What Question is Your Church Trying to Answer?
Quincy Brown says most churches are focused on answering questions related to their own survival rather than answering the life questions that people beyond the…
Browsing: Discipleship
Articles
Friendship as a Means of Discipleship
Befriending others was the early church’s method of evangelism, discipleship, and worship. Greg Moore, who works to create new faith communities, says it is critical…
5 Ways to Engage People the Way Jesus Did
Looking for ways to connect with new people, organize them for action, and lead them to a deepening commitment? Joe Daniels and Christie Latona remind…
4 Ways to Create Accountability for Discipleship
Lewis Center Director Doug Powe says it’s common for many individuals within a congregation to be responsible for discipleship. But often, no one person is…
8 Things Your Christian Educator Wants You to Know
The work of faith formation leaders in a congregation is expansive and vital, yet often undervalued and misunderstood. Virginia Callegary lifts up the need to…
Fostering the Courage to Lead
David McAllister-Wilson, president of Wesley Theological Seminary, sees courage as essential to church leadership. He explains how courage is formed not through study or proclamation,…
3 Ways to Extend the Impact of a Sermon
Mike Schreiner and Ken Willard describe ways to get more traction from each week’s sermon by layering its message into other materials that reinforce the…
Developing an Intentional Discipleship System
The late Junius B. Dotson says that churches cannot do the hard and intentional work of making disciples unless they are clear about what a…
16 Signs Your Church May Need a Renewed Focus on Disciple Making
Mike Schreiner and Ken Willard say too many churches are driven by structure and programs, not the imperative of making disciples. They outline 16 symptoms…
7 Steps for Making Disciples Through Relational Mentoring
Kenneth H. Carter and Audrey Warren describe a simple, step-by-step process for making disciples and mentoring friends to be closer to Jesus — a process…
Why Don’t People Volunteer at Church?
Mike Schreiner and Ken Willard say the key to getting a higher percentage of people involved is understanding the difference between volunteering and Christian service…
Missional Engagement: It’s All About Relationships
Junius B. Dotson says that church outreach has generally taken the form of community service or evangelistic efforts. But real missional engagement entails the building…
Spiritual Growth through Mission Participation
Mission and service activities are increasingly the entry points through which people, particularly younger people, first connect with our churches. We hope that mission participation…
What is Your Faith Development Process?
How does someone in your church go from being new to being an authentic follower of Jesus Christ? Many churches provide really fuzzy answers to…
Four Doors that Lead to Faith Development
People arrived at church for the first Sunday of a four-week stewardship emphasis. They were surprised to see a door with a door frame in…
Friendships and Reaching New People
Every church believes itself to be a welcoming and friendly fellowship, but this isn’t always true. If our churches are to become spiritual communities where…
Reintroducing the Language of Sacrifice
I have never been an enthusiastic fan of the word “sacrifice” because so few church members in this culture understand or appreciate the term or…