This blog entry is part of a series of three that focuses on the three environments for making disciples: peer-to-peer discipleship, guided discipleship, and focused discipleship. Each of these represents a relational, intentional way to make disciples within our...
This blog entry is part of a series of three that focuses on the three environments for making disciples: peer-to-peer discipleship, guided discipleship, and focused discipleship. Each of these represents a relational, intentional way to make disciples within our...
Jesus never called us to plant churches. He called us to make disciples. The very last words Jesus spoke to his disciples were these: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the...
As ministry leaders, we need to teach people to gradually take responsibility for their own spiritual growth and discipleship. It’s true that babies need to be fed. But as they grow, they are able to take on the task of feeding themselves in increasing measure. Most...
This blog entry continues the story of the church planter from yesterday’s blog entry. The church service I had started prematurely was already dying, so I took it off life support. We had moved to the local Starbucks, switching from worship to prediscipleship,...
My friend and colleague in ministry Chuck Ridley recently posted some thoughts on creating ownership of ministry on www.churchplanting.com. He observes that this is one of the most significant weaknesses many church planters face. Definitely worth checking out the...
When you are in the role of a pastor/shepherd, and you see someone off-balance in their life, how directive should you be? This is an issue I am continuing to think through. I’ve realized that as I decide when to step in and when to step back, I’m operating...
I ran a poll recently in a webinar asking people what issues were blocking them in their discipleship efforts. I asked people to check as many as applied, so the percentages below don’t total 100%, but represent the percentage of responders who struggle with each of...
Building a new house is a lot of work. You need to dig a hole, lay the foundation, construct the frame, then there’s roofing and drywall and windows and paint. There are a lot of steps and stages. Yet in many ways, new construction is a lot easier and more...
