Amy loved the ideas in A Better Way, but had a few questions.

“I love the book,” she said. “It has changed the way I view my 9-to-5 job. But when I show up on Monday morning at the trading desk of my stock company, how do I make a disciple?”

Amy is not alone in her questions. I regularly meet people who, for the first time in their lives, understand that disciple-making is not just for an ordained minister. The discovery that God has uniquely wired them to leverage their God-given skills — as engineers, financial advisors, sales managers or finish carpenters — for kingdom impact has invigorated them. But, short of witnessing on the job or starting a lunchtime Bible study for co-workers, they don’t know what to do.

Let me just say it up front: There is no disciple-making process that works for every profession, from Wall Street to Walmart and beyond. I don’t have a blueprint for disciple-making to sell you. But I think I have something better: some of the core elements of effective disciple-making. 

As I visit with successful disciple-makers around the world, I have learned that the process is as varied as the disciple-makers and the people they disciple. One guy does it through his relationships as a marathon runner. Another uses calypso music. A restaurant owner in Italy got started by engaging lawyers in conversation over lunch. 

It would be impossible to “package” their different approaches, but the cool thing is that the elements they use are virtually always the same. All successful disciple-makers seem to work from a common list of best practices and, over time, learn when and how to use each one.

That’s sort of how it worked for my wife, Jerusha, and I as parents. Having both come from solid homes, we kind of knew the main elements of good parenting, but it was only through trial and error as young parents that we learned how to effectively put them together. After our first child, we thought we had it figured out. But when child number two came along, we quickly learned we needed a different plan! The core elements hadn’t changed, but how we applied them needed to.

Could I give you my plan for how to parent your children? No. But the elements? I sure could, and I’d even be willing to walk alongside you as you begin to apply them in your parenting journey.

So what are some of the elements of effective disciple-making? That’s up next.

View the full blog series, watch the video and download The Discipling Tree infographic.

Dale Losch joined Crossworld as a disciple-maker in France in 1988, and has served as Crossworld’s president since 2009. He loves to motivate people to use their God-given passions to make disciples wherever life happens. Hear more from Dale.


Italicized names were changed to protect identity.