Andy Reid is the head coach of the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs. He has been coaching in the NFL as an assistant coach since 1992 and has been a head coach of 2 different teams over a span of 19 years. As a coach, Reid has been very successful with an above .600 win percentage, 4 consecutive NFC division championship appearances, and a Super Bowl appearance. For those that don't like sports, that's pretty good. But what is most impressive about Andy Reid's coaching career isn't what he has accomplished, but what the coaches who have learned under him have accomplished. There's a term in football called "a coaching tree". A coaching tree is a measurement of how many head coaches have been trained and sent out by one head coach. Andy Reid's coaching tree is amazing. There are currently 7 NFL head coaches who were former assistants under Reid, and 3 others have been head coaches in the last decade. That means that over 30% of NFL teams have been directly impacted by Andy Reid's vision, passion, tools, and characteristics. In that group there are multiple playoff appearances, and 2 Super Bowl winners, which, by the way, Reid has never done himself as a head coach.
What does that have to do with disciple making? Our greatest impact for the Kingdom will not be what we do in ministry, but what those we disciple and send do in ministry. A disciple maker has been effective when they have developed a disciple making tree. Effective disciple making that changes the world Is when we can point to a handful of disciple makers whom we have invested in that are now actively making a difference for Jesus in their own contexts. It's what we prepare and send others to do that will far out reach and out last what we could do by ourselves. Andy Reid may have never personally won a Super Bowl, but two different franchises have hoisted that trophy because of his influence even though he never stepped foot on their sideline. One of the most baffling passages in the New Testament to me is when Jesus says that His followers will do greater works than He did.
""Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
John 14:12-13
Would you think about that for a minute? With all the miracles and supernatural works that Jesus accomplished, how on earth could we do greater than him? There's at least one way for sure that this is true. It's that the works Jesus's followers do are greater in the extent of their reach. The gospel has spread throughout the globe impacting all kinds of different tribes and ethnicities all the way down to our generation. Places Jesus never physically went, preached, or made a disciple have a gospel presence because his disciple making tree blossomed and multiplied to the ends of the earth. There are 3 practical things I think are necessary to plant a disciple making tree.
Humility- the only way we will ever be good at sending people out is if we are humble enough to love seeing them succeed, even over our own success. We must get over wanting to be the only ones that people look to for spiritual leadership and truly rejoice in someone else being sought out for that. Something is off about our motives for ministry when we envy what God is doing through someone else instead of celebrating. We need a paradigm shift that believes "it's better for me to prepare others to replicate what I'm doing than for me to do it all myself."
Give people opportunities- the best way to prepare someone for discipling others is giving them opportunities while they are still under your care to train them. Before those coaches under Reid where head coaches, they were his coordinators. They had opportunities to exercise their gifts and fail if necessary. The people you disciple need to be put in situations where it's all on them to bring something together. Maybe they are responsible for printing and bringing the lessons each week. Maybe they are responsible for follow up from any outreach you do together. Maybe they teach the group for a month while you observe. But allow them to feel the pressure of owning responsibility for ministry. They need to have the chance to fail or succeed for in that they will grow faith in God's power and provision to do what they cannot do unless He shows up.
Give coaching and feedback- lastly, if you give them responsibility, you must give them the accountability of assessment. We have to get more comfortable giving people constructive feedback. Pointing out things they did well and things they can get better at while owning the task you give them. After every time I would speak or lead a group, my discipler would give me pro's and grow's. Pro's are 2 to 3 things I did well while owning the task. Grow's are 2-3 things I needed to consider changing. This could be as simple as pointing out that they didn't do a great job of keeping the discussion on track. Or it could be a major as they said something that was error according to the scriptures and sound theology. Be mindful to invite them to critique you. You can ask them what they notice about your teaching or leadership in a particular area. Maybe after a gospel conversation with another person you ask the people in your group what they would do differently. Everything can be turned into a coaching moment. We want to give them as much affirmation and correction as we can so that they feel prepared for the scenarios that face them when they are leading others on their own.
My prayer is that we would all invest our lives in such a way that the branches of our disciple making trees would touch every neighborhood, home, street corner, and person in the city of Louisville and around the world.
Francis Chan How Not to Make Disciples
Francis Chan gives a short but powerful illustration on how disciple making is an issue of obedience to what Jesus says.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KIA-DGx_3Y