Solving the disciplemaking problem

Solving the disciplemaking problem

by Justin Gravitt Why don’t more Christians make disciples?   It’s a problem that church leaders have been trying to solve for decades, if not centuries. The problem is straightforward, but the solution is anything but. Despite the efforts of disciple makers a...

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Who wants to live like a palm tree?

Who wants to live like a palm tree?

by Bill Mowry3 Principles to Age Well This isn’t a promotion for a time-share in Florida; the place where palm trees grow. A palm tree is a biblical picture for successful aging. The Psalmist describes how the godly in old age “will flourish like a palm tree . . ....

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What’s the Difference? Friendship vs. Disciplemaking

What’s the Difference? Friendship vs. Disciplemaking

by Justin GravittPicture this: You and a friend meet a couple of times a month for lunch, golf, or just to grab coffee. This meeting is a priority for both of you. You both love Jesus and enjoy talking about family, the Bible, and shared interests. Every time you walk...

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We Wish You an AWE-full Christmas!

We Wish You an AWE-full Christmas!

We Wish You an AWE-full Christmas! The promise of being filled with awe is present every Christmas. This holiday surrounds us with beauty —  festive lights, up-lifting music, and the art of the Christmas card. Even in an increasingly faith-less culture, Jesus is...

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Class is Always in Session (even in a hair solon!)

Class is Always in Session (even in a hair solon!)

By Bill Mowry After years of receiving bad haircuts, I decided to entrust my hair to a hair stylist. Nicky was my wife’s stylist so I made an appointment with her. We soon hit it off. It turned out that she was launching a second career as a life coach. While cutting...

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Discovering God in the Detour

Discovering God in the Detour

by Ron Bennett As we ponder a variety of landscapes that God takes us through in the Christian life, we consider the detour. Can you identify with hitting a detour in your spiritual journey? The dictionary defines a detour this way: to turn aside; a roundabout way, a...

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Choose a new playing field of faith

Choose a new playing field of faith

by Bill Mowry Choosing the right playing field for a sport is a no-brainer. We don’t play basketball on a baseball diamond. However, when it comes to the playing field of faith, I think there are two fields we can play on but one field tends to dominate our playing...

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5 Levels of Obedience Tool

5 Levels of Obedience Tool

by Justin Gravitt “Justin, sit down!” Enraged, I stood for a few beats more. Then I sat down. Sort of. My eyes glared at my supervisor. He was forty years my senior. But it didn’t matter to me. All I could see was his sin (my immaturity blinded me to mine). So, I kept...

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Three Disciplines of a Moby Dick Disciplemaker

Three Disciplines of a Moby Dick Disciplemaker

By Bill Mowry Have you ever had a picture lodge in your mind that you can’t stop thinking about? No matter where you are or what you’re doing, this picture creeps into your consciousness. Here’s my latest re-occuring picture. In his book The Contemplative Pastor,...

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An Artful Touch to Disciplemaking

An Artful Touch to Disciplemaking

by Bill Mowry A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away . . . I was an art student. In fact, I was once certified to teach art in grades K-12. Why didn’t I pursue this career? A deciding factor was a grade on a watercolor painting. The painting was a collection of...

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The 3 Dumbest Questions I’ve asked in Disciplemaking

The 3 Dumbest Questions I’ve asked in Disciplemaking

by Bill Momry I walked into my teacher training class my junior year of college expecting tools for teaching social studies. You know what I received that first day? One question after another. My professor was not interested in content or lecturing but in asking...

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What is disciple making, precisely?

What is disciple making, precisely?

by Justin Gravitt What is disciple making, precisely? It’s a question worth slowing down to answer. Because it takes time to be precise, and because the consequence of cloudy thinking is misunderstanding that leads to misnamed, or worse, misaimed ministry. So, what is...

