The D.R.E.A.M. Framework provides a practical picture of discipleship and a clear pathway for developing believers who grow, serve, reach, align, mature, and ultimately reproduce.
D — DISCIPLED You are committed to learning, following, obeying, growing, and allowing yourself to be developed as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
R — REACHING UP, IN, AND OUT You intentionally develop your relationship with God, build healthy relationships with yourself and others, and reach beyond yourself to people who need the love of Christ.
E — ENGAGED You participate. You serve. You build meaningful relationships. You are connected to Christian community and actively involved in the work of ministry.
A — ALIGNED You understand and support Kingdom vision, mission, values, and purpose. Your decisions and actions demonstrate that alignment.
M — MATURING AND MAKING DISCIPLES You continue growing in character, obedience, fruitfulness, spiritual authority, and consistency while helping others become disciples. The Goal Is Reproduction The ultimate test of discipleship is reproduction. A disciple eventually becomes someone who helps make other disciples.
The D.R.E.A.M. Framework moves churches beyond simply counting attendance toward intentionally developing people who become spiritually mature, Kingdom minded disciples capable of discipling others.
The D.R.E.A.M. Process helps churches create an intentional pathway that moves people from an encounter with God into relationship, biblical understanding, ministry development, evangelism, and ultimately disciple making.
The D.R.E.A.M. Framework examines four important dimensions of the church experience.
ENVIRONMENT What people see when they gather. Environment includes the physical and visible experience surrounding people when they encounter your ministry.
ATMOSPHERE How we host the presence of God. Atmosphere addresses the spiritual experience being cultivated within the ministry.
CLIMATE How we host people and what people experience. Climate reveals what it actually feels like to belong, participate, serve, grow, and interact within the church.
CULTURE How we sustain God’s vision for His people. Culture is what becomes normal. It determines what behaviors are rewarded, what values are protected, how people are treated, and whether the church’s stated vision becomes its lived reality. Culture Is Revealed In: How we commit to God’s vision How we care for people How we build community Where we put our cash How we cultivate people’s gifts How we carry out the Great Commission.
Church culture is not created by what is printed in a mission statement. It is created by what a ministry consistently practices, permits, prioritizes, celebrates, funds, and reproduces.
D.R.E.A.M. helps leaders examine the complete church experience so that the environment surrounding disciples reinforces the kind of disciples the church is trying to develop.
