What Is Zúme Training? A Complete Guide

By International African Mobilization | May 1, 2026

TLDR

Zúme Training is a free, self-facilitated disciple making course covering 32 concepts and skills across 20 hours of training. Available in 50+ languages, it equips ordinary believers to make disciples who make disciples — and connects participants with personal coaches for ongoing support.

Table of Contents

What Is Zúme Training?

Zúme Training is a free, practice-oriented disciple making course for groups of Jesus followers. Available at zume.training, it covers 32 concepts and skills across approximately 20 hours of training — and it costs nothing to access.

The name "Zúme" comes from the Greek word for yeast. Just as a small amount of yeast works through an entire batch of dough, the vision behind Zúme is that a small group of trained disciples can multiply through an entire community, city, or nation.

Zúme Training exists because the Great Commission belongs to every believer — not just seminary graduates, ordained pastors, or career missionaries. The course strips away the institutional barriers that have kept ordinary believers on the sidelines of disciple making and puts the tools directly in their hands.

What Does Zúme Training Cover?

Zúme Training is organized around three core areas:

Being a Disciple

Before you can make disciples, you need to understand what a disciple actually is. This section covers:

  • What is a disciple? What is the church?
  • Keys to spiritual growth
  • Personal Bible study methods (SOAPS)
  • Building a strong prayer life
  • The power of obedient faith
  • Accountability in community

Making Disciples

This is the heart of Zúme Training — the practical skills for reaching people outside the faith:

  • Sharing God's story (the Gospel)
  • Telling your own story
  • Engaging seekers
  • Finding a Person of Peace
  • Leading a simple Discovery Bible Study group
  • Vision casting for multiplication

Multiplying Disciples

The final section trains believers to reproduce what they've learned:

  • Training others to do what you've learned
  • Leading a simple church
  • Coaching others through the same process
  • Building movements that sustain themselves

How Zúme Training Works

Zúme is designed to be done in a small group — ideally 2-4 people — not as a solo study. This is intentional. Disciple making is relational, and Zúme teaches by doing, not just listening.

Each session follows a consistent pattern:

  1. Instructional videos explain the principle or skill being covered
  2. Group discussions help the group process and apply what they are learning
  3. Simple exercises give the group a chance to practice before the next session
  4. Accountability — each session begins with: "What did you do from last week?"

That last element is what separates Zúme from most Christian education programs. It is not enough to understand a concept. Zúme asks you to act on it — and to report back.

Free registration at zume.training gives full access to all training materials, videos, and online coaching resources.

Who Is Zúme Training For?

Zúme Training is for any believer who wants to make disciples and see multiplication happen. You do not need:

  • A seminary degree
  • Ordination or pastoral credentials
  • A church building
  • An outside budget
  • Years of ministry experience

It has been completed by believers in over 50 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Pacific. Participants include farmers in Ghana, pastors in Nigeria, housewives in India, and church planters in Pakistan.

The course is available in 50+ languages, making it accessible to believers around the world in their heart language.

What Makes Zúme Different

Most Christian training programs focus on knowledge transfer. Attend a class, take notes, pass a test. Zúme takes a different approach.

"The Western mind loves training," says Terry Ruff, a DMM Catalyst and Zúme Trainer with 14 years of field experience in northern Ghana. "There's an over-emphasis on knowledge and not equal obedience, or learning to implement from where you are."

Zúme addresses this directly. Every session ends with a specific action — not a suggestion, but an assignment. Before the next meeting, participants are expected to practice what they learned and report what happened.

This obedience-based learning model is what produces movement, not just education. When participants obey Scripture and share what they are learning, the multiplication begins naturally.

The Role of a Zúme Coach

Every Zúme participant can request a personal coach through zume.training. A Zúme coach is a trained practitioner who has completed the course and implemented the principles in a real-world context.

A good Zúme coach does not lecture — they ask questions. They help participants:

  • Stay accountable to their weekly action steps
  • Troubleshoot challenges in the field
  • Identify Persons of Peace in their community
  • Launch and multiply their first Discovery Bible Study group
  • Move from addition to multiplication

Terry Ruff has personally coached disciples from over 37 countries, drawing on 14 years of catalyzing Disciple Making Movements in northern Ghana — where 3,000 Discovery Bible Study groups formed at zero outside cost.

What Happens After You Complete Zúme?

Completing Zúme Training is not the finish line. It is the starting line.

Most participants who finish the course and work with a coach go on to:

  • Launch their first Discovery Bible Study group within 30 days
  • Identify at least one Person of Peace in their community
  • Start training others to use the same methods
  • Begin seeing their first generation of disciples making disciples

The goal is not certification. It is multiplication. Every Zúme graduate is expected to do with others what their coach did with them.

Join a Free Zúme Coaching Class

Terry Ruff runs free Zúme coaching classes for believers ready to move from addition to multiplication. Classes meet weekly via WhatsApp, are open to participants from any country, and require no prior training or experience.

If you want to understand how to make disciples who make disciples — and have someone walk alongside you through the process — this is the place to start.

Sign up for a free Zúme coaching class at zume.training

People from 37 countries are learning right now. There is room for you.

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