This approach uses one or more programs to guide the discipling of church members. Through the programs (and associated products, curriculum, and resources) of the church, participants are moved along in their discipleship journeys. This approach typically offers topical and age-group studies, which are usually held at traditional times. Examples: Sunday School, Sunday night Discipleship Training, semester-based course offerings, January Bible Study.
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Audience
Those persons involved in a program, short-term course, or small group.

Benefits
Programs provide structure and stability to the discipleship endeavor. Programs such as Sunday School tend to be attended by the majority of church members, thus allowing for a wide impact. Use of published curriculum allows for uniform discipleship experience for participants and is especially useful for teaching doctrine, dealing with specific topics, and exploring spiritual giftedness. A congregation can offer multiple classes and opportunities at once. Program-oriented approaches are also good for short-term motivation of believers.

Drawbacks
It is often easy to focus on the program (attendance, which curriculum to teach, time/place to meet, etc.) rather than the discipleship journey of individual participants. Motivation tends to be short term. It is difficult for participants to experience high levels of discipleship accountability or to measure life-impact. Offerings tend to be sporadic, leaving participants confused about what is expected of a disciple and what the next step in their journey with Jesus ought to be.

Next Level
Churches can take this approach to the next level of effectiveness in a number of ways:

• Be intentional about the disciple-making function of your programs. Clear disciple-making expectations for the program should be outlined, voiced, and evaluated. In evaluating the effectiveness of a program, church leaders should ask, “How is this program leading to life-change for participants?”
• Define what a disciple looks like and determine how your programs will move people closer to that target.
• In order to target the needs of people, church leaders might survey members of the church and community to find out what the life needs are and what discipleship topics are most pressing.
• Rather than offer strictly age-based courses, give participants a selection of topics that are being offered simultaneously.
• Incorporate aspects of accountability into programmed courses.

Pulpit-oriented discipleship | Program-oriented discipleship | Process-oriented discipleship
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