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.

Importance of the Number 12

The G12 system concept is based on the number twelve which is a significant number in the Bible. There are many Biblical proofs of using the number 12 in the G12 System. The model of 12 has always been in God's heart. The number 12 symbolizes government. During creation God established 12 months to govern each year; even days are governed by periods of 12 hours each. To govern the people of Israel, God established 12 tribes and King Solomon appointed 12 governors. In the book of Acts also it clear there that Judas was replaced by Matthias to complete the 12 Disciples. It is clear that the apostles chose one more to replace Judas and Matthias became number 12.

Jesus developed 12 men to build His church and His kingdom. The principle of 12 uses this same principle for the advancing of the church throughout the world. The desire of God and vision of his heart is to see Souls won and Believers being trained as multiplying Disciples. That is the vision of the Father. The only way we can accomplish this is by following the model of Jesus. To focus on 12 men, pour your heart and life into them to see them succeed in God's calling for their life. This is done by helping them come to wholeness and have their character shaped. So they can bare fruit for the Lord. That is the Principle of G12 System!

19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)

Understanding the G12 System

G12 system was first imported from Colombia five years ago. It was shaped by Rev. Cesar Castellanos in the early 1990s, after a trip he took to South Korea (where Christians account for more than a fourth of the population). In Seoul, Mr. Castellanos met David Yonggi Cho, creator of the Yoido Full Gospel Church, the largest worshippers in the world, now with more than eight hundred thousand members, meeting in a number of satellite locations. In the late 1960s, the growing number of his followers had forced Mr. Yonggi to reorganize his church. He divided it into geographical zones called cells, where attendants were encouraged to invite other friends, even non-Christians, to join cell meetings. These cells would then divide once they had reached a certain level of membership.

The G12 System is one of the foundational factors that have resulted in the exponential growth of the church. This process is very easy to do. A Pastor will just imitate Jesus Christ by choosing 12 people to be His disciples and taught them the way of the Lord. Each of those 12 disciples found 12 disciples and each of those disciples found 12 disciples and each of those 12 disciples and on and on until everyone was in a group.

The number twelve is the number of government in the Bible. Jesus set up His kingdom and government on the earth by using the same principle that God had used to establish Israel in the Old Testament. Just as Israel had 12 tribes, Jesus had 12 disciples. Using this model, Jesus intended to show us a pattern of how to disciple not only our local communities, but also the nations of the world.

The G12 system has several strict standards. In order to be part of the vision, you are expected to be devoted, attend your cell group once a week, go to retreats, go out to evangelize, go the Sunday morning service and also attend special meetings with your leader's leader. Each week is enclosed by these church things to do, as your social activities are contained within your cell group. Your week will be used up with these meetings to attend as they make you a more serious disciple