Fractal Discipleship

Fractal by Jonathan Zander

I’ve talked quite a bit with David Watson and other experienced church planters lately.  One refrain in most of our discussions is the vitally important understanding of the fractal nature of discipleship.  Those discussions really have me thinking.  

What is a Fractal Image?

Before I get too into the discussion, let me provide a bit from Wikipedia on Fractals:

 

A fractal is generally “a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole,”^[1] a property called self-similarity. The term was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975 and was derived from the Latin fractus meaning “broken” or “fractured.” A mathematical fractal is based on an equation that undergoesiteration, a form of feedback based on recursion.^[2]

Because they appear similar at all levels of magnification, fractals are often considered to be infinitely complex (in informal terms). Natural objects that approximate fractals to a degree include clouds, mountain ranges, lightning bolts, coastlines, and snow flakes. However, not all self-similar objects are fractals—for example, the real line (a straight Euclidean line) is formally self-similar but fails to have other fractal characteristics; for instance, it is regular enough to be described in Euclidean terms.

 

To boil that down, true fractal images display the same repeating pattern no matter how much you zoom into any portion of the design.  The image above is an example of a fractal image.

What is Fractal Discipleship?

Fractal Discipleship holds that at every level – church, small group, individual walk – the DNA of obedient, replicating disciples should be present.   So a large group meeting should follow a similar (or the same) pattern as a smaller group, as two friends meeting together, as a single person engaging the Word, etc.

This kind of perspective leads us to use the 3 Part Study approach – as individuals studying God’s Word, in our small groups, and in church plants around the world.  Sometimes they use an oral expression, sometimes it is written, sometimes it is a hybrid, but they all use an expression of the 3 Part Study.  Larger groups might add a musical element to the process, but that doesn’t mean the DNA elements change.

And here are some HUGE things we learned along the way:

• Process and what you measure are more instrumental to establishing DNA than knowledge.  
• Your DNA must be present from the first meeting with a non-believer.  
• You cannot ‘phase-in’ DNA.  
• Group DNA is established by the third time a group meets.

So, as you look at your small groups, how much thought have you given to the engagement of lost people and to the small group process?  Do you spend more time on what the group will be studying rather than how they will study it?  Is the process of establishing DNA a knowledge-dependant process or an action-driven process?

These are the things I’m dealing with as I look at starting online groups with non-Christians help them discover Jesus.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

If you’d like to see a copy of the materials we use to disciple groups of lost people to Christ, leave a comment and I will email it to you.