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Introverts Make Great Disciplemakers (Pt.2)

Introverts Make Great Disciplemakers (Pt.2)

by Bill Mowry Hooray for introverts! Discovering and naming my introverted side was a liberating moment for me. I now know my “sweet spot” preferences and can maximize them for the Great Commission. When I’m asked if introverted people can make disciples, I respond...

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Introverts Make Great Disciplemakers (pt.1)

Introverts Make Great Disciplemakers (pt.1)

By Bill Mowry One question kept coming up in interview after interview when promoting my book Walk with Me. What was the question? “I’m an introvert. Can I be a disciplemaker?” The first time I heard this question I thought to myself, “Is introversion a kind of...

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A Lost Disciplemaking Tool

A Lost Disciplemaking Tool

By Bill Mowry Masking tape was an important household expense when our children were growing up. Peggy and I watched in wonder as our boys created space guns and castles from masking tape, plastic liter bottles, and cardboard. Their imaginations had no limits on what...

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Helping Disciples live a life of Leisure

Helping Disciples live a life of Leisure

by Bill Mowry Who wouldn’t want to live a life of leisure these days? Our lives are so frantic that we long for those idle moments to step off the treadmill of life. Leisure is a break from activity to rest or re-charge our lives. Leisure originally meant something...

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Let’s Go Shopping – in the Disciplemaking Store

Let’s Go Shopping – in the Disciplemaking Store

by Bill Mowry I have a simple rule of thumb for home projects. Every project, no matter how big or small, requires 2.5 visits to a hardware store. I either forget something or the project takes an unexpected turn that requires a new tool, part, or piece of lumber. Big...

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Green Evangelism

by Bill Mowry We stumbled into a traffic jam. Peggy and I had planned a week’s vacation in sunny Savannah, Georgia. On the second day of our vacation, we decided to travel into the city to enjoy the historic downtown and sample the local food. Imagine our surprise...

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How long does it take to make a disciple?

by Justin Gravitt It probably takes longer than you think, at least if you intend to make them like Jesus did. The details might disturb you. Let’s start by looking at how Jesus made disciples. Jesus spent at least three years (some scholars think it was closer to...

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The Power of Three

by Vicki Gratchell Melissa shared her story and I sat in silence, listening. I wasn’t shocked by the content she shared; many people have similar stories. I was struck silent because the words were that of a dear friend and thus the characters in her story were also...

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May I have this dance?

by Bill Mowry (alongsider.com) Disciplemaking is like ballroom dancing. There’s an elegance and structure to this beautiful dance of growth. In traditional ballroom dancing, there’s an established leader and a follower. In traditional disciplemaking, the...

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Living in the Quiet: A Vision for Everyday Disciples

by Bill Mowry (alongsider.com) Death can be God’s classroom for learning.  When my mother passed away a decade ago, one verse lingered in my mind. It’s a little obscure passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:11: “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and to work with your...

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OOPS! Five Disciplemaking Missteps

By Bill Mowry I’m going to let you in on a little secret. You know those missionary letters and updates you receive from people like me? We follow a simple formula describing a dramatic ministry success story that encourages you to keep praying and giving.  While it’s...

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Disciples for what?

by Bill Mowry (alongsider.com) Have you heard the story about the boy in the Sunday School kindergarten class? When the teacher held up a picture of a squirrel and asked the class what it was, the boy answered, “I think it’s a squirrel but I’m going to say Jesus!”...

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Intensive Care Disciplemaking

by Cedric Brown A few years ago, elevated blood pressure, decreased kidney function, increased liver enzymes, and other complications following surgery signaled to the medical team that my body was in crisis. I needed special medical care . . . immediately. The...

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Let’s Not Complicate Things

Disciplemaking is as simple as a walk by Bill Mowry I quickly saw the clutter of books and videos when I walked into Justin’s office. His office was taken over by this stack of resources. What was the subject matter?  The piles of books and videos were about...

