How do micro groups implement Jesus’ relational model? When Jesus instructed us to “go and make disciples”, He did not leave us wondering how. Jesus modeled this principally by growing disciples formed in a relational setting. A strategic moment occurred in His ministry when Jesus formally gathered His inner circle around him. A approximately six months into his public ministry Jesus called the twelve to “be with him.” (Luke 6:12-13; Mark 3:13) How important was this decision? How vital was it to accomplishing Jesus’ mission? Luke signals the importance by telling us that Jesus spent all night in prayer. The next day he brought together a group which included twelve who had been following Him. “And when day came, he called his disciples, and chose twelve of them, whom he named apostles…” (Luke 6:13).   What was Jesus trying to accomplish by giving himself to this smaller band? At the time of Jesus’ selection of his leadership team, he was in the thralls of public adulation. But J

  What are the critical elements for a success disciple making journey?  As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” What does it take to complete a successful journey? As pictured above, the success journey is to grow a movement of “disciples who make disciples?” A movement implies that a culture has formed in your church or ministry where there is momentum and energy because the value of making reproducing disciples has become a way of life. I am not talking theory, I have witnessed it firsthand.  There are three critical elements for a successful journey: 1. Vehicle (Relational Environment): To travel you need a vehicle, which is the relational environment. We keep the groups small (3s &4s) because the most important element in the relational environment is transparency and openness built upon radical trust. Transformation through the power of God’s word occurs when we lay our lives out before God and each other and apply truth to our growing edge. Without ap

How Do You Begin a Reproducing Disciple Making Movement? One Group at a Time.  There is an old Chinese saying, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with  a single step ".  I am often asked, “How can I grow a disciple making movement in my ministry/church?” My answer: start one micro group. Why do I go there? Behind the question is an attitude. How can I grow disciples fast? How can spread the infection of disciple making to get immediate results?  My answer can be initially deflating. The question most likely is coming from someone who is seeing the wisdom of what can happen in a micro group for accelerating transformation and multiplication. How can we get a lot of these groups going simultaneously? One of the common mistakes to growing disciples is that we want to take shortcuts. Let’s announce a new program. You all sign up for this new small group container called micro groups. Adopt this curriculum. Within a year we will have hundreds of participants.  My advice to past

  Reflections on Emotionally Healthy Discipleship by Peter Scazzero Part 1 Chapter 6: “Discover the Treasures Buried in Grief and Loss”  Peter Scazzero has for some time been pointing out a massive gap in what it means to become whole or mature in Christ. He says that we have been denying our emotions to our detriment.  In some circles this denial has been conscious and intentional. You might recall a train illustration with three cars: fact, faith, feeling.  It was taught that the important thing was to put your cognitive trust in the truths of Scripture and then let feeling be a by-product (the caboose). Yet, this formula often came with an asterisk. The reason feelings are last is that you can’t trust them. They will lead you astray. All kinds of heresies and distortions have been formulated because we let feelings rule. As the critique goes, subjective Christianity creates the seedbed for false teaching and prophets. They rely on impressions and ecstasies.  Now, of course, there i

 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

  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