Saturday was a celebration! We needed to come to together to share. When we see something excellent we stand up and cheer. We do it all the time in sports stadiums when our team has a good play or wins.
So these two churches needed to come together to be grateful for the good God has done.
Pastor Jerry and Pastor Pentti worked hard, stretching themselves and their people. What made it fun was watching these two friends help each other.
Pastor Jerry & Pastor Pentti started our Growing Intentional Disciplemaking Cultures (GiDC) process four years ago. But the Lord had already started them on their church’s journey.
Pentti has told me a number of times that his church had drafted a mission statement, “To be a disciple and make disciples.” Yet, he admits they knew little of how to implement discipleship and disciplemaking throughout the congregation.
Jerry’s story into our GiDC actually started in the same Buehler’s meeting room five years previously. They too wanted to help build disciples. His team was meeting monthly to figure out their own strategy. Then the Bishop of their denomination began encouraging his congregations to use our process. Jerry and his core team realized they were re-inventing the wheel and that there was a solid resource to guide his church already.
It was at that point we started our journey together. We worked on a LifePlan through our
There’s actually over 40 steps in the GIDC we’ve developed. Here’s the top ten. Each church is a unique experience. We contextualize it so it fits well with all kinds of churches.
Coaching. We strengthened engagement with the Scriptures. We launched discipleship triads. We developed a picture of a disciple. We drew up a pathway for discipleship for each congregation. We equipped them for sharing the good news where they work, live and play.
Here’s some of the results that these congregations wanted celebrate.
- “I’ve never experienced the growth I’ve had in the last few years.”
- “I’ve learned how not to just use devotional books. I now have learned how to hear from the Holy Spirit as he speaks through the Scriptures.”
- “Some in our congregation were resistant to the process. It has been a slow process. We are now seeing some curiosity as new discipling groups are being formed.”
- “As we started out even our core team was hesitant. Could we lead others to growth in Christ? As we met, studying the Scriptures and praying our faith grew. We found our desire to help others grew too. It was one relationship at a time.”
- “We are a smaller church. We always wanted to be more discipleship focused. We didn’t think it was possible. What I am seeing is a growing depth of the men in my group. I was privileged to watch one of them who had never read the Bible begin to regularly reflect on it.”
Ephesians 3:21 celebrates it so well, “To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” ESV