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Disciplemaking is like joining the Starship Enterprise

by Bill Mowry (alongsider.com) I’m a delayed Trekkie fan. I missed all the hype with the original Star Trek series but became a fan of The Next Generation. The captain’s voice-over opening to each show makes me sit up straight in my recliner (my command chair!)....

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Pandemic Disciple-Making: Lessons for the In-Between

By Justin Gravitt “Ladies and gentleman, this is Justin, and I’ll be your captain today. On behalf of Jesus, welcome aboard Pandemic Flight COVID-19, offering non-stop service from your sense of normalcy to an undisclosed final destination. Flight time will be three...

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Discipleship Starts by Looking in the Rearview Mirror

by Bill Mowry (alongsider.com) You’ve just been hired for your dream job. You can’t wait until the first day of training. Then the text message arrives: “Report to our desert training outpost. Don’t bring any water or food. You’re going to be totally alone.” What kind...

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Living in the Whirlwind

by Bill Mowry (alongsider.com)The Monday afternoon conversation went downhill fast. “How’s your week starting out Bill?” asked a friend. “I’m overwhelmed already,” I replied. Some weeks are like this. Every Monday morning, I plan my next two weeks of life. I review my...

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Seven basics to develop in those you disciple

by Justin GravittIf someone asked you to compile a list of seven basics of a disciple’s life, what would you include? Now, I’m not talking about beliefs or doctrines, but practices or disciplines. Take a moment and think about what would be on your list. When I was an...

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Statues are coming down…is there a message for us?

Wisdom cries aloud in the street,in the markets she raises her voice;at the head of the noisy streets she cries out . . .Proverbs 1:20-21 by Bill Mowry (alongsider.com) The noise in our streets is deafening. Daily it seems that another stature or monument is toppled....

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Stomp!

by Bill Mowry (alongsider.com)I know that stomping on a chalk drawing is not going to stop the pandemic. This fun act takes off some of the edge of being “self-isolated.” Nearly three months in the same house is pretty confining. Stomping on the virus helps me “get...

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It’s time to ask some questions.

by Bill Mowry (www.alongsider.com) It’s time to ask some questions. Not everyone is comfortable with asking questions or answering questions. Look at how politicians and teachers squirm when asked a question they’re unprepared to answer. Question asking is important....

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Therapy for the Sheltered-in-place

By Bill Mowry - I feel like I need some soul-therapy as I shelter-in-place. It’s been over three weeks since I’ve been in a store or a restaurant. It’s been over three weeks since I talked with a non-family member closer than six feet away. It’s been four weeks since...

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Is it Organic or Intentional?

By Bill Mowry - I was bored by the roundtable discussion on disciplemaking . . . until Jeff spoke. “I should be more intentional about disciplemaking” he said, “but I tend to wing it. I guess I’m more organic in my approach.” Carol immediately jumped in on Jeff’s...

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The Anatomy of Discipleship

by Ron Bennett ( http://www.rbennett.net/ ) All communication is based on shared meanings not shared words.  Words are only the container into which meaning is added.  For example, the word “agua” is a random arrangement of letters unless you are familiar with...

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The Relational Diamond

by Ron Bennett Success in baseball is simple to explain but much harder to achieve.   The number of hits, errors, base runners, or any other of the myriad stats that go into making baseball interesting, do not count in the end.  All that really matters is the number...

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Cultivating Quietness in a VERY LOUD WORLD

by Tricia McCary Rhodes The ancient Celts used to say that there are only a few feet between heaven and earth and at times, that distance can be even smaller.  When this happened, they called it a “thin place.”  A thin place is that Kairos moment, that holy instance...

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The Alongsider’s Partnership

by Bill Mowry (alongsider.com) I marvel at how God mysteriously and paradoxically ties His will to our prayer lives. Our Lord is fully sovereign, able to accomplish His purposes without us, yet our prayers play a role in moving His hand. Consider the example of...

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The Alongsider’s Thesaurus

By Bill Mowry (www.alongsider.com) I’ve always assumed that mature disciplemakers needed additional layers of sophistication, technique, and professionalism. I’m now discarding some of these layers and returning to simpler approaches. One simple approach is...

