Why Scripture Memory Might Be the Most Important Spiritual Discipline Dallas Willard was asked the question, "What do you consider the most important spiritual disicpline?" John Ortberg overheard this question at a conference and was waiting eagerly for his reply. Would it be contemplative prayer, fasting, extended periods of silence, etc? Answer: Bible memorization. Willard says in Renovation of the Heart, "The most obvious thing we can do is to draw certain portions of Scripture into our minds and make them a part of the permanent fixtures of our thought." The apostle Paul locates transformation into Christlikeness in the renewal of our minds. (Romans 12:2). I confess I am a "johnny-come-lately" when it comes to memorizing longer portions of Scripture. I started to apply myself to this task a few years ago. I can confirm from personal experience what Willard affirms. When we occupy our minds with the truths of Scripture we are, of course, driving out

 Love Your Enemies In one micro group that I am in, using The Essential Commandment  by Dr. Greg Ogden as the tool, we focused on Romans 12:20-21.  "Instead, if your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads. Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good."  We meet on Zoom each month across more than 3000 miles. What always continues to amaze me after over 10 years of being in micro groups is the awareness of new concepts. Some of us researched the origin of "heaping burning coals of shame" and others brought up boundaries in Chapter 11. Within 24 hours, two other resources I watched reinforced the principles, commands, and concepts we had reviewed. When God repeats, He gets my attention! Andy Stanley explains how some repay good for evil; others want revenge by repaying evil for evil; and yet others are remarkable by repaying good for evil.

 Who is Greg Ogden? Greg Ogden  is “retired” or better yet “redeployed” (as of March, 2012) from professional church leadership. He now lives out his passion of speaking, teaching, and writing about the disciple-making mission of the church. Most recently Greg served as Executive Pastor of Discipleship at Christ Church of Oak Brook, IL. in the Chicago western suburbs. From 1998-2002, Greg held the position of Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at Fuller Theological Seminary and Associate Professor of Lay Equipping and Discipleship. Prior to coming to Fuller, Greg enjoyed 24 years in pastoral ministry. He is the author of six books:  Essential Guide to Becoming a Disciple  (Intervarsity Press, 2016);  Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time  (Intervarsity Press, 2016);  The Essential Commandment: A Guide to Loving God and Others  (InterVarsity Press, 2011);  Discipleship Essentials: A Guide to Building Your Life in Christ  (InterVarsity Press, 2007);  Leaders

Core Values Guide Our Decisions Disciplemaking is the church’s mission,  not just one bullet point of the many things a church does. MicroGroups:  Disciples grow best and are empowered to disciple others in gender-specific groups of triads (3) or quads (4). Intentional:  Discipleship requires purposeful, covenantal, relational investment. Transparent Relationships:  God’s Word shapes our hearts in an honest, open, and mutually accountable environment. Biblically-Based Curriculum:   Discipleship Essentials  covers the foundations for a life in Christ and is the empowerment tool we use to disciple others. Indigenous:  Discipleship movements should become self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating. Multiplying:  Disciples are made to reproduce.

Our unique emphasis is the focus on groups of 3-4 people for a transformative environment where people grow further into Christlikeness. Our motto is “ Transforming and Multiplying Disciples Through Micro Groups ” for real change to take place. The strategy for empowering disciples who make disciples is a growing—organic—network of reproducing disciples over a period of 3-5 years. That means we equip the culture of the church so that it becomes a disciple-making body of Christ. In the relational environment of a micro group, t he “curriculum map” is Discipleship Essentials . This 25-lesson basic content serves as the GPS. Then, as a transferable tool (for prospective disciple makers to make disciples who make disciples), we intentionally go slow and stay focused. Relationships matter.  The role of the micro group in transforming a church into a disciple-making community is like the first stage of a multi-stage rocket. The first stage of the rocket is the most powerful because it mu

 Start off well!  How? Getting off to the right start will lay the groundwork for a healthy group Follow the steps suggested. It will make your life easier. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob9q-xGpqtw

  Transform to become the person you were created to be!  If we want to be Christian disciples who mature and multiply, we need to keep it simple. Making disciples of Jesus Christ is not easy. That takes focused investment over time, led by the Spirit of God instead of our own "trying harder" by human effort. Surrender.  There are no microwave disciples What we mean is the context or environment in which disciples are made. That system of intentional reproduction need not be so complex that the multiplication collapses.  A micro group is not a microwave group. Micro means "small" so that there are 3-4 people who gather around a shared covenant of commitments, meet weekly, engage a biblically-based disciple-making curriculum, open hearts transparently to another, and then commit upon completion to go on to prayerfully ask 2-3 others who intentionally want to replicate the process.  Global Discipleship Initiative (GDI) Resources: Find out more at globaldi.org and acc

 Micro Groups are container for transformation and multiplication.