Core values are like the load-bearing beams of a disciple-making plan. They guide what a church builds, shape its ministry decisions, and keep every part moving toward the same destination. The compelling vision provides that destination: the formation of a new humanity in Christ. We are seeking to form whole people whose beliefs and loves are increasingly aligned under the leadership of Jesus. Their motives and actions are being transformed, and their relationships are gradually coming under His loving reign.

Our ministry philosophy explains how we participate in this work. Jesus is the living center and Teacher of discipleship. The Holy Spirit brings transformation, while the church creates relational environments where people can discover truth, practice the way of Jesus, and mature through active participation.

These five values do not compete with that vision or philosophy. They help translate them into a clear disciple-making plan:

Integration • Discovery • Reproducibility • Depth • Multiplication

Together, they help every ministry contribute to an enriching and ever-deepening pathway in which people learn to:

Be with Jesus • Become like Jesus • Live as He lived

• Integration connects every part to the whole-person vision.

• Discovery forms people who increasingly think and discern like Jesus.

• Reproducibility equips ordinary disciples to participate and help others.

• Depth creates increasingly mature pathways into life with Christ.

• Multiplication ensures the pathway produces disciples who form others.

These are not five separate programs. They are five lenses through which every ministry, practice, and disciple-making pathway can be designed and evaluated.

Shared Life: The Relational Environment

Disciple making takes place within relationships. Jesus did not form His disciples through occasional instruction alone. He invited them to be with Him. They traveled together, served together, and faced real-life challenges together. Within that shared life, their beliefs were exposed and their motives were revealed. Their character was tested, corrected, and gradually transformed.

Relationships are therefore not merely one part of the disciple-making plan. They are the living environment in which all five values take root. A class can explain love, but relationships give us people to love. A sermon can teach forgiveness, but shared life gives us opportunities to practice it. Instruction can describe humility, but community reveals where humility is still needed. The church becomes a spiritual family where people learn to follow Jesus together.

5 Core Values of a Christ-Centered Disciple-Making Plan

1. INTEGRATION — Disciple making in which every part connects and contributes to whole-person formation

Disciple making flourishes when the teachings, practices, and ministries of a church work together as one connected pathway.

Integration keeps discipleship from becoming a collection of isolated programs and practices. It connects every part of church life to the compelling vision of the new humanity Christ is forming. Each ministry has its own contribution, but no ministry stands alone. The different parts relate to one another, inform one another, and strengthen one another. Scripture gives truth and direction to prayer. Prayer deepens how people engage Scripture. Community provides a place to embody what is being learned, while mission carries that life into the world. Like the parts of a living body, each ministry serves a distinct purpose while contributing to the formation of the whole person.

Integration also helps disciples understand the bigger picture of who they are becoming. Instead of experiencing worship, Bible study, service, and community as unrelated activities, they begin to see how each one contributes to their apprenticeship to Jesus. This clarity helps people participate more intentionally with the Holy Spirit’s transforming work. They can recognize where they are growing and where greater formation is needed. They can also see how the different parts of church life support one another.

Integration helps the church ask:

How does this ministry contribute to forming the whole person into the likeness of Christ, and how does it connect with the compelling vision of the new humanity Christ is forming?

When every part points toward the same vision, disciple making becomes coherent rather than confusing. People can see how the pieces fit together and how each one contributes to life under the leadership of Jesus.

2. DISCOVERY — Disciple making through curiosity, revelation, and faithful response

Disciple making flourishes when people are invited to actively explore God’s truth rather than remain passive recipients of information.

Discovery helps people learn how to engage Scripture, ask honest questions, and prayerfully seek understanding. They become active participants in their formation rather than waiting for leaders to give them every conclusion. This reflects the way Jesus often taught. He asked questions that awakened curiosity and exposed assumptions. His questions invited people to examine their hearts and see reality through the eyes of His kingdom.

Discovery remains grounded in Scripture and guided by the Holy Spirit. It also takes place within the wisdom and accountability of Christian community. It does not encourage people to invent their own truth. It teaches them how to seek, recognize, and faithfully respond to the truth God has revealed.

The goal is not to remove teachers. It is to help teachers equip people to think carefully, listen prayerfully, and discern wisely. Mature disciples should increasingly be able to understand Scripture for themselves. They should learn to test what they hear, recognize the leadership of Jesus, and respond with faithful obedience.

Discovery helps the church ask:

Are we merely giving people answers, or are we teaching them how to seek Jesus and discover truth so they can increasingly think and discern like Him?

When discovery becomes part of the culture, people develop a lifelong hunger to know Jesus. They grow in confidence while remaining humble, teachable, and anchored in Scripture.

3. REPRODUCIBILITY — Disciple making that is simple enough to remember, practice, and pass on

Disciple making flourishes when ordinary believers are equipped with clear and practical ways to help others follow Jesus.

