Disciple-Making Framework · 4 Chairs · Dann Spader

4 Chair Discipling

A self-paced course on Dann Spader's 4 Chair Discipling(Moody, 2014), built for one purpose: to equip a mature believer to teach and preach Jesus's disciple-making pattern. The Bible is the authority; the book is the framing. Open a lesson below and begin.

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The four challenges — the spine of the course

Jesus issued four challenges as He developed people, each at a distinct phase of His ministry, each moving a person one chair over. These four scriptures are the load-bearing memory of the entire course.

Chair	Challenge	Scripture	Moves a person…
1 Lost	“Come & see”	John 1:39	Curious → convinced
2 Believer	“Follow Me”	John 1:43	Infant → growing
3 Worker	“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men”	Matt 4:19	Receiver → worker
4 Disciple-Maker	“Go and bear fruit — fruit that will last”	John 15:16	Worker → multiplying disciple-maker

Memorize these four in order — John 1:39 · John 1:43 · Matt 4:19 · John 15:16. A teacher who can quote these can teach the whole model.

The full map — chairs mapped to the four soils (Mark 4), the four fruit levels (John 15), and the barriers between chairs — lives inthe master reference.

Lessons

Long-form deep dives, each ending with something you could turn around and preach. Sorted by lesson number; chair colour on each row marks which chair the lesson develops.

#	Lesson	Focus	Scripture anchor
1	Why Jesus Had a Method	Mission and motive; the grammar of the Commission; the chronology warrant	Matt 28:18–20; 22:37–40; Luke 1:3
2	The Full Humanity of Jesus	The kenosis, the God card, and the four shared resources that make the pattern reproducible	Phil 2:5–8; John 5:19; 14:12; 15:5
3	Chair 1: The Lost	Dead not sick; Spiritual CPR (cultivate / plant / reap); the friend-of-sinners diagnostic	Eph 2:1–5; John 1:39; 4:36–38; Isa 28:23–29
4	Chair 2: The Believer	Nēpios vs teknion; pearl-stringing; the six priorities; the five-fold child-development map	2 Cor 5:17; Matt 3:17; John 1:43; 1 John 2:6
5	Chair 3: The Worker	The four transitions; Capernaum; the worker profile; katartizō; Romans 7→8; cross-bearing	Matt 4:19; Luke 5:1–11; Rom 8; Phil 3:10
6	Chair 4: The Disciple-Maker	The intimacy ladder (friends); Luke 10 joy; multiplication vs addition math; the cost	John 15:15–16; Luke 10:1–21; Acts 1:8; 2 Tim 2:2
7	The Four Soils	No life / no roots / no fruit; the 75% statistic; D-S-T-A-P and D-D-D-D remedies; fruit inspecting	Mark 4:3–20; Isa 28:23–29; 1 Thess 2:7–11
8	The Vine	Four fruit levels; three barriers; airō (lift not cut) and menō (abide); bitterness the Chair 3 trap	John 15:1–8; Matt 9:6; Heb 12:11–15; Col 1:29
9	Full-Orbed Disciple-Making	Linear + circular; "disciple" vanishes after Acts 21:16; the five-part definition; "give me names"; commissioning	Acts 21:16; 1 Cor 11:1; 2 Tim 2:2; John 15:16

Reference

Compressed, print-friendly pages designed to pin beside your desk while preparing talks.

The 4 Chair Discipling MapThe whole framework on one page: chairs, challenges, stages, soils, fruit levels, and barriers.
GlossaryRecurring terms and the key Greek words the book relies on (mathētēs, akoloutheō, katartizō, airō, menō, diatribō, kathexēs, idou).

Carry these four

The four scriptures to hold in your head, in order: John 1:39 · John 1:43 · Matt 4:19 · John 15:16. A teacher who can quote these four from memory can teach the whole model. Ask the teacher on call anytime — every lesson invites follow-up.