You have heard the phrase, “Go make disciples.” It’s kind of a big deal. Matthew records it as the last words Jesus said before ascending into heaven. Imagine that. Sitting around the table with a man you watched die, and he is telling you, “One last thing before I go. Go make disciples.” His very last words. It would get your attention.
Since then, Christians all over the world have been having discussions on how we make disciples. Just the thought of the phrase takes me back to a time when I had flash cards with God’s plan of salvation to share the Gospel with others. As pastors, we have employed all kinds of strategies in our effort to focus on that one last thing Jesus tells us to do. Bible studies, special sermon series, and well-designed classes, all to help people go deeper. Many of these boilerplate programs are effective in helping us understand many of the mysteries of the Bible and the nature of God. But churches are finding that these canned programs are becoming less and less effective. Why?
John Ortberg wrote a book called “The Me I Want to Be” in which he makes a very important point.
“Disciples are not mass produced. They are handcrafted.”
Yes, we would love to find that one thing that works every time in discipleship. We want that one sermon series or discipleship class that would magically create disciples. But as Ortberg points out, discipleship cannot be mass produced. It takes relationships.
And it takes tools.
Realm Connect is a mobile app that helps create an environment where relationships can foster real discipleship. As a leader, you have the ability to engage with members of your group in meaningful ways. You are able to record attendance in regular meetings. Realm emails you when someone hasn’t been there recently, making it easy to check in and see how people are doing.
Realm Connect also provides a vehicle to share a scripture or topic for your group members to engage in meaningful dialogue. It is easy to add people to your group, post messages, and create events. You can create a list of items to bring for a food drive, let the group know about an urgent prayer need, or simply make sure they have the discussion questions for your next meeting. Using Realm Connect makes fostering relationships easier. When relationships grow, our opportunity to make disciples increases.
You are called to go make disciples. Realm Connect is a great tool to help you do that!
This post was written by Keith Hudgins. Keith is an Implementation Consultant with ACS Technologies and spends the majority of his time working with churches and helping them learn how to use and implement Realm.
