Annual Discipleship Plans

The Michigan Conference is committed to proclaiming the everlasting gospel in the context of the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14. Following Jesus’ method, our aim is to Grow Michigan churches through a five-stage evangelistic process that includes: (1) preparing the soil of the heart with friendship and compassionate service, (2) planting the seeds of God’s Word with literature, (3) cultivating spiritual interests with Bible studies, (4) harvesting decisions for Christ and the truth with public evangelistic meetings, and (5) preserving new members with ongoing discipleship.

This comprehensive evangelistic strategy is reflected in the Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual, which states that the primary concern of every church board is to “ensure that there is an active, ongoing discipleship plan in place, which includes both spiritual nurture and outreach ministries.” To this end, every church in the Michigan Conference is required to complete a comprehensive Discipleship Plan for the upcoming year.  

• Download the Discipleship Plan Form
• Sample Discipleship Form
• Discipleship Plan Instructions for Pastors
• Discipleship Plan Instructions for District Superintendents

Other Helpful Resources

• Local Church Evaluation Tool
  This resource is invaluable in helping local leaders assess the evangelistic health of their church.  After being completed by church leaders (pastor, elders, and church board), the results can be the basis of important conversations about soul-winning labor, budget priorities, and many other issues related to church growth.
   
• Evangelism FAQ 
  Evangelism FAQ is a training series addressing many common fears and misconceptions about soul-winning generally and public evangelism specifically. Each video is only 3-5 minutes long and includes accompanying study guides, making this an ideal resource for use in the Sabbath School mission program, Personal Ministries features of the worship service, or outreach and leadership training.  
   
• Department Ministry Plans
  Each department of the local church should have a clear understanding of its purpose and well-defined plan for how it contribute to the church's soul-winning mission. This folder contains downloadable plans for a dozen different departments, such as elders, deacons, Sabbath School, Personal Ministries, Adventist Community Services, Men's and Women's Ministries, and more. 
   
• Event Planning Tools
  This folder contains two downloadable resources to help you plan church ministry events: a Calendar of Events form and Event Planning Worksheet. While the Calendar of Events form is a simple document to help you organize the various ministry events in the local church, the Event Planning Worksheet helps each department estimate what a proposed event will entail before it is held and to evaluate its success afterward. 
   
• Michigan Conference Assigned Zip Codes
  This downloadable spreadsheet shows the Zip Codes of the assigned outreach territory of each church in the Michigan Conference
   
• Curb Appeal Materials
  What is the first impression your church gives to visitors? What can be done to improve your church's "curb appeal"? This helpful resource was produced by the North American Division to help local churches assess and improve they impression they make on the community and visitors. 
   
• Disciples Software Tutorial 
  Many churches in Michigan use the Disciples software for tracking Bible study interests and evangelism event attendance. This PDF is a quick start guide to the Disciples system.
   
• End-Time Messages from Jesus  
  End-Time Messages from Jesus is a series of public evangelistic presentations developed by the Ministerial Association of the General Conference. Each presentation is available to download in Word, PowerPoint, Keynote files.