Pattern Discipleship App

Jason and Katherine

Jason* and Katherine are church planters in a nation in Eurasia where gospel proclamation is restricted by law. They have been leading a house church with two local Christian couples who desire to see disciples and home churches multiply across their land.

When this young church gathers, Jason and Katherine guide the meetings using a simple pattern centered around asking questions, discussing the Bible, responding in obedience to what they’re reading or hearing, and making commitments to share with others the truth they’ve learned.

Not long ago, Jason and Katherine heard of a newly launched smartphone app in the local language that is designed to help spark disciple-making and church-planting movements. The app, created on the Pattern Platform, follows the same structure they had already been using in their gatherings—so they decided to test this new tool with their house church.

An Experiment with an App

At their next meeting, they shared the app phone-to-phone with everyone in attendance. As Katherine led their gathering, the others could see and follow along on their own phones.

The very next day, one of the local ladies from the group, Sabah, was visiting a different house church. This group’s meetings were typically shallow. They featured chit-chat and debate about small things without much depth or spiritual growth taking place.

As Sabah saw the discussion heading in the familiar direction, she suddenly remembered the previous evening, when Katherine had led the gathering by following the format on the new app. She pulled out her phone, opened the Pattern app, and said, “I have an idea!”

She then used the prompts on the app to start asking questions: “What are you thankful for this week? What is causing you stress?” As Sabah led this discussion and the group engaged with each other and the Bible in a deep way, they sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit. Many wept as they shared from the heart and prayed for one another. Sabah led the entire evening with just the app on her phone.

Sabah was so excited that she immediately told Jason and Katherine what had happened: “With this app, I knew I could guide our home church—just like Katherine!”

The Experiment is Working

The Pattern Platform was developed for this very purpose, and variations of Sabah’s story are being reported wherever Pattern apps have launched.

Pattern’s Content Creator enables frontline church planters to customize their own apps for their specific languages, contexts, and needs. These apps can then be shared with any smartphone user in a safe and secure manner, empowering regular believers (even oral learners) to become disciple makers and catalysts for church-planting movements.

The Pattern Platform was born from the belief that sharing the gospel and making disciples “to the ends of the earth” is not limited to a select few, but is the responsibility of every believer.

Pattern users—no matter how new to the faith—can lead simple gatherings, guide simple studies, and share the truth of Scripture endlessly and easily, all under the radar of governments opposed to its message.

For more information about the Pattern Platform, or to start a conversation about creating and launching your own Pattern app, visit www.patternplatform.app.

English versions of Pattern are available for download. Search for “Pattern for Life” on the Google Play Store or the App Store.

* All names have been changed.

 

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