Discipleship and Mentoring in the G12 System

The Lord God works through His people by first starting with a vision of His plan and purposes. Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18). But with the God given vision we can win the lost, raise up a mighty church, take a city and see Jesus’ gospel spread through the entire earth. The G12 model has a firm system of discipleship and mentoring which means that every person from top to bottom is accountable to his over-shepherd in matters great and small, both religious and secular.

Jesus Christ started by finding 12 people that He could disciple to become world-changers. He did this by praying all night before choosing His twelve. Then, he mentored and molded them over the next three years, making them into a powerful team. Later, in the book of Acts, the apostles also were choosing and mentoring their twelve also. The principal of twelve is dynamic and explosive yet simple to understand and easy to be implemented.

The G12 system as we have seen is based around the number twelve. Also highly structured, it aims at reproducing its cells by making every member a leader who is tasked with producing his own cell of twelve. Here all staff no matter what their position lead a cell and at the same time mentor other cell leaders or disciples. Each cell member is being trained to form his or her own cell of twelve by making recruits from friends and family but at the same time each person is still being mentored by his or her own cell leader. Members therefore are expected both to lead and to attend different cell groups. Every new believer goes through discipleship training to equip him or her to become a new cell leader.

Thus discipleship and mentoring are factors in the success of adopting the G12 system. The senior pastor disciples the assistant pastors, the assistant pastors disciple the area leaders, the area leaders disciple the cell leaders, and the cell leaders disciple the cell members and so on. Every activity and belief as well as personal relationships and the details of life is funneled through the discipleship pyramid.

The Importance of Prayer in the G12 System

In Matthew 9:37-38 it is said there that "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest,” Doing G12 system without prayer is useless. Prayer is very important in the life of a Disciple. Without prayer it would be impossible for a Christian to do Discipleship. The absence of prayer in a Christian life will only result to a far less effective and far more vulnerable to the enemy. The reality is when you do Discipleship you need the blessing and support of the Lord. You need to be intimate with Him. When the Disciples pray, God will work.

When you share the good news you plant the seeds of the Gospel, but it is still the Lord God who causes the growth (1 Cor. 3:6-7). Through prayer and petition you ask God to give that growth. Through prayer you ask God to convict the unrepentant of their sin and by that awaken in them the need for salvation.

Jesus is very successful in making Disciples because He prayed frequently (Matt. 14:23; 26:36; Mark 6:46; Luke 5:16; John 17). Apostle Paul prayed (Rom. 1:9; Eph. 1:16). Stephen also prayed (Acts 7:55-60). God wants us to pray to Him and have an intimate relationship with Him (John 1:1-4). In prayer there is power against our enemy because there is a battle and our battle is not against flesh and blood but against powers and the spiritual forces of darkness (Eph. 6:12). Prayer is one of God's ordained means for you to do spiritual warfare, and winning souls is definitely a spiritual warfare.

In general, without prayer it is impossible for us to do the G12 model of Jesus Christ. We have to constantly and earnestly pray to God who has in control of everything. If we are faithful in our prayer life, establishing our generation is easy.

School of Leaders in the G12 System

Disciple making is a continuous process. It will not just end up in Post-Encounter stage. After the Post- Encounter, the student will now enter the School of Leaders. The School of Leaders prepares cell members to fulfill Christ's call upon their lives carefully preparing them for disciple making and cell leading. The topics in this school type gathering include foundational Christian doctrine. Students also will be taught in personal development, Christian life skills and cell leadership. Along with the Encounters, the School of Leadership gives complete and effective training in disciple making.

One of the reasons why a believer should undergo the School of Leaders is to prepare that believer to become an efficient cell leader with the ability to win lives for Christ. This trained leader now can duplicate the process and continue to disciple new believers until they become successful leaders. It is a course of uncomplicated teaching, orientated to practical things, which motivates people to learn themselves.

Basically the courses cover three primary areas of study and ministry activation. The number one area is building the foundations in Christ. This focuses on building a strong and meaningful foundation for your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ as well as a foundation for Christian living. It actually includes the doctrines of the Bible as well as seminars on the family and courtship.

Another is about cell group ministry. This focuses on preparing and training the believer in the fundamentals of leading a Cell Group as well as seminars on intercession, evangelism and service. After the Disciples knew how to lead a cell group they will be taught now on the leadership skills through the Government of 12. Essential leadership skills and anointing necessary to mentor leaders will now be imparted. This is necessary to multiply cell groups and build groups of 12. There is then deeper instruction in the process of Consolidation, the role of Holy Spirit in their lives and ministry, and counseling. This School of Leaders will usually last for three semesters of ten weeks each.

The Ladder of Success in the G12 System

The G12 System for church growth has 4 stages of implementation called the Ladder of Success: Win, Consolidate, Disciple and Send. In the winning stage new believers are added to the church through personal evangelism, harvest event, weekend celebration church services, and monthly "net" meetings and other strategies to win souls for Jesus Christ. After you win the person the next step is to bring him to a weekend Encounter.

The second step is what we called as Consolidation. In this process new believers were consolidated and they were taught on the impact of their past sins, the importance of forgiving those who did them wrong for healing. There are three parts in the Consolidation process. Consolidation is when the new believer goes through the Pre-Encounter Bible studies, the Encounter weekend and the Post-Encounter.

After the Post Encounter the believer will now enter the Disciple Stage. In the Disciple stage the people will be taught on how to become a Leader. Topics in this stage are more about evangelism, courtship, abundant life, Family and many others. This is what we call as School of Leaders Level or SOL. This SOL is basically a class type session and will last for ten weeks. School of Leaders stage is composed of 3 levels namely: SOL 1, SOL 2 and SOL 3.

The last stage in the Ladder of Success is the Sending part. This is now the challenging part because the Disciples now will be sent out. The Disciple will duplicate the process and will establish his own cell and act as a cell leader also. The Disciple now begins to develop his twelve, taking them through each step of the process of the vision by winning them, consolidating them, discipline them, and eventually sending them.