After 50 years of doing dscipleship in university evangelism and pastoral ministry I was greatly refreshed by TRANSFORMING DISCIPLESHIP by Greg Ogden. IV Press. This pastor gets into making the church a reproducing ministry of the Spirit. He links discipling with small groups and shows how it works with him and others.
MENTORING FOR MISSION by Gunter Krallmann( out of print, and you'll have to search)but worth it! This is by far the best researched collection of Bble verses and application bathed in the life of Jesus and Paul. I went to Amazon and got all they had(2), called Youth With A Mission and no one's heard of it, yet they published it! This is the BEST by far of all I've read through the years.
The emphasis is on target:discipling is modeling all you want someone ele to do and reproduce. No sermon will do it. Life on life is the hard fact that Jesus lived with twelve men. To Make disciples you MODEL the life and ministry of Jesus...and the ministry applications of Paul. Jesus didn't stay for 3 years just to die on the cross. Religious leaders wanted him dead after a few weeks. The 3 plus years were to live the life before them. They were to copy him. Simple. Only one or two seemed to have any formal education. He didn't need the University crowd to change the world, but welcomed them through Paul's life and ministry. Get close enough to Jesus to model what you see and hear. The 12 men and some women were to know His heart, copy him, and then give their lives to lead others to do the same.
The young men I led to Christ or grabbed to disciple, recalled to me years later details of what I said and did in detail on our witnessing and ministry times together! Some think with a couple hours a week in a Bible study that will do it. It's a vital part, if we teach themHOW TO feed themselves. However unless get into LIFE experiences with them they rarely reproduce. I do "WIND" with my guys as Jesus did: Witnessing, Intercession, Nurturing and Discipling. And it takes time over months. His Waylon Moore
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Within the past year I have read and viewed
Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith by Ann Spangler, and Lois Tverberg
Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life by Lois Tverberg, Ann Spangler, and Ray Vander Laan
The DVD Faith Lessons - In the Dust of the Rabbi, Volume 6 by Ray Vander Laan
If one wants to gain information on historical Judaism and what genuine discipleship was during the time of Jesus I think these resources are some of the best. They answer a lot of questions about historical discipleship beyond methodology.
I took your recommendation and read Transforming Discipleship. It is the most practical book I have ever read. Immediately after finishing the book I proposed that my small group of men begin Discipleship Essentials with the goal of beginning a strong emphasis on discipleship in our community. Thank you so much for this recommendation.
I thoroughly agree that Krallmann's Mentoring For Mission is a superb book - one of the very best. If only someone could be persuaded to print it again, or maybe simply make it available in ebook format. Anyone got any influence?
Thank you for this reminder and encouragment. I had learned that mentoring was the heart of disciplship awhile ago when I contacted Downline Ministries but our church has yet to implement it formally, that is, promoted by our leadership. Small groups can be nothing more than an end instead of the means (just as large groups can) without focus on what our mission is.