Our God continues to do amazing things. In 2025, we saw Him draw many people to Himself through everyday disciples who make disciples who make disciples. The missional strategy of equipping new believers to share their faith and start new Bible study groups right away, has been producing fruit in many regions of the world. Multiply global workers and partners who have incorporated elements from one particular discipleship movement are testifying to its effectiveness in their context.

WHAT ARE THE HALLMARKS OF THESE DISCIPLESHIP MOVEMENTS?

Through tools like Discovery Bible Study—an inductive Bible study that can be held anywhere, any time, and led by anyone—these discipleship movements emphasize fellowship, stories from the Bible, prayer, and practical training to help people demonstrate the Kingdom of God in their everyday lives. At times, complicated leadership structures and costly buildings can be an impediment to discipleship growth.

Every discipleship strategy has its challenges. They require prayerful supervision and ongoing training of leadership to ensure spiritual maturity, and to avoid an emphasis on numbers rather than genuine faith. But, properly implemented, they clearly have the potential to be used by God to make disciples–not only of individuals, but families, communities, and people groups.

WHAT DO THESE DISCIPLESHIP MOVEMENTS LOOK LIKE IN THE FIELD?

Louise Sinclair-Peters, Multiply’s Regional Team Leader for Asia, has served in that region for over twenty-five years. She’s tried many ways to share the Gospel and make disciples among Buddhist, animist, and Muslim people. Being a missionary, she explains, has traditionally meant preaching and teaching—leading, as people listened like an audience. “You never knew how much they actually believed and obeyed the Word of God. This curriculum [DBS] is obedience-based discipleship. It’s a simple model that gathers people who want to follow Jesus.”

Last year, Louise and her team completed their first discipleship movement training in Asia with thirty leaders from Laos, Thai-Isaan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and the Philippines. One of the leaders reflected after the training, “I used to do all the teaching in our churches. I see now that I wasn’t raising up leaders because I wasn’t empowering anyone else to lead. Now I want to train more leaders. I have a greater understanding now as to how the Holy Spirit brings multiplication.”

Louise says she and her team have seen more growth in the past few years, since implementing these tools, than in the previous two decades. “There seems to be so much at stake when someone is on a stage. There’s so much potential for power and pride to enter in. But when you’re sitting in someone’s home on the floor, and they’ve got their grandma, and their niece, and their ducks and chickens, and you’re all just sitting there, there’s no professionalism needed.”

Louise now shares this methodology with both leaders in Asia and Multiply workers preparing to go overseas. “I go every year now to FOCUS training and teach about discipleship movements to our new missionaries.”

WHAT ABOUT NORTH AMERICA?

Derek Parenteau, Multiply’s Regional Team Leader for Canada, has been a missionary for almost twenty-five years. His experience has involved mission activities such as outreach programs, urban ministry, working with victims of human trafficking, gangs, and also with the indigenous population. In hindsight, he sees most of his efforts were aimed at “addition” rather than “multiplication.”

“It yielded results and people came to Christ, but capacity set the ceiling,” Derek says. After about a decade of that, Derek and his team heard God saying: “I want to teach you to do something new. There’s another way.”

That’s when a mentor came to Derek and shared the fundamentals of discipleship movements. At first, the stories he heard sounded too good to be true. But as he went through training, Derek realized that what he was learning was simple, reproducible, and biblical.

“A lot of the teaching is structured around Luke 10:1-20,” he says, “that God has people of peace embedded in different communities and areas who are catalysts for spreading the Gospel. It’s not our job to do the whole thing but to prayerfully seek out those folks and come alongside them as they open their regions to the Good News. That can multiply!”

The key, Derek emphasizes, is believing God’s Word. “If you believe the Holy Spirit is already working ahead of you and that there’s actually a plan that God has—a Kingdom strategy that involves people of peace—that’s big! It’s a shift from individual evangelism to household evangelism.”

Multiply is seeing more and more movements of disciples making disciples in Asia, as well as in other parts of the world. It’s also slowly gaining traction in North America. Could this be effective in reaching the lost and hurting in your nation, community, or neighborhood?

NASSER AL'QAHTANI  ⁄  REGIONAL TEAM LEADER FOR THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

When I stepped into this role with Multiply in December of 2019, our work in the Middle East and North Africa was small and quiet—primarily a media ministry and a few courageous believers meeting in scattered house fellowships. What existed then was fragile, yet full of faith and promise. These early relationships became the seeds of something much larger than any of us could have anticipated.

