Search Results for: church

The beginning of the new year is a great time to think through your life. It is a good time to take stock of where you’ve been and where you want to go. It gives you a built-in starting point. It provides you with a clean slate and a defining moment for your life. As…

If you were to list what you think the top three items are on God’s agenda for you, what would they be? Be specific in your response. What if the real measure of your spirituality was not all the activities you are involved in? What difference will it make? The Psalmist was caught up in…

Jesus came on a mission — a search and rescue mission. (Luke 19.10 ESV) says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” The metanarrative of the Bible — the sweeping panoramic view of Scripture — is that we were created for community with God and with each other. However,…

There seems to be a confusion of definitions when it comes to defining discipleship. People want to define discipleship as all the things they are already doing. And what churches are already doing are typically programmatic. Let’s be clear – Discipleship is not a sermon or a Bible class. Discipleship is most likely not your…

Some good friends just left our small group. And they aren’t coming back. It’s been a little over six months since we invited them. Over that time we have had them in our home, barbecued together, and vacationed together. We celebrated together and walked through difficult situations together — taking our turns at both high…

“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬ At Jesus’ ascension, two men dressed in white appeared and made this announcement…

When I surrender the lordship of my life to Jesus, I experience freedom.— Sandy Mason The idea of surrender sounds un-American to most of us.  We are told to never surrender, to never quit, to keep fighting, even if the odds are stacked against us.  I wholeheartedly agree when we are talking about sports, competition,…

As we conclude our  journey through the characteristics of a disciple together, I am abundantly aware of the fact that, in order for us to be Christlike disciple makers, we too must continually be discipled. From the beginning of my walk with Christ, I was incredibly blessed to be discipled by my pastor’s wife, though…

The question comes up over and over again – why are movements happening all over the globe but not here in America? Is it possible that we have some cultural issues that prevent us from some of the prerequisites for movements to happen? There is an outstanding video outlining 7 barriers to disciple making movements…

I recently posted a question on Facebook asking for the essential steps in discipleship. I received dozens of responses, and many were insightful. Interestingly, the greatest insight I gained wasn’t found in what respondents shared but in what they didn’t share. Several described a grand vision for discipleship, but few could articulate the steps needed…

We like to look back on the previous year, as the new one begins, to note the things that stood out to us and the things we want to remember. So we want stop early in 2023 to note the top blogs that appeared on discipleship.org in 2022. Our list is based upon a strict…

The longer I am in ministry, the more clearly I notice the differences between true disciple making and Christian education. There are many people in church leadership today who think Christian education is the same thing as Jesus-style disciple making. They are not the same thing! Let me attempt to summarize the difference. First, Christian…