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Alongsiders Know the Power of Circumference

by Bill Mowry (www.alongsiders.com) “My business is circumference” wrote the poet Emily Dickinson. Dickinson’s poetry flowed from her private world, the circumference of her life. Like the poet, advancing the gospel is about the business of circumference. Alongsiders...

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Start with a Question

by Bill Mowry www.alongsider.com The adventure of the alongsider begins with a good question. Have you ever noticed how God consistently engages His creation through questions? “Where are you Adam?” “Have you considered my servant Job?” “Whom shall I send?” When God...

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Who are you hanging out with?

by Bill Mowry Can you picture Jesus having a water fight with the disciples as they traveled the Sea of Galilee? Do you feel theologically safe imagining the Son of God hanging out with his friends and having fun? Elton Trueblood, in his book The Humor of Christ,...

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What’s Missing?

By Bill Mowry All of us have a favorite Old Testament personality. One of my favorites is the leader and nation-builder, Joshua. Joshua’s impact was so significant that the author of Judges wrote, “The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua.” (Judges...

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Alongsiders Hang New Pictures

by Bill Mowry In his presentation on disciple-making, Pastor Paul was challenged by a friend in the audience. “I could never make disciples,” the friend said. “I’m not a good public teacher like you.” Paul turned the question back to the audience, “How many of you are...

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Life-on-Life Discipleship Training Conference

Do you want to help guide people to experience a deep, ongoing connection with Jesus? Does the idea of equipping individuals to intentionally pass along their faith to others inspire and engage you? To help you engage those in your natural relational networks, The...

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How to Create a Disciple-Making Church

by Margaret Fitzwater Chris, the pastor of a church Roy and I were working with, frequently challenged the congregation to become disciple makers. But only a few people were catching the vision. Even for these precious few it was hard, because they were busy with all...

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Hearts Afire

by Al Engler When we moved into our home, we learned that our next-door neighbor was hosting an “open table” every Thursday evening at her place. We changed our schedule so that we would be free to attend these dinner parties. What did we do there? We engaged in...

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Heart of a Disciple

When I was a young mom, a friend opened up my dusty bible and showed me that what Jesus had done on the cross two thousand years earlier was for me. Until that time, I hadn’t understood that heaven was a promise from God, guaranteed by His Son’s death. It took me two...

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One to One

How to Raise Up Disciples Who Will Flourish, With or Without You By Christy Tennant As I’ve prepared for a two month international trip this summer, I’ve been conscious of the potential impact of my absence on the five women I disciple. We’ve been meeting weekly for...

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The Day My Quiet Time Died

by Jan Johnson I used to have dazzling quiet times. I sat on my bed, holding my four-part prayer notebook as if it were a cherished artifact. Pulling back the tab marked “adoration,” I peered at a list of forty words that described God and picked three to praise God...

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It’s so easy to lose focus and miss what is in front of you

Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.  “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now...

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What It Takes to Die to Self

by Ephrem Smith Dying to the things of this world that contaminate our hearts begins with realizing that we don’t have it in our own power to love the way God desires us to love. We must live daily in the reality of God’s steadfast love for us. God showers us daily...

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Pressing into Discipleship

I find myself talking a lot about discipleship these days. It is my passion. A lot of my time revolves around growing in the direction of Jesus and watching others grow. Here are a few threads from my book Guardrails; Six Principles for a Multiplying Church that I explain in more depth here.

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I Don’t Need Another Vision Statement

by Michael Frost Most church vision and mission statements sound great. They usually include clear biblical values and are crafted to be interesting and memorable. But what difference do they actually make? Recent research suggests that rather than value statements...

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State of Discipleship

What are we doing? How well is it working? With the help of the Barna Group, The Navigators uncovered key insights into questions disciplers must ask on a regular basis. Here some of their findings: The research examined the language and terminology surrounding...

