Do We Need to Invite You to Train Our Group?

No. Though I would be honored to serve in that way, the Core Discipleship process was never designed to depend on a traveling teacher. It is patterned after the model of Jesus—relational, reproducible, and transferable into the hands of ordinary believers.

You do not need to be a theologian or a professional pastor to begin. You simply need a willingness to follow Jesus, invest in people, and walk with a few others in intentional discipleship.

The strength of Core is not in an outside voice coming in, but in the Spirit of God working through committed disciples inside your own church.

How to Begin a Core Group

If you are in leadership, begin by quietly praying and discerning those who already have your heart—men or women who are spiritually hungry, faithful, and show a desire for obedience and disciple-making. Do this without announcement or pressure. Let it be prayer-led and Spirit-led.

If you are not in leadership, the first step is simple and important: speak with your church leadership. Share the vision of Core Discipleship with humility and clarity, along with the available resources. With their blessing, you can begin identifying those you will invite into a Core group.

Once you have prayerfully identified potential members, spend time reviewing the Core Discipleship material so you understand the process well enough to guide others.

Then invite those individuals into a vision conversation. This is not a recruitment meeting—it is a discipleship invitation. You are simply presenting what God is leading you to do and asking them to prayerfully consider joining you.

Give them time to respond. Do not rush the process. Once they commit, establish your group, set a consistent rhythm, and begin walking together.

Support Along the Way

You are not alone in this process. Support, counsel, and guidance are available as you begin and continue to build Core groups in your church context.

My deepest desire is simple: that Jesus is exalted, that the Great Commission is fulfilled, and that lives are transformed through relational disciple-making.

If questions arise, you are encouraged to reach out for help and guidance as you move forward.

Who Casts the Vision for Core Discipleship?

The senior pastor carries the responsibility for vision and spiritual direction in the local church. While others may help initiate and facilitate Core groups, the long-term health and direction of the process will always reflect the vision of the lead pastor.

Experience consistently shows that Core Discipleship will only go as far as the senior pastor’s heart is willing to carry it. Sheep follow the shepherd.

For this reason, it is strongly encouraged that church leaders not only support Core but participate in it personally. When pastors and leaders engage in Core groups themselves, it communicates authenticity, humility, and alignment. It also reinforces that leadership in the Kingdom is not distance-based, but relational and shared.

The Life of a Core Group

A healthy Core group is built on safety, transparency, mutual submission, accountability, and being led by the Spirit.

Several rhythms help maintain this life:

Regularity: Weekly gatherings are the normal pattern and help sustain spiritual formation.
Availability: Meetings happen in real-life environments—homes, workplaces, restaurants—where faith is visible and lived out.
Discipleship: The central focus is becoming and making disciples, not just discussing content.
Community: Deep relational connection is essential; people grow best when they are known and loved.
Spiritual Growth: Core groups provide pastoral care and transformation that often cannot be experienced in larger or less relational settings.

As Core becomes part of the church rhythm, it is important that other ministries do not compete for the same discipleship space. Instead, they should align with and feed into Core as the primary pathway of formation.

Leading and Multiplying Core Groups

Because Core is relational and life-on-life, it functions much like spiritual parenting. For this reason, a leader should not carry more than one or two Core groups at a time. Each group requires presence, care, and ongoing investment.

Some will naturally carry more capacity; others less. The key is faithfulness, not scale. As leaders mature, they can release new leaders and form new Core groups, creating a multiplying network of disciple-makers.

Core is designed to grow through reproduction, not expansion alone.

How People Are Called Into Core

Core members are not self-selected or recruited through open invitation. They are prayerfully discerned, identified, and called out by Core leaders in cooperation with church leadership.

This follows the pattern of Jesus, who prayed, discerned, and chose those He would invest in deeply (Luke 6:12–13).

At the center of selection is faithfulness—those who are loyal, teachable, obedient to Scripture, and who demonstrate a heart for both spiritual growth and reaching others.

The goal is not perfection, but reliability and spiritual hunger.

The Heart of Core Discipleship

At its core, this process is spiritual parenting. It is the intentional investment of life into life until Christ is formed in others, and they are equipped to do the same.

It is not about programs or complexity. It is about obedience, relationship, and multiplication.

The invitation is simple: follow Jesus closely, walk with a few others deeply, and help them do the same.