Discipleship
Baton Pass
"A journey of becoming like Jesus for our cities and for all people."
Mile Marker 01 · From Seeking to Surrendered
Surrender &
Foundation
Foundation
The journey begins with a step of faith
The Aim
"Not just to show up, but to take hold of Jesus' grace and begin a real relationship with Him."
Become a person who
Has trusted Christ and invited Jesus to be Lord of your life.
Has publicly declared your faith through baptism.
Is beginning to lean into prayer and Scripture.
Is forming first meaningful Christian relationships.
Is open and growing in understanding of God's love and truth.
What happens here
- Alpha: relational host guides through 8-10 week course
- Sunday service connect card - personal follow-up within 48 hrs
- Next Steps class: church vision + specific small group ask
- Baptism class: public declaration of faith, personal follow-up
- Membership class - ends with direct small group placement
- New believer encouragement at the connect table
Who is responsible
- Alpha host is the named relational anchor for every participant
- A congregation member captures name and takes personal responsibility for follow-up
- Next Steps facilitator ends with a specific group placement ask
- Baptism class leader follows up personally after class
- Every entry point ends with a named congregation member taking personal ownership
The baton pass - a person, not a program
- A named congregation member is assigned to this person before they leave
- That person calls or texts within 48 hours - no emails, no forms
- They personally introduce this person to a small group leader
- The small group leader then takes personal ownership of the relationship
- The drop: the handoff goes to a system or program instead of a real person
Self-reflection questions
Do I trust Jesus with my life?
Have I taken a next step toward baptism or spiritual commitment?
Mile Marker 02 · From Attender to Disciple
Rooted &
Growing
Growing
The small group is the vehicle for everything
The Aim
"Not just participation, but transformation into grounded, maturing followers of Jesus."
Become a person who
Regularly engages with God's Word and prayer.
Understands core gospel truths and biblical identity.
Connects deeply in community.
Knows your gifts and grows in faith with others.
Takes responsibility for your own growth.
What happens here
- Small group: pathway content worked through relationally
- Bridge Classes: Bible, apologetics, cultural context - serve the group, not replace it
- Men's + Women's groups: gender-specific discipleship community
- Group members care for and pray for one another specifically
- Spiritual rhythms: Word, prayer, confession, accountability, hospitality
Who is responsible
- Small group leader is the primary shepherd for each person
- Bridge Class facilitator - a congregation member - asks every session: "Are you in a small group?"
- Leader notices every absence and follows up by name
- Leader prays specifically for each person's next step
- Class and group leaders are both congregation members carrying the same baton
The baton pass - a person, not a program
- The small group leader - a congregation member - personally owns each person in their group
- Bridge Class: a congregation member personally connects classmates to a group before the course ends
- Leader names every milestone and prays specifically - by name, by situation
- Leader personally names the next step: "I think you are ready to serve in..."
- The drop: person completes classes but no one from the congregation knows their name
Self-reflection questions
Am I engaged in Scripture and spiritual rhythms?
Am I connected in community?
Mile Marker 03 · From Disciple to Disciple-Maker
Sent &
Serving
Serving
Moving from consumer to contributor
The Aim
"Not just volunteering, but multiplying disciples who make disciples."
Become a person who
Serves faithfully with time, talent, and treasure.
Lives out your faith in everyday life beyond Sunday.
Boldly shares your story of how Jesus changed you.
Helps others take their next step with Jesus.
Invests in the next generation of disciples.
What happens here
- Serving faithfully on a ministry team
- Living faith in everyday life beyond Sunday
- Boldly sharing story of how Jesus changed them
- Outreach and community engagement in the cities
- Still rooted in and belonging to their small group
- Youth & Student Ministry · Serving Opportunities · Outreach
Who is responsible
- Ministry team leader affirms and develops gifts
- Small group leader stays as the primary relational anchor
- Outreach coordinator deploys into city engagement
- Person is still known and belonging in their group
The baton pass - a person, not a program
- Group leader names what they see: "I see leadership in you"
- Specific personal invitation to become the group's apprentice
- Apprentice role explained with clarity and ownership given
- This is the most critical baton pass in the entire system
- The drop: serving for years with no leadership invitation ever given
Self-reflection questions
Am I serving and sharing my faith?
Who have I helped grow closer to Jesus?
Mile Marker 04 · From Faithful Servant to Spiritual Leader
Leadership
Development
Development
Raising the next generation of shepherds
The Aim
"Not position, but Christlike leadership shaped by character, consistency, and faithfulness."
Become a person who
Leads with humility, integrity, and spiritual maturity.
Develops and disciples others intentionally.
Lives above reproach in character and conduct.
Understands doctrine and protects unity.
Is trusted with increasing responsibility.