Reproducibility ensures that disciple making does not remain dependent upon specialists, professional leaders, or complicated systems. Reproducible does not mean shallow. It means that a practice is clear enough to understand and simple enough to pass on without losing its purpose. People should not only hear teaching about prayer. They should learn how to pray with someone else. They should not only attend a Bible discussion. They should gradually learn how to help facilitate one.

A reproducible pathway moves people through a natural progression:

Observe • Participate • Facilitate

People first watch someone model a practice. They then participate with guidance. As they grow, they are invited to help guide others. This closes the large gap between participant and leader. People learn by doing and receive increasing responsibility with appropriate support.

Reproducibility helps the church ask:

Can the people receiving this eventually practice it and pass it on to someone else?

This value places disciple making into the hands of ordinary believers. It allows life with Jesus to move naturally into homes, friendships, workplaces, and neighborhoods.

4. DEPTH — Disciple making that continually leads people into an ever-deepening life with Jesus

Disciple making flourishes when every ministry and spiritual practice includes a clear pathway for continued growth.

Depth does not simply mean providing more advanced information. It means intentionally helping people enter an increasingly mature, surrendered, and embodied relationship with Jesus. A compelling vision of Christlike maturity makes depth possible. The vision shows the church what an ever-deepening follower of Jesus is becoming. From that vision, clear pathways can be developed that help people move toward greater maturity.

Every ministry should be able to identify a next faithful step:

• Prayer may begin with bringing our needs before God. It can deepen into abiding in His presence and discerning His leadership.

• Engagement with Scripture may begin with understanding what a passage says. It can deepen through meditation and faithful embodiment.

• Christian community may begin with attending a group. It can mature into honest relationships where people receive loving correction and take responsibility for one another’s growth.

Depth keeps people from repeating the same entry-level experiences year after year. It encourages every ministry to consider how people can grow further and participate more deeply over time. This pathway should be enriching rather than narrow. It should help people encounter Jesus through Scripture and relationships. It should also help them recognize His work through lived experience.

Depth helps the church ask:

What does deeper growth look like here, and how will we intentionally help people move toward it?

This question turns depth from a vague desire into a clear plan. It continually opens new horizons of surrender, understanding, and participation in the life of Jesus.

5. MULTIPLICATION — Disciple making that grows by forming disciples who form others

Disciple making flourishes when a church intentionally plans to grow through multiplication rather than addition alone.

Addition gathers more people into existing ministries. Multiplication forms disciples who can help others follow Jesus and eventually equip them to do the same. Addition is valuable, but it is not the same as multiplication. A church may add many participants without forming people who are prepared to make disciples. Multiplication therefore cannot remain a hopeful outcome at the end of the plan. It must shape the plan from the beginning. This value informs how people are trained and how responsibility is shared. It also affects which ministries are developed and how success is measured.

A multiplication-focused church continually considers whether its methods are producing dependent participants or capable disciple makers. People are invited to observe and participate. As they mature, they are trusted to lead and invest in others.  Disciple makers share more than information. They share life, model the way of Jesus, and help others learn to respond to His leadership.

Multiplication is the difference between gathering fruit and planting an orchard. An addition-focused ministry may remain dependent upon the same few leaders. A multiplication-focused ministry equips those being served to eventually serve and form others. This does not mean rushing people into leadership. Healthy multiplication honors each person’s maturity and agency. Nor does it mean expanding rapidly while sacrificing depth. True multiplication faithfully passes on the life and way of Jesus.

Multiplication helps the church ask:

Are we intentionally building toward disciples who can make disciples, or are our decisions leading us toward a different goal?

This value clarifies how the disciple-making work of the church is meant to grow: not only by drawing people into existing ministries, but by forming disciples who carry the life of Jesus into new relationships.

The Five Values Working Together

The compelling vision shows us who Christ is forming us to become. Our ministry philosophy explains how we cooperate with His transforming work.

These five values guide how we build the disciple-making pathway:

1. Integration connects every part to the whole-person vision.

2. Discovery forms people who increasingly think and discern like Jesus.

3. Reproducibility equips ordinary disciples to participate and help others.

4. Depth creates increasingly mature pathways into life with Christ.

5. Multiplication ensures the pathway produces disciples who form others.

Together, they help the church move beyond disconnected programs and ministry activity without direction. They create a coherent, relational, and ever-deepening pathway in which every ministry contributes to the same purpose. Every spiritual practice can lead people further into life with Jesus, and every disciple can increasingly participate in the formation of others.

The goal is not simply a larger institution or a busier church:

• It is a living community of apprentices whose beliefs and loves are increasingly aligned under the leadership of Jesus. Their motives and actions are being transformed, and their relationships are becoming visible expressions of His loving reign.

• It is the formation of the new humanity in Christ.

• It is a growing movement of disciples who make disciples.