Principle 7 – Gather People – Gather People to Influence People (part 7)

“Discipleship Uncomplicated”, The 8 Principles of Disciple Making by Dr. Warren Haynes

Principle 7 – Gather People – Gather People to Influence People (part 7)

Fourth, there is the space beyond twelve feet known as “public space”. You can fit the whole world in this space. “Public space” is where people share large-scale experiences like concerts, conferences, sporting events, rallies, television shows, and movies. In disciple making, this is where we share inspirational experiences like congregational worship, Christian concerts, evangelistic crusades, and large-scale conferences with famous presenters. Even best-selling books can become shared experiences. The important goal of a large group meeting is to create and share an encouraging and inspiring experience together that forms spiritual markers along the path to following Jesus.

We gather people to inspire them to follow Jesus. When we gather one-on-one, we create coaching and mentoring relationships to inspire people to follow Jesus. When we gather people in groups of four, we develop strong meaningful personal friendships and fuel personal discipleship experiences. When we gather people into groups of five to twenty, we fashion great small group learning environments that lead to spiritual discovery and breakthrough learning.

When we gather people into large groups of twenty or more, we share wonderful inspirational experiences together and light our path. All of these gatherings are used in disciple making. It is a mistake to think that disciple making only happens in one of these spaces. Rather, disciple making happens through your relationship with another person, and all these spaces you share become an avenue to influence and inspire them to follow Jesus.

It is important to grasp that we can inspire people to follow Jesus in all of these spaces we share with people. It is also important to know that we can move people from one space to another and create new levels of relational depth. As a disciple maker, you are the common factor in all of these spaces and the key to using these spaces to inspire people to love God, love others, and follow Jesus.