What happens here
- Apprentice in their group: shadow → co-lead → lead
- Staff monthly leaders cohort - relational, not just training
- Leadership development track with pastoral coaching
- Ministry team leadership roles: hands-on experience
- Theological and character formation ongoing
- Coaching and mentoring from pastors and elders
Who is responsible
- Staff discipleship director personally owns this tier
- Monthly cohort is relational investment - costs staff time
- Elder or pastor assigned to walk alongside personally
- Group multiplication is planned and expected from day one
The baton pass - a person, not a program
- Staff names the group multiplication timeline with the leader
- Apprentice given a specific launch date and a plan
- Original leader immediately begins developing next apprentice
- Staff celebrates every new group as a Kingdom win
- The drop: groups stay stable indefinitely - no multiplication culture
Self-reflection questions
Am I intentionally developing others?
Does my character reflect spiritual maturity?
Would others describe me as faithful and trustworthy?
Mile Marker 05 · Elder · Deacon · Church Planting
The
Climb
Climb
Stewardship of the church and the mission
The Aim
"Not authority, but stewardship - guarding the church and advancing the mission."
Become a person who
Has demonstrated long-term faithfulness and spiritual maturity.
Meets the biblical qualifications for elder or deacon.
Has faithfully shepherded others through the pathway.
Carries a burden for the health and expansion of the church.
Is affirmed in calling, character, and gifting by leadership.
What happens here
- Elder development and discernment process
- Deacon preparation and testing
- Church planting assessment and commissioning
- Deep theological formation and accountability
- Ongoing shepherding and oversight from senior leadership
Who is responsible
- Lead pastor and elder team own the discernment
- Church planting assessment and commissioning
- Deep theological formation and ongoing accountability
- Ongoing shepherding from senior leadership
The baton pass - a person, not a program
- A cluster of mature multiplied groups sent out together
- Not a solo plant - a community is sent, not just a leader
- Sending celebrated as the fruit of the entire pathway
- The baton is now being run in a new city
- This is the vision: your city needs a disciple
Self-reflection questions
Has my life demonstrated long-term faithfulness?
Has my calling been recognized and affirmed by leadership?
Am I willing to shepherd, guard, and send for the sake of the gospel?
Trouble Spots
Where the baton is most likely to be dropped - and what the church must see clearly before launching a pathway without the infrastructure to hold the growth it produces.
The biblical mandate - why this matters
Matthew 9:37-38
The harvest is plentiful
"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
Jesus did not say the harvest was small. He said the laborers were few. The problem has never been a lack of people who need the gospel - it has always been a lack of equipped people willing to go. Every congregation member who is not equipped and deployed is a laborer sitting on the sideline while the harvest waits.
Ephesians 4:11-12
Equipping the saints
"He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ."
Staff and pastors exist to equip - not to do the ministry for everyone else. The work of ministry belongs to the saints. Every congregation member is called to do the works of ministry. The discipleship pathway exists to equip them to do exactly that. When staff carry the pastoral load alone, this passage is being inverted.
Exodus 18:17-18
The Jethro principle
"What you are doing is not good. You will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone."
Moses was a gifted leader carrying an unsustainable load. Jethro saw it clearly from the outside. His solution was not to hire more staff - it was to identify capable, God-fearing people from within the congregation and equip them to lead groups of tens, fifties, and hundreds. The work scaled because leaders were multiplied, not just tasks assigned.
Mark 3:13-15 · Luke 6:12-13
Jesus and the twelve
"He appointed twelve - designating them apostles - that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach."
Jesus had crowds from the beginning. He chose the twelve first. He ate with them, traveled with them, let them watch him, corrected them, gave them assignments, and debriefed what they saw. Pentecost - 3,000 saved in a day - only happened after the twelve were equipped. The sequence is immovable: invest deeply in the few, they multiply, the many are reached. Never the other way around.
The 80/20 reality - Bridge Cities Church today
Total attenders
800
Sunday crowd
Seekers, new believers, occasional attenders. The visible church. Most do not yet have a relational home inside the congregation.
Tithers
399
Committed attenders
Financially invested, regularly attending. The pathway will reach these people first - but they are not yet equipped to reach others.
The 20%
~90
The active core
Most invested, most active - 25% of tithers. These are the natural laborers Jesus described. The church's future capacity runs entirely through this group. Equip them first.
Currently in community
~220
In a small group
22 groups x ~10 people. This is who is currently being discipled relationally. The other ~580 Sunday attenders have no relational home yet.
