Logan Leadership

Did you know that we’ve begun offering recorded webinars that you can download and use with your team? The first one—Getting your Ministry Moving in a Missional Direction—provides you with fresh ideas and practical planning.

Designed for interaction, the webinar can be downloaded along with a discussion guide. Then, as you watch with your team, you can pause the webinar to work through the exercises together. Check it out at http://loganleadership.com/resources/video/

Lately I’ve been thinking about discipleship. What has my own discipleship journey looked like? How has God discipled me?

It’s usually not been very linear—more like a jigsaw puzzle. He’ll point something out over here and I work on that for a while. Then something else comes up and I focus in a different place. Then I move back over to what I was doing before, but this time more pieces are in place so progress goes along more quickly.

I’m partway through Alan Hirsch and Tim Catchim’s latest book, Permanent Revolution, and it certainly provides some food for thought. It’s the most thorough treatment of APEST (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, Teacher) that I’ve seen. APEST, obviously, has huge implications in the world of church planting and Christian leadership.

One thought that has stood out to me so far is the assertion that all believers, not just leaders, fall somewhere on this spectrum. Whatever gifts God has given them, they tend to concentrate in one of these five areas. I’m sure I’ll have many more thoughts when I’ve finished the book, but for now I’d just encourage you to read along with me.

Are you feeling stuck in your discipleship methods? Do you feel like what you’re trying just doesn’t seem to be producing the results you’d hoped for? I’ve got a new webinar coming up that’s geared toward helping find a new approach—nonlinear discipleship.

During this webinar we’ll lay out a framework for discipleship that meets us where we’re at. It works the way God works… not in a straight line, but with pieces here and pieces there that end up fitting together later. This framework is relational, intentional, flexible… yet fully focused on becoming more like Jesus. Because discipleship isn’t just something you learn—it’s something you live out.

I recently picked up a copy of Real-Life Discipleship by Jim Putman and was glad to see all of the practical help for making discipleship work in everyday churches. While he lays out the specifics of how his own church practices disciplemaking, he doesn’t stipulate that everyone else needs to do it the exact same way. “My goal is not to shove our specific methodology or wording down anyone’s throat,” he writes. “However, there are principles that can be gleaned from the Word that work in any context or culture.”

I’ve been working with Dave DeVries on the development of missional resources, and I’ve enjoyed reading his blog. Good observations like this one:

As believers take steps to focus on meeting needs beyond the walls of the church, it’s important to consider how those being served (as well as those who may observe your acts of service) will interpret your actions. It’s possible that your best intentions and efforts to serve may be misunderstood. Avoid drawing attention to yourselves or your church or ministry group as you seek to meet needs. Do they see you and your church, or do they see Jesus and the hope of the gospel?