The 4 Tests of a Disciple-Making Church
By Will Mancini, founder of RunFree.co and author of Future Church: 7 Laws of Real Church Growth.
This wasn't the article I planned to write.
Late one night, a vivid dream shifted my perspective. In it, a pastor gave me an assignment: to go away, think deeply, and return with four specific tests that would reveal the true spiritual fitness of his church. He wanted to know if his church was making disciples like it should be.
I'm not sure if the dream was from God or not. But supposing it was, I completed the assignment. The insights that emerged were too relevant not to share.
Management theorist Peter Senge once observed, "Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets." This principle has haunted me lately as I consider our churches.
What if our current results, both the fruit we celebrate and the limitations we feel, are the perfect output of our ministry designs?
Jesus spoke to this very dynamic when He said, "Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved" (Matthew 9:17). This isn't just about tradition versus innovation. It's about design capacity. Old wineskins aren't bad. They simply weren't designed for new wine.
From that midnight assignment emerged four specific tests. Work through all four with your team and you'll have a clearer picture of your church's disciple-making health than any attendance report will give you.
Test #1: The Good Soil Misfits Test
This test begins with two revealing lists.
First list: Identify three people who are organizationally faithful. Your reliable pillars. The ones who show up, give consistently, and follow your leadership without question. Here's the challenging part: Could these devoted souls be what Jesus called "old wineskins"? Not because they lack faith, but because their loyalty to existing structures might actually limit their capacity for new wine?
Second list: Identify three "good soil" people. Those whose authentic relationship with God attracts and inspires you, yet whose organizational commitment might seem questionable. Jesus spoke of good soil as ground that produces a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown (Matthew 13:23). These individuals possess a catalytic presence that both excites and unsettles you. They might represent your "new wineskins," people whose hearts are expansive enough to contain what God is pouring out today.
The gap between these two groups isn't just a leadership challenge. It's a prophetic window into your ministry's design.
These "good soil misfits" often carry apostolic and prophetic gifts that reveal the limitations of our current ministry structures. They're not problems to be solved. They're prophetic voices highlighting where we might be prioritizing institutional preservation over Kingdom innovation.
Your next step: Take 15 minutes to prayerfully make these two lists. Are your most loyal members empowered to grow beyond their current "wineskin," or has institutional loyalty become a limiting factor in their spiritual growth?
Test #2: The Time Card Test
Jesus had just three years of earthly ministry. Yet in that brief window, He launched a movement that spread like wildfire across the Roman Empire and beyond for the first two centuries. When we analyze the gospels, we see a staggering emphasis on intentional discipleship time. Of His roughly 1,000 days in ministry, Jesus spent approximately 50% of His waking hours directly investing in His disciples through modeling, training, evaluation, and accountability.
His Intentional Discipleship Ratio (IDR) appears to have been around 0.5. Meaning about half of His ministry time was invested in direct disciple-making. That's a guesstimate from gospel accounts, but the pattern is unmistakable.
Now imagine installing a time clock at your church that only counts hours spent in intentional discipleship relationships, including:
- Modeling what Jesus started
- Training others in specific discipleship skills
- Providing evaluation and accountability
- Engaging in two-way learning relationships
The Calculation
- List all full-time paid ministry staff.
- For each person, track total working hours per month (typically 160 hours).
- Track hours spent in intentional discipleship.
- Calculate your church's IDR: Total discipleship hours ÷ Total working hours.
Example: If you have 4 full-time staff members working 160 hours each, that's 640 total working hours. If total discipleship hours = 44, your IDR = 44 ÷ 640 = 0.069 or 6.9%.
That might feel sobering. But it's a realistic starting point for many churches. Jesus's IDR of 0.5 might feel overwhelming. What if you started with just one hour per working day? Even that modest commitment would yield an IDR of 0.125, a significant step toward intentional discipleship design.
What Doesn't Count
- Leading worship services
- Attending committee meetings
- Running programs
- General pastoral care
- Speaking from platforms
- Administrative tasks
While valuable, these don't automatically create discipleship multipliers.
Your next step: Calculate your church's IDR. Don't be discouraged by the number. Let it inform your design decisions.
