Stages of Growth | Chris Gwinn

Main message: Discipleship is meant to look and feel like Jesus — it flows out of knowing him and involves sharing life, connecting people, equipping them to serve, and releasing them to multiply. Anyone can start practicing it in small, practical ways as they abide in Christ.

Key points:

• The church’s SCMD framework summarizes Jesus’ pattern: Share (life & meals/gospel), Connect (relational community), Minister/Equip (give responsibility and model ministry), Disciple/Release (send others to multiply).
• Jesus shared hospitality and conversation (Zacchaeus/Luke 19) as a simple, powerful way to reach people.
• He intentionally connected people to himself and to one another (Mark 3; John 13), and used demonstrations (feeding 5,000; Jairus’s daughter) to equip followers who would imitate him (Luke 8; Acts 9 example).
• Common barriers are fear, busyness, feeling unqualified, past failures, hard seasons, or lack of personal abiding — but these can be overcome by starting small and relying on the Spirit.
• The primary resources for disciplemaking are each other (community), the Word, and the Spirit; discipleship should overflow from a life rooted in Christ.

Scriptures mentioned: Luke 19, Matthew 28, Mark 3, John 13, Luke 9, Luke 8, Acts 9