A new year is an appropriate time to reflect on what God has done in your life during the previous year. It is good to pause and reflect on strengths and weaknesses, progress and challenges, new goals and adjustments needed. Often a consistent set of questions or review categories are…
What if every church ministry and program… was required to advance individual and/or corporate discipleship and disciple-making? was required to show how it will do so before it could be calendared? was required to show (measure and report) how participants acted, ministered to others, or invited/shared Jesus differently as a…
The beginning of each new year is an opportunity to start things, to start over, to start again. It can be a time of commitments and resolutions, a time of review and desire to improve. At minimum, the Christian should stop to reflect on what God has done in the…
Over the years, I have used many Bible reading plans. I can honestly say that those plans have helped me to read more of the Bible. They have allowed me to read the Bible through many times. I have a greater understanding of God and His work in sending Jesus…
What would the characteristics of a maturing disciple look like in heart (passion), hand (action), and head (attitude)?
During the National Disciple Making Forum earlier this month, I attended four conferences led by Craig Etheredge, Pastor of First Baptist Church, Colleyville, TX. In those conferences, he shared his experiences which formed seven steps (bold moves) necessary to transition a church to become an intentional disciple-making church. Those seven…
On churchleaders.com, Bobby Harrington asks ten disciple-making questions for churches in an article entitled 10 Disciple-Making Questions You Need to Ask. I encourage you to read the entire article. Many good questions are in his list: How does our church define discipleship? What does a disciple look like? Do we…
At the National Disciple Making Forum, I received a sampler (two chapters) of The Disciple Maker’s Handbook: 7 Elements of a Discipleship Lifestyle by Bobby Harrington and Josh Patrick. Because I have been around Bobby at the discipleship track at Exponential and this year’s Forum, I look forward to reading…
At the end of the day (or beginning of the next), stop. Stop to review. Ask yourself some questions: What did I learn about God? What did I learn about people? What did I learn about myself? How did I grow closer to God and man? Did I make biblically-based…
I mentioned in Part 1 that what follows are some of my observations of the biblical account of the disciple-making example of Jesus. I am not attempting an exhaustive treatment. STOP. At the beginning of Part 1, I invited you to press Comments and list 4-6 descriptors of how Jesus…
Two encounters are critical. First, the leader encounters God in His Word and is changed. Second, the leader guides the group to have a life-changing encounter.
In John 13:34-35, three times Jesus said, “Love one another.” Your group is the ideal place to practice and launch the kind of love for one another that shows the world that we are His disciples.