Simple Discipleship

A Clear and Personalized Path for Discipleship Discipleship can feel like a meandering journey—we don’t know what we want, and none of the programs offered seem to get us anywhere. We need something to orient ourselves, and something to direct our steps toward a clear destination. Simple Discipleship, with its companion assessment tool, offers a plan for discipleship that is tailored to your real life and your personality, and clearly pointed in the way of Jesus. Most discipleship resources are designed as mass productions—efficient for touching many, but often failing to see individuals grow in Christ. This is the best of both worlds—an assessment tool for your entire church, combined with an achievable, personalized discipling strategy.

Now in paperback, this multi-awarded national best seller shares a clear message from case studies of 400 North American congregations: church is done best when it's kept simple.

"The landscape of discipleship in the American Church consists of a vast array of different ideas, programs, and processes, many of which rely on works as a litmus test to measure people's faith. But discipleship looks different when it is founded on our identity in the Gospel and fueled by the good gifts God gives to us. This Lutheran sacramental outlook shows that discipleship is a simple but difficult process lived in the daily rhythms of life. Simply put, discipleship is trusting the promises of Jesus and seeking to follow Him. The author will lead readers on a journey to discover the rhythm of simple discipleship as they trust Christ's Word, seek God's wisdom, and follow His will"--

Everyone is being discipled. The question is: what is discipling us? The majority of Christians today are being discipled by popular media, flashy events, and folk theology because churches have neglected their responsibility to make disciples. But the church is not a secondary platform in the mission of God; it is the primary platform God uses to grow people into the image of Jesus. Therefore, as church leaders, it is our primary responsibility to establish environments and relationships where people can be trained, grow, and be sent as disciples. There are three indispensable elements of discipleship: Learning to participate in the biblical story (the Bible) Growing in our confession of who God is and who we are (theology) Regularly participating in private and corporate intentional action (spiritual disciplines) Deep Discipleship equips churches to reclaim the responsibility of discipling people at any point on their journey.

The most important disciple a parent will make is within their own home, and yet this is the most difficult disciple to make. Family Discipleship by Matt Chandler and Adam Griffin helps readers develop a sustainable rhythm of gospel-centered discipleship through a guided framework focusing on moments of discipleship in 3 key areas: time (intentional time gathering your family around gospel activities or conversations), moments (leveraging opportunities throughout the day), and milestones (celebrating significant life events). Each section provides parents with Scriptures to consider, questions to answer, structures to implement, and ideas to try out as they seek to see Christ formed in their children. Here is a book that begins with the end in mind, offering ideas and examples of what gospel-centered family discipleship looks like, helping parents design their own discipleship plan as they seek to raise children in the love and fear of the Lord.

"Charles Kridiotis has been serving the simple church movement in Sweden and Europe for many years in a mentoring and equipping role, forming teams that thrive. In this book Charles gives his perspective on the simple church movement as a practitioner. He describes the basics of the Kingdom that Jesus preached, how to make disciples, simple church life and leadership, and the multiplication of simple church groups and networks. The principles he shares are biblically founded and illustrated with real-life anecdotes from his own experience." Marc van der Woude Dutch innovator, trend watcher, networker, founder of Simple Church Europe and publisher of Joel News International (joelnews.org), a weekly e-zine.

For we are God's fellow-workers; you are God's field, God's building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 1 Corinthians 3:9-10 When someone starts to build a house, he first lays the foundation on which the rest of the house will be built. If the foundation is not built correctly, the rest of the building will be compromised, affecting not only its immediate use but also its longevity. The previous scripture states that the church must also lay a good foundation in new believers. The Bible contains specific teachings that form the foundation of the Christian faith. To overlook even one of these teachings will affect how we perceive the rest of the Christian faith. An obvious example is to teach judgment without mercy, a teaching which causes the church to be legalistic. However, to teach mercy without judgment causes the church to give license to sin. Both teachings are essential, for the one teaching balances the other. When a person accepts Jesus as his Savior and Lord, most churches place the person in their ongoing programs, with the hope that he will grow. However, a new believer does not share the foundational truths that mature Christians have. The minister may make statements which out of context will appear harsh, but are not harsh when placed in the context of other accepted teachings. For this reason, the church must give new believers a foundation which will allow for a balance, in regard to the teachings to which they will be exposed. Basic Discipleship 101 is written to give new born believers the foundation on which they can build their Christian faith. In this collection of studies, we will examine what it means to become a Christian, identify the principle players in salvation, and examine the elementary truths on which the sermons they will be exposed to will be built upon. Welcome to Basic Discipleship 101.

If you make disciples and want to multiply churches, this book is for you.In its 6th edition since appearing in 1983 this book has helped several thousand pastors move from growing strong Christ-followers to multiplying churches. It will teach you to leverage your gifts in the lives of others. Ralph's story and the story of Hope Chapel is a challenge to let go of our ways for God's ways. Not the most charismatic speaker, he makes up for it with his writing.The title came from a challenge by Ralph's dentist over plans to leave a megachurch in California to start over in Hawaii, "You'll never do it, Frodo, you'll never let go of the ring. The big ones never do."The motive behind the book is to do things beyond our comfort zone and learned behavior. To believe in others when others normally wouldn't. To let go of our desire for self-importance for God's plans. In other words, to "LET GO OF THE RING".Read and observe as one tiny congregation grows into a movement of more than 2,400 congregations (more than 200,000 people). Ralph's account of what it took to abandon security and begin again is three times inspiring. What sets it apart from other books on church multiplication is that this man actually experienced the story with all its bumps, bruises and victories. The book is short on theory and long on reality.This story of the Hope Chapel mosaic of churches is funny and heartwarming, it also presents a simple, practical approach to making disciples and multiplying churches.See how God turned a handful of people, with no money and few resources, into a movement operating on every continent.You'll learn how individual surrender to God mounts up to allow ordinary people to make a great difference in the world.What happened to these people could happen to you!Gather:1. The organic nature of making disciples through relationships.2. Just how little material support you need to plant a church.3. The power of God to turn broken lives into strong tools of his grace.4. Why a promise "to love you... as is!" is important to the spread of the gospel.5. Next steps in your own life.In truth, ministry shouldn't be such hard work. Disciplemaking and church multiplication ought to be easier and life as a leader shouldn't be as difficult as it is. Perhaps you struggle in your dreams to make disciples and plant churches. Let Ralph Moore come alongside, through this book and the tools he offers on his blogsite, www.ralphmoore.net. He's been in your shoes-hopeful to make a dent in the world, yet unsure of himself. Let his experience come alongside to guide you to where God wants you to go.As you learn to walk the uncommon path, you'll find new ways to model the character of Jesus and discover his supernatural power to help you along the way.