The document outlines five steps to help a church develop a process for moving people along a continuum from little knowledge of Christ to spiritual maturity: 1. Develop a mission statement focused on making mature disciples. 2. Identify the characteristics of a mature disciple. 3. Determine the primary ministries that will cultivate those characteristics. 4. Align the characteristics with appropriate ministries using a maturity matrix. 5. Measure spiritual progress using metrics like attendance, baptisms, or a congregation-wide survey.

1. Malphurs Chapter 9
Making Mature Disciples
Strategy Activity 2

2.  Now that we know whom we are trying to reach in our community,
what is the process that our church will use to help people become
mature disciples?
 You can view coming to faith in Christ as God’s moving a lost person
across a continuum from one extreme ( little knowledge about
Christ) to the other ( maturity in Christ). Conversion happens
somewhere in between. How will you move people from one end of
the continuum to the other?
 According to the author, the best answer is to take five steps:
1. Develop a mission for the church – how you will make mature
disciples.
2. Identify the characteristics of mature disciples so that you will
know what they look like when they get there.
3. Determine the primary ministries tat will ingrain these
characteristics in people’s lives, that is, a ay to get these
characteristics from the blueprints or navigational charts into the
lives of the people.
4. Connect the appropriate primary ministries with the maturity
characteristics
5. Determine how you will measure spiritual progress.

3.  Step 1 Articulate Christ’s Mission for the Church
 Step 2 Identify the Characteristics of a Mature
Disciple- and communicate these characteristics
in a way that the people will know what they
are, recognize them when they see them in
others, and remember them for their own
spiritual benefit
 Step 3 Identify the Primary Ministries for Disciple
Making. Who is involved in the disciple-making
process? The answer is God, the individual
believer, and the local church. The individual
believer and the local church must all be
involved in the process.
1. The Role of God
2. The Role of the Christian
3. The Role of the Church

4.  Primary ministries are ordered ministries
which usually reflect how people are
assimilated into your church. The typical
format include: large group meeting with
worship and sermon, Sunday school, Sunday
night service and a Wednesday evening
prayer service.
 Secondary Ministries are those that support
and may back up in some way the church’s
primary activities. They may be ministries
such as men’s and women's meetings,
counseling ministries, a pregnancy resource
center and various support groups.

5.  Step 4. Align the characteristics and the
Ministries
Spiritual maturity and primary ministries must be
connected. This can be done through a maturity
matrix. There are seven aspects to this process.
a. Constructing Your Matrix
b. Critiquing Your Maturity Matrix
c. Correcting Inappropriate alignment
d. Discovering What God Is Blessing
e. Determining When You will Meet
f. Remembering That “Less Is More”
g. Communicating Your Disciple-Maturing
Process

6.  Step Five - Measure the Church’s Spiritual
Progress
1. The Problem- very few churches measure
spiritual progress
2. The Process- there are at least two methods
that can be used to measure spiritual maturity:
a. Counting Heads- baptisms, attendance,
meeting together, sharing of possessions,
singleness of purpose. All are taken from the
Bible. All are smart progress indicators (specific,
measurable, achievable, relevant, timely)
b. A congregation-wide survey ( see p.207 for
sources to find sample surveys).