Test #3: The Celebration Box Test
Organizational theorist Peter Block once observed, "What we measure is an expression of what we value." But I'd suggest something even more revealing: what we celebrate shows what we truly believe about ministry.
Grab a whiteboard and draw a large box. Now review your last three months of:
- Sermon illustrations
- Social media posts
- Church announcements
- Staff meeting highlights
- Newsletter stories
- Platform celebrations
For each celebration, ask one crucial question: Who scored the touchdown?
Inside the Box: Church-Initiated Wins
- Volunteers serving in our programs
- Leaders running our groups
- Participants in our mission trips
- Success of our outreach events
- Attendance at our services
Outside the Box: Kingdom Entrepreneurs
- Carl, starting a Bible study at his bank
- Wanda, prayer-walking with neighborhood moms
- Javier, funding medical missions in Togo
- Joanne, praying with customers at her checkout
Here's the challenging part: Would your staff even know about those outside-the-box stories? And if they did, would they make it into your celebration rotation?
Jesus didn't recruit volunteers for His programs. He mobilized the called for His mission. The difference? Volunteers fill slots in our system. The called create new systems entirely.
The Assessment
Count your celebrations from the past three months. Calculate your In/Out Ratio: "Inside Box" Celebrations ÷ Total Celebrations = Your Church-Centric Celebration Rate. Target: less than 70% inside the box.
The hard truth? Most churches operate like a Home Depot in reverse: "We can do it, you can help" instead of "You can do it, we can help." The real finish line isn't filling our programs. It's freeing our people into their calling.
Test #4: The Way-Making Test
The word "method" comes from the Greek "methodos": literally "meta" (after) + "hodos" (way). It means "following after" or "pursuing a path." This etymology reveals something profound about Jesus's mission. He wasn't just showing the way. He was making a way that could be followed.
And here's where it gets practical: you cannot make a way without tools.
Think about it. A carpenter shapes wood with specific tools. A surgeon heals with precise instruments. Even an artist needs a brush to transfer vision to canvas. Yet somehow, we've convinced ourselves we can shape disciples, heal souls, and transfer vision without concrete tools.
Jesus's Tool Collection
- Learning Environment Tools: Model prayer framework (Luke 11:1-4), small group structure (Mark 3:13-14).
- Storytelling Tools: Kingdom parables (Matthew 13:31-33), case studies (Luke 19:1-10).
- Assessment Tools: Identity questions (Mark 8:27-29), ministry readiness tests (Matthew 10:5-15).
- Skill Transfer Tools: Four-step training: Model, Assist, Watch, Leave (Mark 6:7-13). Problem-solving method (Matthew 15:32-39).
- Multiplication Tools: Partnership principles (Luke 10:1), person of peace protocol (Luke 10:5-7).
Here's the sobering reality: if you don't have tools, you're not making anything. And if you're not making anything, there's no way to follow.
The Assessment
Create your church's tool inventory. List every concrete method you use to equip people. For each tool, ask:
- Is it documented?
- Is it transferable?
- Do all leaders use it consistently?
- Can others teach it?
To the extent your church lacks standardized, transferable tools for disciple-making, it will struggle to multiply what Jesus started. This is one of the core areas Pivvot Vision Framing addresses.
Putting All Four Tests Together
When we combine all four tests, a picture emerges:
- Good Soil Misfits reveal where new tools are needed
- Time Card shows if we're using our tools
- Celebration Box indicates if our tools produce results
- Way-Making Test exposes if we even have the tools
Most churches score low on all four. Not because pastors lack passion, but because the Vision Frame was never clarified, and therefore the strategy for making disciples was never designed. You can't execute what you haven't named.
Ready to Redesign for Multiplication?
If your church scored uncomfortably low on one or more of these tests, that's the signal. Your ministry design isn't producing what you actually want. Not because your team isn't working hard, but because the system isn't wired for it.
The Vision Readiness Playbook will tell you in 10 minutes whether you're ready for Vision Clarity or whether a Team Coaching sprint should come first.
Ready to talk? Book an intro call and we'll walk through your test results together.
The Vision Frame: 5 Questions Every Church Must Answer