I have read in David Watson’s book titled “Contagious disciple making” that it takes about 4 years for a movement to take off. I am sure there is room for a miracle where it takes shorter, but in general, it takes time and there are good reasons for that.
There are reasons why it takes 4 years. Here are 3 reasons. There may be more but I present only three.
1) Finding Disciples takes time (Persons of Peace)
It takes time to find people who love the Lord, and who are willing to commit themselves to a life of disciple making. Most people love the Lord for what He gives to them, they are not thinking of giving up their lives to follow Jesus.
2) Developing a multiplication mindset takes time
When you find people who are saved and are passionate for disciple making, it takes time to train them to think in terms of multiplication instead of addition. What most of us are used to is the disciple maker, making converts and adding up the numbers in hundreds or thousands. We don’t realize that we can also recruit people to recruit and then we have multiplication.
3) Getting out of God’s way takes time (sometimes)
It takes time for the disciple maker to get rid of the desire to be someone. To be an effective disciple maker, you must be ready to simply be an invisible tool in the hands of a mighty God. This is why you will pray a lot more than you have ever prayed.
If you are thinking of starting a discovery group today, then expect a miracle but be ready to spend the next 4-5 years before you get to the 4th generation of your group. By 4th generation I mean some in your initial group starts a group and someone in the group starts another group. You> John> Jane> Joe!
Imagine what happens if another person in your initial group does the same and all the people in John’s group. The numbers begin to multiply. That is why it is wise to take the time to allow the Holy Spirit to do the transformations in your heart and in the heart of the people in your first group.
So don’t get worried if you are doing the right things but you are not seeing much outward results. Spend more time in prayers, in the word, and amongst the lost. Your will see the fruit in due time.