Most Christians want to make disciples but don't know where to start. Zúme Training — named after the Greek word for "yeast" (Matthew 13:33) — is a free online discipleship course designed for small groups of 3–12 to learn the practical skills of multiplying disciples and planting simple churches.^1
The training covers 32 concepts across 10 self-facilitated sessions (about 20 hours total), blending instructional videos, group discussions, hands-on exercises, and between-session challenges.^2 Topics range from foundational practices like SOAPS Bible reading and accountability groups to outward-focused skills like prayer walking, sharing your testimony, and the 3/3 group meeting pattern for simple churches.^3 No special training or permission is needed to lead — if you can click "next," you can facilitate a Zúme group.^2
Zúme was born in 2015 when a small team of movement practitioners convened a Jonathan Project Leadership Meeting and recognized that disciple-making movement principles proven overseas for 30+ years had never been made widely accessible online. The platform launched on Valentine's Day 2017 as a labor of love with no formal organization, no staff, and no paid advertising — just a volunteer community building, coaching, and funding together through Gospel Ambition. All involved align with the Lausanne Covenant.^2
The platform delivered over 13,200 training sessions in 2025 alone, and field reports tell of remarkable fruit: a coach in East Africa saw trainees lead dozens to Christ and start simple churches, then recruit 50 pastors and gain access to 20 local schools for weekly Gospel sharing; in South Sudan, over 900 people gave their lives to Jesus in six months with 72 simple churches planted; and in Ghana, teams are bringing Zúme's tools to illiterate rural communities entirely through oral methods.^4
Why Christians Love It"I spent years faithfully attending Bible studies and church, but had somehow not understood the simple truths of disciple making that I found here in Zúme." — C^1
"These tools in Zúme are very simple. Simple things multiply. And the simple things grow." — Isaac, a Ghanaian ministry leader using Zúme in rural communities^4
"These concepts and skills transformed our church and our impact on the world." — R^1
Notable- Available in 51 languages including Arabic, Somali, Hindi, Burmese, Kurdish, and American Sign Language^1
- Mobile apps on iOS and Android, plus a dedicated offline app for areas with limited internet^5
- Published as a book: Zúme Training: Multiplying Disciples through William Carey Publishing^6
- Partners with Renew World Outreach to distribute training via solar-powered LightStream devices in areas where internet is monitored or nonexistent^4
- Featured on RightNow Media as a video training series^7
- Partnered with Global Media Outreach/Godlife to connect new online believers with discipleship training^8
- Active Multiplying Disciples podcast sharing field stories from the global Zúme community^9
- Built by the team behind Prayer.Global, Disciple.Tools, and other Gospel Ambition projects^10
