The 3 Core Habits of a Disciple Worth Multiplying

What’s the fundamental difference between merely believing and truly following Jesus as a disciple? While millions identify as Christians, Jesus called us to make disciples who obey everything He commanded (Matthew 28:18-20).

In this article you will learn the three foundational habits that transform ordinary believers into disciple-makers who multiply movements.

You’ll discover how to deepen your connection with Christ through a simple daily Scripture practice, how to identify and pray strategically for the people God has already placed in your life, and how to confidently share the gospel using an easy-to-reproduce visual method.

Each habit comes with practical tools you can implement immediately and pass on to others, creating generations of disciples who make disciples.

How to Cultivate a Lifestyle of Obedience and Multiplication in a Church Planting Movement

How do ordinary believers transform into multipliers? The answer lies not in complex strategies but in simple, reproducible habits that can spread rapidly from person to person.

What if three core practices could revolutionize your spiritual life and impact? This guide explores the habits that fuel disciple-making movements worldwide:

• Abiding in Christ
• Mapping and Praying for Your Oikos
• Sharing the Gospel Using 3 Circles

These aren’t just activities—they’re the rhythms of obedience that Jesus modeled and commanded.

What would happen if you mastered these three habits and taught others to do the same?

Habit #1: Abide in Christ (Follow Jesus Daily)

Have you ever wondered why some believers experience supernatural transformation while others remain spiritually stagnant? The difference often lies in this first essential habit.

Why it Matters

Jesus made an extraordinary claim: “Apart from me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Not “very little”—but nothing of spiritual value. How can we access this vital connection? Through abiding.

What would your life look like if you were fully connected to the vine of Christ daily? When disciples abide consistently, they experience God’s power flowing through them rather than striving in their own strength.

How to Abide Practically

• Daily Word & Obedience
  • Are you merely reading Scripture, or immediately obeying it?
  • The pattern of reading, meditating, and applying God’s Word creates lasting change
  • Consistency matters more than quantity—even 15 minutes daily transforms lives
• Use the SOS Tool
  • This simple method helps you engage with Scripture and practice obedience:
    • S – Say: What is God saying to me from this passage?
    • O – Obey: How should I obey this passage today?
    • S – Share: Who can I share this with to help them grow?
  • The power lies in its simplicity and reproducibility
• Fasting & Surrender
  • Regular fasting creates space for deeper communion with God
  • True surrender asks, “What must I lay down” to follow Jesus more fully?
  • Undivided devotion fuels spiritual breakthrough

Reproducible Tool: SOS

The most powerful disciple-making tools are simple enough for new believers to use immediately. The 3-Column method of SOS follows the same pattern:

• Column 1: Say – Write the Scripture passage and what God says to you
• Column 2: Obey – Write how you will obey it today
• Column 3: Share – List who you will share it with

Next Steps

What area of your life might be transformed if you committed to abiding in Christ through consistent Scripture engagement and obedience? And who around you is waiting for you to share this habit with them?

Habit #2: Map Your Oikos and Pray at 10:02

Wei Lin sat at his kitchen table, pen in hand, staring at a blank piece of paper. His pastor had challenged him to identify his “oikos” – the network of relationships God had already placed in his life. “I don’t know many non-Christians,” he thought. But as he began to draw the map, names emerged: colleagues, neighbors, family members, even the barista who served his morning coffee. By the time he finished, 32 names filled his paper. “I had no idea,” Wei whispered. “These are my mission field.”

Why it Matters

Jesus was strategic in His mission. He taught disciples to pray specifically for the harvest (Luke 10:2) and to focus on their existing relationships as a starting point for kingdom expansion.

What if the people God has called you to reach are already in your life? Your oikos – your natural network of relationships – represents your personal mission field, divinely arranged by God.

When Wei set his phone alarm to 10:02 each day (reflecting Luke 10:2), something shifted in his heart. “The daily prayer reminder turned these names from just people I know into souls God was calling me to reach.”

How to Map Your Oikos Practically

• Create Your Relationship Map
  • Draw a circle with your name in the center
  • Draw lines outward to people in your life who don’t know Jesus:
    • Family members
    • Friends and neighbors
    • Coworkers and classmates
    • Regular contacts (gym, coffee shop, school)
  • Write their names and any specific spiritual needs
• Set a Daily 10:02 Prayer Alarm
  • Based on Luke 10:2: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers”
  • When it rings, stop and pray for:
    • Open doors to spiritual conversations
    • Divine appointments with those ready to hear
    • Courage and clarity in your witness
    • Specific names from your oikos map
• Look for Persons of Peace
  • These are people who:
    • Welcome you and your message
    • Are open to spiritual conversations
    • Have influence with others in their network
    • Might gather others to hear your message

Reproducible Tool: The Oikos Map

Wei taught his cousin how to create an oikos map during lunch. “It’s so simple,” his cousin remarked. “I can definitely do this.” Two weeks later, his cousin had mapped 41 names and set his own 10:02 alarm.

