Disciple-Forming Communities

NWBA is delighted to be a partner in the Seventy-Two network, a catalyst for missional movement working through the networks of Baptists Together and its 13 Regional Associations. We are working with Seventy-Two to publish a significantly revised and updated version of our church-life resource Disciple-Forming Communities.

Our dream is also to see local churches being places where that faith-sharing instinct is cultivated within everyone who is part of them. What is it that makes a Disciple-Forming Community? How can we develop this within our own local church?

These are questions that we seek to explore through a local church leaders guide. It offers a Bible-based vision of what a Disciple Forming Community might look like and a framework that can be used to evaluate the activities and priorities of your congregation.

It explores discipleship not as a set of expectations or disciplines but by asking a more foundational question - what makes people think and act as effective faith-sharers? From there it considers the kind of church environment that is likely to encourage and inspire people to behave that way. We call these the 12 marks of a Disciple Forming Community. At the heart of this resource is the desire to challenge and equip leaders not to simply agree that these are a good idea, but to take a long hard look at the way they do church and consider how they can be embedded in every aspect of church life.