The Jesus model applied - multiplication through the 90 core
22
groups today
~220 in community
~220 in community
→
44
groups · yr 1-2
~440 in community
~440 in community
→
88
groups · yr 3-4
~880 in community
~880 in community
→
Plant
A cluster of mature groups
sent as a new church
sent as a new church
This math only works if the 90 core are intentionally equipped as the Jethro model describes - each one shepherding a group of tens and raising an apprentice within it. Jesus invested 3 years in 12 people. Those 12 became the laborers who reached the world. The same principle scales to every congregation: invest in the few, they multiply, the many are reached. Without the apprentice expectation built into every group, the 22 groups stay 22 groups. The pathway produces growth with no congregation members equipped to shepherd it.
Critical warning
Adding pathway classes without the infrastructure is the Moses problem at scale.
Staff becomes the bottleneck. Every struggling person, every question, every group funnels to a handful of paid staff. That is not discipleship - that is a service model. Ephesians 4 is clear: staff equip the saints for the work of ministry. The saints do the work. When congregation members are not equipped and deployed as the laborers Jesus described, the harvest waits - and staff burns out trying to bring it in alone.
Six places the baton gets dropped
Drop Point 01
No follow-up after first visit
Guest fills out a connect card. No one calls. They return once more, then quietly stop coming. They experienced a service, not a community.
The fix: A named congregation member - assigned before the guest leaves Sunday - calls or texts within 48 hours. Not staff. Not a form. A real person who says: "I'm glad you came. I'd love to introduce you to some people."
Drop Point 02
Next Steps - no group placement
Person attends Next Steps. Gets information about the church. Leaves energized but with no specific next step toward community. Energy fades within days.
The fix: A congregation member in the room personally introduces this person to a small group leader before they leave the building. The handoff happens person-to-person, not through a website or email.
Drop Point 03
Membership - no relational home
Person becomes a member. Still has no small group. All 22 groups are full. They email the director and wait. Momentum dies.
The fix: A congregation member personally connects the new member to a small group leader by name, this week. Full groups are not a dead end - they are the signal that an apprentice inside that group is ready to launch something new.
Drop Point 04
Group - no formation content
Person is in a group. The group is warm and social but has no formation structure. After a year they plateau. Head knowledge without heart transformation.
The fix: The congregation member leading the group is equipped to facilitate transformation - not just discussion. They shepherd, they challenge, they celebrate. This is the Ephesians 4 work of ministry the saints are called to.
Drop Point 05 - Most Critical
Serving - no leadership invitation
Person is faithfully serving. No one names what they see. No one asks them to lead. They serve for years without growing. The harvest loses a laborer to stagnation.
The fix: The congregation member leading the group personally says: "I see leadership in you. I want to invest in you the way someone invested in me." The invitation is relational and personal - never institutional.
Drop Point 06
Leadership - no multiplication
A leader is developing well. No multiplication expectation has been set. Groups stay stable for years. The 22 groups remain 22 groups. The harvest waits.
The fix: The congregation member leading the group knows from day one that their calling - like the twelve - is to produce the next leader from within the group. When that person is ready, the group multiplies. The church grows through people raising people.
Who carries which tier - the Jethro + Jesus model applied
| Tier | Primary responsibility | What failure looks like |
|---|---|---|
Pastoral staff 5-8 people |
Equip the 90 core to do the work of ministry (Eph 4:12). Staff do not carry the pastoral load - they equip those who do. Monthly relational cohort. Walk alongside leaders the way leaders walk alongside their groups. | Staff doing the discipleship themselves. Every new person becomes a staff responsibility. The church plateaus at the capacity of its paid team. The harvest waits. |
Core leaders ~90 people - 22 groups |
These are the laborers Jesus described. Each one shepherds a group of 8-12 AND intentionally raises an apprentice - exactly as Jesus invested in the twelve. Success = producing the next leader from within the group. | Groups stay stable. No apprentice named. No multiplication planned. The 22 groups remain 22 groups in year 5. The Jethro model never activates. |
Apprentice leaders 1 per group - 22 needed |
Shadow, co-lead, lead. When ready, the group multiplies - exactly as the twelve became the seventy-two. The church gains a laborer for the harvest. This is the engine of all future growth. | No apprentice named. When the group needs to grow, no one is ready. New groups cannot launch. The harvest waits for laborers that were never raised up. |
Group members 8-12 per group - ~220 today |
Walk the pathway together. Care for one another. Practice confession, prayer, accountability, hospitality. Some will surface as the next apprentice. ~580 Sunday attenders still have no relational home. | ~580 Sunday attenders have no relational home. No amount of new classes will reach them if there is no congregation member equipped and assigned to walk alongside them. |
Your City Needs a Disciple.
"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." - Matthew 9:37
The answer to a plentiful harvest is not more programs. It is equipped laborers - congregation members who have been poured into, who know what it costs, and who are willing to carry the baton for the person walking beside them.
Bridge Cities Church · Discipleship Pathway
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