Sharing Life I

One of the things that has impacted my walk with Christ in the past year is sharing life together with two other men in a discipleship triad. And I have constantly referred to it on Facebook, in sermons, and in conversations with other believers and pastors, and one of them suggested that I blog about it and share what God is doing. Probably have to break it up into a couple of posts, so as not to be too lengthy. So here goes...

I have forgotten who turned my attention to the manual Discipleship Essentials by Greg Ogden. Or maybe I was perusing the latest advertisement magazine from Christian Book Distributors. But I have been for a long time reading about (and experiencing in churches) lots of discipleship programs, classes, studies, etc, and little results. Leonard Ravenhill thought that the 50's were a time of shallow faith, but certainly we have surpassed his era. And our commission is to make disciples. So in searching for a fresh way to make disciples, I came across this book. It was obviously a manual, and I wanted to read the method to the madness, so I ordered his other book, Transforming Discipleship.


This book detailed his journey as a pastor of education at several churches to find something that helps truly accomplish the task of making disciples. He told of the myriad of programs, and detailed the church's failure as a whole to produce mature believers, sound in their theology and serious in their biblical worldview. I was hooked! So he went on to describe his discovery, or rediscovery, of the method of disciple-making used by Jesus and Paul--one believer pouring out his life into other believers one at a time over a long period (not just six weeks), and covering the breadth of theology AND practical life issues, and providing depth of life relationally, accountability, encouragement, and challenge. It sounded too good to be true (not that it would be easy or quick), but it just made sense. So, I figured that I would try it and see. So, I started two groups; one last September, and one in January. The summary statement is that they are awesome! I am thrilled with the work that God is doing in all of our lives.

I will try to explain the how's and why's of their success, and how we went about doing this in the next post. But I know that I speak for the other men when I say that we are convinced of the power of the triad, and are going to continue using it to make disciples. You can find more info at Greg Ogden's website, and you can find his books at CBD and Amazon.com.