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The Authority to Make Disciples

by Chris Matthisen -- When I encourage disciples to take up the challenge to disciple another, I get one of two responses. The first response goes something like this; “But I don’t have the knowledge or maturity to disciple another person!” and the second is “Who am I...

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Faith Your Fears

An effective disciple is someone who truly understands that they are loved by God. Without such knowledge we lack courage along with the relational strength to be obedient to the Word of God. In her book The Fear Cure, Lisa Rankin says that we need courage to deal...

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When We Neglect the Mission

by Chris Matthisen "I'm not able to experience God's presence", or "I'm failing to find purpose in my life", are two of the most common statements I hear from disciples as they struggle to make sense of their faith. Although the answers may vary, I have found one...

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DISCIPLE! Collingwood, February 7 Conference

Disciple! Collingwood was a success! If you missed out, don't despair. go to the link for the recordings and supplemental materials from the day. To not miss out on future Disciple! Conferences, subscribe to our newsletter

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Making Disciples – both content and process

by Chris Matthisen In the opening Chapters of Matthew, Jesus gives us a good understanding of the content and process that goes into the formation of a disciple. The Sermon on the Mount for example, communicates foundational truths that Jesus wants every disciple to...

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The Disciple-SHIP Illustration

by Chris Matthisen One of the first things I do when starting a new discipling relationship is to sit down with the disciple and go over the Disciple-SHIP illustration. Every ship has a hull or body; it forms the core of what the ship is all about. The hull on some...

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Free and Equipped

by Luciano Del Monte Someone asked me recently, "Luch, do you know where you are broken?" That is what you call an intimidating and revealing question. Fortunately I have identified the broken areas of my life over the years. I recently turned 61 after all, and so am...

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Discipleship is all about the Grace of God

by Irv Augustine Look at 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 1 As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. 2 For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is...

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Jesus our Shepherd

by JD Sherman This morning as I was praying, I was reflecting on a conversation I had with a group of University students just a day earlier. We were beginning a new study around the theme of purpose, and as the students began to share it became evident that few had...

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Goal Setting With Less Frustration

by Chris Matthisen You have probably heard of setting SMART1 goals, WIG2 goals, HARD3 goals and many other kinds of goal setting acronyms that encourage us in the best ways to accomplish an objective. No matter what acronym you use many of us find that the journey in...

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Identify Your “Timothy” – passing the baton

by Chris Matthisen List names of people you believe God may be leading you to invest in. Take time every morning during your devotions to pray that God would reveal those on your list whom He is preparing for a discipling relationship with you. Don't rush the process,...

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DISCIPLE! Febuary 9 Conference Audiocast

Did you miss the last conference? Don't despair! Here you can catch up on the workshops presented at the February 9th Disciple conference at North Park Community Church in London Ontario. We hope they encourage you to grow in your Discipleship with others. Disciple!...

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Solitude – Re-charging our time with God

by Rosetta Del Monte Henri Nowen in The Way of the Heart says without silence the spirit cannot grow. "Solitude is difficult for many people, because they don't know what to do in the solitude. Most of us are used to being very busy and prductive but in solitude we...

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Start with Good Listening

by Luciano Del Monte Years ago I read a book by Christian Swiss Psychiatrist Paul Tournier called To Understand Each Other. The whole book is powerful although only 63 pages in length. It has amazing insights that make us more effective and empathetic people builders....

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Disciple from the Inside Out!

On February 9, we will be hosting the 2nd Disciple Conference in London, ON. Did you miss the last conference? Don't despair! The following video will get you up to speed on the content of the last Conference. This video is of the first main session from the Disciple!...

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Welcome to the Adventure of Discipling Others Blog!

Thank you for allowing us to accompany you on your Adventure in Discipling Others journey! Our Navigator team were thrilled that you decided to invest a full day last month to discover and learn together. We hope this monthly blog will be a source of encouragement. We...

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