn to think deeply, reflect, and seek understanding—through Scripture, prayer, and conversations within a trusted community. This approach develops a lifelong habit of pursuing truth while trusting Holy Spirit to guide.
Disciple making thrives when people are invited to explore God’s heart and truth through prayer, Bible study, and biblical meditation. It is not a process of passive reception but one of active engagement, where disciples are encouraged to ask, seek, and knock (Matthew 7:7-8). Inquiry-Based Discovery is the pathway by which faith becomes personal, as each believer embarks on a journey of encountering God for themselves, often through corporate accountability to the Word of God.
Curiosity is a gift that fuels spiritual growth, leading disciples beyond surface-level knowledge into deeper revelation. Rather than simply being told what to believe, they learn how to inquire, wrestle with truth, and listen for God’s voice. By fostering a habit of seeking, disciples develop resilience and spiritual maturity, able to discern truth and apply it to their lives. This process mirrors the way Jesus engaged with His disciples—asking thought-provoking questions, inviting them into deeper understanding, and revealing the mysteries of the kingdom of God (Mark 4:11).
At the heart of discovery is the understanding that disciple making is question-led rather than solely teacher-led. The goal is not just to transfer knowledge but to cultivate a hunger for truth that leads to ongoing transformation. Disciples are not merely students of doctrine but lifelong seekers of God’s heart. As they practice biblical meditation, they learn to dwell in God’s presence, allowing the Holy Spirit to illuminate Scripture and guide them into all truth (John 16:13).
This value of discovery shapes a discipleship culture where learning is dynamic, relational, and Spirit-led. It encourages an openness to new insights while remaining anchored in Scripture. It shifts the focus from having all the answers to engaging in a lifelong pursuit of Jesus—where revelation unfolds progressively, and knowing Him more deeply becomes the greatest reward.
3. Reproducibility - Disciple making that multiplies itself
Disciple making thrives through deliberate equipping of simple, memorable, and easily replicable methods and strategies to make "disciples who make disciples."
Disciple making isn’t just about encouraging people to pass on their faith; it’s about equipping them to do so. Every part of our plan—from teaching, training, and mentoring to how we do small groups—is designed to be simple, practical, and easy to replicate. We don’t just talk about multiplication; we model it and empower people to reproduce what they’ve learned in others—to become "disciples who make disciples." This ensures disciple making grows not by chance, but by intentional design from the get go, infused into everything we do.
4. Depth - Disciple making that deepens at every stage
Disciple making provides tailored pathways for growth, meeting individuals where they are and guiding them into a deeper, continually transformative relationship with Christ throughout their faith journey.
From new believers to seasoned disciples, there are clear pathways in our church that guide growth and maturity, ensuring that the plan is not one-size-fits-all but instead meets individuals at their current stage of faith. These pathways include practices, experiences, and resources tailored to meet people where they are and lead them into a deeper relationship with Christ. Our aim is to help believers grow strong roots in faith and cultivate ongoing habits of deep spiritual growth. Disciple making doesn’t stop at the basics; it continually provides new opportunities for transformation and greater depth.
These four core values—Integration, Discovery, Reproducibility & Depth—serve as foundational pillars that shape an effective disciple making plan. Together, they provide a strategic, scalable, and transformative framework for making and multiplying disciples in alignment with Jesus’ mission.