Discipleship Multiplication Grows the Church in Europe
October 25, 2024
Discipleship multiplication is at the core of Greater Europe Mission, and the intentional, reproducible model Nathan Beck uses is one such example of Christ growing His Church.
Having lived for more than two decades in the Czech Republic, Beck recently shared how discipleship multiplication is increasingly becoming the norm across Europe. After attending a discipleship conference in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2023, he realized that more than 100 attendees were experiencing the same.
“Within a matter of months, we started seeing [people] not just become Christians themselves, but lead others to faith,” reflects Beck. “I’m aware of seven places in Europe that have seen 5-10 generations deep of discipleship groups out of new believers, although there may be more.”
Humble Curiosity Leads to a Radical Pursuit
What began with humble curiosity has developed into growing cross-organizational initiatives. Not satisfied with the lack of growth and spiritual stagnation caused by failed attempts at discipleship, in 2010 Beck retreated for a time of deep prayer and contemplation. During this time, a GEM colleague called him to ask about this type of movement.
His curiosity piqued, Beck began an investigation.
“I’m listening through these videos and thinking, ‘You know what, I don’t see a theological reason why this can’t work. And I don’t see a practical reason why this can’t work,’” Beck recalls. “Before I finished the training videos, I’d already started up my first Bible study with a group of non-believers.”
As defined by Beck, current discipleship multiplication initiatives are “a growing cross-organizational, radical pursuit of Jesus, combined with a relentless pursuit of ministry effectiveness that regularly results in disciples multiplied to 4+ generations of new believers throughout every country on the continent.”
This form of discipleship emphasizes what Beck describes as non-negotiables of the Christian faith, allowing for a comprehensible and reproducible discipleship group. Such an approach has led to many multi-generational churches both in and beyond Europe, where those who hear the gospel teach others, who then teach others, and so forth.
Unbeknownst to Beck, he wasn’t the only one witnessing such remarkable results.
Although he didn’t yet know it, discipleship multiplication was increasing. This flood resulted in collaboration among leaders and various Christian organizations to encourage and support each other in training disciples.
Model Discipleship Well and Get Out of the Way
This regular meeting together and sharing has been vital for refining discipleship methods. For Beck, finding the right model has been a process of trial and error. The first major tweak was committing to finding hosts for group gatherings. “The other thing that I was missing,” Beck says, “[was] a reproducible disciple-making tool,” a simple rhetorical device for sharing the gospel.
According to Beck, lack of clarity and intentionality kill discipleship movements. For example, one disciple attempted to replicate his teaching in English despite being the only English speaker in the group. Another was dismayed because their group couldn’t rent space in a local community center and decided not to meet.
Even so, Beck is convinced that “at some point, God will get the missionaries out of the way.” Generational growth seems to occur organically when discipleship groups are grassroots in nature.
“None of it is attached to a single person or organization or denomination or anything,” remarks Beck. “It just seems to be people from every place imaginable [asking], ‘Can we see the things that we see in Scripture?’”
Beck believes that “the reason God is doing this is so that no organization, no person, no church…gets the glory for it. Only Jesus Christ.”
Fanning the Flame into Movement
According to Beck, the pace of discipleship is increasing as these efforts multiply. The focus of the 30+ groups who have joined together has been to “fan the flame” of what God is doing and help groups get over the threshold into movement (often defined as at least four generations of growth every three years).
Beck also notes how this kind of multiplication quickly becomes the new normal. He explains:
“First or second generation is pretty normal. [Also, some] are seeing third, fourth, and fifth generations of new disciples out of the harvest. Since then, we’ve been trying to say, ‘OK, where are some of the outliers––the people that are seeing beyond the fifth generation.’ We were able to identify seven locations in different parts of Europe where people are seeing seventh, eighth and ninth-generation new believers out of the harvest. These are things that when we started these experiments a decade and a half ago, we didn’t even know if it was possible to see the ninth generation. And now we can point these people out.”
He likens the rapid growth to Jesus’ parable of the vine and the branches, which states that by abiding in Christ, disciples will bear much fruit. Jesus is the vine, disciples are the branches, and according to Beck, a reproducible discipleship tool is the trellis that aids in healthy growth.
Nathan Beck and the hundreds of disciple-makers like him exemplify GEM’s mission to multiply disciples and prove that Christ is building His kingdom. As the pace of discipleship is rapidly increasing, collaboration among organizations and across denominations is a necessity. Even more encouraging is how this growth is happening independently of any one person or group.
As Beck said, “If it is healthy, if it is mature, it will reproduce…the essentials are following Jesus, obeying Jesus, and turning around and helping others come into a relationship with him.”
About the Author: Zachary McKay is a storyteller with Greater Europe Mission serving in Frankfurt, Germany.