Six years later, that simple beginning has grown into a movement now active in thirty nations. What started as scattered streams of ministry has become what we now call the River of Life Network: a growing family of indigenous leaders, almost all from Muslim backgrounds, who courageously follow Jesus, serve their communities, and help one another multiply disciples in some of the world’s most spiritually dry places.

The River of Life has never been an organization and has never sought to become one. It does not hold funds or claim authority. It exists to strengthen relationships— helping followers of Jesus connect, encourage one another, and walk faithfully in their own nations—most of which are over ninety-five percent Muslim. I serve as the primary facilitator of this network, but the movement is carried by the Holy Spirit and shaped by the obedience of the men and women who live it out daily. Over these years, the Church has grown quietly under pressure. Leaders have chosen prayer over fear; disciples have chosen love over silence. None of this is the work of one person or one team. It is the Lord’s doing.

Throughout North Africa, I have watched house fellowships multiply even under scrutiny. Families who once had no access to a church now gather weekly to pray, study the Scriptures, and encourage one another. Media outreach from this area alone has connected hundreds of thousands with the Gospel, opening doors for conversations, prayer, and Scripture distribution.

In Egypt and among the Sudanese diaspora, a remarkable youth movement has taken root, shaped in large part by the Antioch Mission School—a ministry the Holy Spirit birthed through Brother Irfan and myself in obedience to His leading. Our first gathering in Sudan unleashed a wave of bold witness, as young believers discovered freedom in the Spirit and the courage to walk in truth. That fire has continued to spread, with each new training event raising up another generation of disciples committed to sharing Christ wherever He sends them.

In Tunisia, newly written worship songs in local dialects have become expressions of joy for believers who once worshiped in borrowed languages. Across the Sahel—in Darfur, Chad, South Sudan, and Uganda—new fellowships have emerged in refugee camps and border regions, where the Gospel is shared alongside simple acts of compassion. It has been humbling to see the faith of those who have lost everything, yet have found life and hope in Christ.

In the Levant, young leaders have stepped forward to disciple peers, encourage seekers, and strengthen scattered believers through small gatherings and online mentoring. In the Arabian Peninsula, ministry partners have faced interrogation, social pressure, and significant risk, yet they continue to meet discreetly with seekers and new believers, sharing hope with wisdom and courage. The quiet testimonies emerging from this area are some of the most powerful I have ever witnessed.

Through the regional ministry partners we directly walk alongside, we estimate that more than 1.3 million individuals have heard the Gospel for the first time since 2020. Thousands have come to faith, hundreds have been baptized, and roughly 1,500 house fellowships now meet across the region. When we consider the second- and third-generation disciples raised up by those we first trained, the broader community now represents approximately 30,000 believers. These numbers tell a story far greater than our efforts—they bear witness to what God has done.

I have not walked this road alone. Behind the scenes, a faithful support team in North America has strengthened this work in ways most people will never see. Chase has coordinated logistics and communication, ensuring that complex travel and sensitive correspondence remain smooth and secure. Andrew has provided crucial translation and helped share stories from the field. Sultan has offered pastoral care to many leaders who could not safely meet in person. Their partnership has allowed me to focus on connecting leaders, encouraging them, and going where the Spirit leads.

Along the way, we have also partnered with networks and mission movements from around the world. Many of these are led by foreign workers, and we value their presence deeply. Our contribution has been the perspective and leadership of local believers who understand their communities from within. Together, we strengthen the Body of Christ across the Muslim world—each part carrying its share of the work.

Every year, gatherings of leaders and their families have become sacred spaces of renewal. For many, these moments are the first time they have met others from their own background who share their faith and calling. We have prayed, worshiped, healed, and learned together. These gatherings have reminded us again and again that unity is not a strategy but a miracle of the Spirit.

Unity is not a strategy but a miracle of the Spirit.

Looking back over these six years, I can only respond with gratitude. From five nations to thirty. From a few house churches to a network of 1,500. From scattered individuals to a growing family of 30,000 believers. Even in places where believers remain few, the light of Christ shines brighter every year. The River of Life network continues to widen as more leaders join hands, more disciples are formed, and more nations are touched by the transforming grace of Jesus.

“Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy, for waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.” — Isaiah 35:6 (ESV)