The power of this tool lies in its visual impact and immediate applicability. Anyone can draw a circle and identify relationships – no theological training required.

Next Steps

Who are the people in your life that God has strategically placed in your path? What would happen if you committed to mapping them and praying for them daily? Whose eternal destiny might change because you took this simple step of obedience?

Habit #3: Share Your Story and the Gospel Using 3 Circles

James’s hands trembled slightly as he reached for a paper napkin in the cafe. His college roommate had just shared about his struggles with depression and feelings of meaninglessness. “Can I show you something that helped me understand my own life better?” James asked. As his friend nodded, James picked up a pen and drew the first circle. Twenty minutes later, his roommate prayed to receive Christ.

“I never thought I could explain the gospel clearly,” James later told his mentor. “But the 3 Circles made it so simple that even my friend could immediately share it with someone else.”

Why it Matters

Jesus called His disciples to be “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Yet many believers never share their faith because they lack confidence or a simple method. What if sharing the gospel could be as easy as drawing three circles on a napkin?

The early disciples didn’t have seminary degrees or apologetics training—they had personal stories of transformation and a simple message about Jesus that anyone could understand and pass on.

How to Share Practically

Prepare Your Personal 15 Second Testimony

• Craft a 15 Second Testimony following this pattern:
  • What your life was like before following Jesus
  • How you encountered Jesus
  • What your life is like now because of Jesus
• Learn step by step how to share the 15 Second Testimony Here
• Practice until you can share it naturally
• Remove religious jargon that non-believers won’t understand

Learn the 3 Circles Gospel Presentation

• Practice and Apply
  • Learn the step by step in how to share the 3 circles here
  • Draw the 3 Circles while explaining the gospel until it feels natural
  • Look for everyday opportunities to share (responses to suffering, purpose questions, life transitions)
  • Always invite a response: “Would you like to turn from brokenness and follow Jesus?”

Reproducible Tool: 3 Circles Gospel Presentation

Sarah, a high school student, learned the 3 Circles during a youth group meeting. The next weekend, she used it to explain the gospel to her cousin using just a paper napkin at a family barbecue. “The best part,” she said, “is that my cousin immediately understood it well enough to share it with her boyfriend the next day.”

The 3 Circles works because:

• It’s visual – people see and remember the simple diagram
• It’s contextual – it starts with the brokenness people already experience
• It’s reproducible – new believers can immediately share it with others

Next Steps

Who needs to hear your story this week? What would change if you committed to sharing the 3 Circles with just one person in the next seven days? How many lives might be transformed if you mastered and multiplied this simple tool?

Conclusion: Living as a Disciple Who Makes Disciples

Jorge stood in the shallow river, helping his friend Manuel into the water for baptism. Six months earlier, Jorge had been a nominal believer who never shared his faith. Now he was discipling five people who were all sharing the gospel regularly.

“What changed?” his pastor asked him.

“I started practicing these three simple habits,” Jorge replied. “And for the first time, I realized being a disciple isn’t about what I know—it’s about what I do and pass on to others.”

The Power of Three Core Habits

When disciples consistently Abide in Christ, Map and Pray for their Oikos, and Share the Gospel Using 3 Circles, transformation and multiplication follow naturally. These habits form a complete framework for disciple-making:

• Abiding connects you to God’s power and guidance
• Mapping and Praying focuses your attention on those God has placed in your path
• Sharing moves you from intention to action in making disciples

Remember James 1:22: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Discipleship isn’t measured by Bible knowledge—it’s measured by obedience and the ability to equip others to follow Jesus.

Maria, a new believer in her sixties, put it this way: “I thought I was too old and uneducated to make a difference. But these three habits are so simple that anyone can do them. Now I’m discipling my grandchildren and two neighbors.”

Your Next Steps

• Which of these three habits is your strongest? Your weakest?
• Who will you intentionally train in these three habits this week?
• What one step of obedience is Jesus asking of you right now?

The future of the gospel’s spread doesn’t depend on eloquent preachers or elaborate programs. It depends on ordinary disciples who practice and pass on these three habits with extraordinary faithfulness.

As Jorge discovered, “These habits aren’t complicated, but they’re transformative. When I began to practice them daily, not only did my own life change, but I started seeing the ripple effects in others. Now I’m watching my disciples make their own disciples.”

Will you join the movement of disciples who make disciples through these simple, reproducible habits? What might God do through your faithful obedience in the next six months?