Home Small Group Leaders Articles for Small Group Leaders Do You Have a Culture of Multiplying Disciples?

Do You Have a Culture of Multiplying Disciples?

Do You Have a Culture of Multiplying Disciples?

Multiplying disciples

Editor’s Note: You might share this short piece with your small group leaders to help promote a culture of multiplying disciples. The ongoing week-to-week ministry and work of small groups can cause us to lose sight of the big picture. Sometimes, creating long-term change begins with the simplest steps. 

Each leader and cell member should focus on their priority, which should be promoting relationships that lead to making disciples who in turn make other disciples—multiplying disciples. In this way, cell multiplication will be guaranteed. Making this a habit is only hard at the beginning. Over time, the habit becomes easier and easier to maintain. Maintaining a habit requires much less energy and effort than when it is initiated. Making it a habit from the beginning allows the rest of the way to flow naturally.

In an investigation developed by the University College of London, they researched the time it took a person to acquire a new habit. Habits formed from 18 to 254 days, depending on the type of habit. But the critical average was 66 days. In self-help circles you hear that a habit is formed in 21 days, but that is an average that science does not support and that causes people to become discouraged. You need to persevere for 66 days to acquire a new habit. The key then is perseverance.

The church helps form habits when it encourages and exemplifies behavior over and over again. This is especially important in a body like the church because there are constant changes and the baton is continually passing from one generation to another. The persevering dedication to relationships with people and the discipling of new leaders will create a cell culture of multiplication that will then flow in a very natural way.

This article originally appeared here.