Disciplemaking: Air War, Ground War, Hand to Hand Combat

Posted by on May 10, 2011 | Comments Off

Disciplemaking, put simply, is helping someone become more like Jesus for God’s glory and their joy.  We use the Air War, Ground War, Hand to Hand Combat analogy to describe the three levels at which this happens in our church body…

  • Air War. Disciplemaking in our WG’s (Worship Gatherings) is a lot like air war.  In air war a plane flies over the general vicinity of a large target, drops a bomb in the area, and hopes it hits what it’s supposed to.  Preaching to the entire church body is like this.  As I meditate, pray through, and study the Scriptures, I identify issues I see in our church body as a whole that the passage addresses and “drop the bomb” on Sunday mornings, trusting the Holy Spirit to apply my general preaching to individual souls.
  • Ground War. Disciplemaking in our HG’s (House Groups), Kids, and Student Ministries is more like ground war.  In ground war a small group of soldiers targets something more specific than can be targeted in air war.  They’re “closer” to the target, able to look at it with their own eyes.  HG’s function like this.  HG Shepherds are able to look at a small group of people with their own eyes and target the spiritual issues of the HG, anywhere from 5-20 people.
  • Hand to Hand Combat is the most specific form of attack.  One soldier engages another soldier eye to eye with no distractions.  Personal Discipleship is like this.  One godly Christian comes alongside another Christian to help them believe the gospel at a deeper, truer level and fight sin at a deeper, more personal level.  It’s 1 on 1.

Three things to notice…

  • Level of effectiveness moves from left to right. As you move from Air War toward Hand to Hand Combat, discipleship effectiveness increases.  Corporate worship is Biblically-mandated, unbelievably joyful, pleasing to God, and helpful to your soul; and it is a sin to omit it from your life.  But from a pure discipleship standpoint, WG’s don’t hold a candle to the life change that someone can effect when they lead a HG or begin a personal discipleship relationship with another Christian.
  • Level of control moves from right to left. Our church leadership controls virtually everything about our WG’s, much less about our HG’s, and literally nothing about Personal Discipleship relationships in our church body.  This is OK because God’s Holy Spirit lives in every Christian, making every Christian a priest and empowering them for supernatural kingdom work.
  • Scope of calling moves from left to right. The fact is that God calls very few people to corporate, public preaching.  He calls a few more to Shepherd small groups of people in HG settings.  But he calls EVERYONE to be a part of disciplemaking at a personal level.

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