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April 10
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How is your resolve?
At this time of year, many people are inclined to make new year's resolutions. Unfortunately, it has become somewhat proverbial that these resolutions are doomed to failure, abandoned and discarded after only a few short weeks. Perhaps for this reason, many others have given up on making such resolutions altogether as a futile waste of time. I am convinced that the Lord desires us to make resolutions for life change, not just at the start of the year, but whenever His Truth confronts us with an…
Read more…'Tis the Season
Although it is not a book that has anything to do with discipleship per se, with Christmas fast approaching I decided to pull out one of my old favorites for a re-read: The Jesus I Never Knew (Zondervan, 1995) by Philip Yancey. I love the way this book makes me look past the traditions and comfort zones of our cultural Christmas and see the event we purportedly celebrate in a fresh way. I was just barely into the second chapter when I was struck again by this powerful thought: In a few months,…
Read more…Focusing on Men
An excellent resource from the author of Man in the Mirror (Zondervan, 1989), one of the better recent books I have seen for Men's ministry is No Man Left Behind (Moody, 2006) by Patrick Morley. What I really like about this book is that it avoids telling you how to create a men's ministry through some sort of step-by-step formula and instead gives you the underlying principles, then guides you through the process of determining what it will look like in your church. It is especially…
Read more…Different "kinds" of discipleship
Discipleship happens in all different shapes and sizes. Yes, there are myriad programs out there that have laid out a step-by-step process for discipleship and many of them are quite effective, but there is no one "right" or even "best" way to disciple someone. It can be an intensive process that takes place for a specified period of time, or it can happen casually over a lifetime -- it can even take place unintentionally without either the discipler or the disciplee (is that a real word?)…
Read more…A simple paradigm for discipleship
In The Trellis and the Vine (Matthias Media, 2009) authors Colin Marshall and Tony Payne compare the process of discipleship to parenthood. Although developing skills through courses and programs is helpful, it takes much more. To truly develop people who will walk with God we must invite them into our lives so that they can observe how we walk with God in every aspect of our own life. This level of transparency can be frightening, but it better fits the kind of discipleship that Paul modeled…
Read more…Training Leaders
Larry Osborne, in his very good book Sticky Church (Zondervan, 2008) writes about the difficulty of training leaders who are "overscheduled and burnt out on unnecessary meetings" as a result of having no "wiggle room in their schedules" because "It was already a stretch to set aside one night a week for their small group and another evening or lunch hour to prepare..." (pg. 134) In addition, he talks about the disconnect between these lay leaders and church staff who "view job and church…
Read more…Comment Wall
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Dear Sir Sean, please visit us here in the Philippines to hold Discipleship Training.