NEWS and STORIES
Victor is working with a group of Bulgarians that speak Turkish and is using both English and Spanish translations of Transforming Discipleship and Discipleship Essentials. Victor and Maddy are located in Fraga, a town of 15,000, where there are no evangelical churches reaching the Spanish people. Victor is from Mexico, and grew up in Spain before dedicating his life to Christ’s service and being trained as a pastor in the United States at Pensacola Christian College. Maddy is from Minnesota, and went on a number of missions trips growing up, developing a heart for missions through the influence of her parents and grandparents.
Our mission in Ukraine was to come alongside Igor Fedorovych, our national director, in order to provide incarnational encouragement during a time of war. Greg Ogden and Jim Johnson, representing GDI, spent April 15-22 in Lviv, Kyiv, and a one-day trip to Kharkiv. We lived with Igor, Suzanna, Eva, Mark and Leo in their home on the outskirts of Kyiv.
The evangelical community is alive and resilient in Christ in Ukraine! During uncertain times and loss, having every reason to be discouraged, we meet other Christians with smiles on their faces. Yet, with just one question, their own personal story of devastation emerges. Many have moved from the Eastern regions where Russia dominates. They left their ancestral homes with nothing else but the shirts on their backs. Read more here.
Pastor Jim Johnson greets a parishioner at True Vine Lutheran Church in Mora, Minnesota. He will be traveling from April 10-24 to Ukraine with Greg Ogden to be with Igor Federovich,
“I’m finding that takes a lot of pressure off the pastor and grows Christians faster,” Johnson added. The model of MicroGroups is unbelievably powerful to build relationships. Click here to view their schedule and Igor's video in the March 2024 Global Discipleship Initiative (GDI) newsletter.
The mission is to gather people in groups of four, known as quads, to discuss the Bible and teach each other. Read more details from the Mora, MN newpaper by clicking on Jim's picture.
Watch this video that was made in Pakistan. Making disciples like Jesus entails embodying the principles and practices demonstrated by Jesus Christ. It means intentionally walking alongside individuals to encourage, equip, and challenge them in love, to grow towards spiritual maturity. This cannot be done in crowds or large events because these only allow for the transfer of information. Discipleship requires transformation, a change of lifestyle! It is about mentoring and guiding individuals to become followers of Jesus, to be changed by Jesus, and to embrace the mission of Jesus, which is to make disciples who make disciples.
Ivory Coast Disciplemaking in Africa
Discipleship Essentials is translated into French!
Rev. Michel Gome in the green t-shirt is a member of our Francophone Coaching MicroGroup (CMG). He, along with two pastors from Mali and one from Burkina Faso, participated in our Transforming Discipleship virtual seminar in 2023 and have been working through the French translation of Discipleship Essentials since December. Rev. Gome is in Cote D’Voire (formally know as the Ivory Coast).
MicroGroup Multiplying Moments:
Philippines Discipleship Essentials in Tagalog
Jim and Leah Gustilo host a Discipleship Conference in April. Disciplemaking prioritizes relationships with each other at a transparent, authentic level.
See over 30 other translations available here.
MicroGroup Multiplying Moments:
France and the Congo celebrate Discipleship Essentials now translated into French
French microgroup of guys. Jesus focused on relationships. Disciplemaking prioritizes relationships with each other at a transparent, authentic level.
See over 30 other translations available here.
Women's Disciplemaking in France
Throughout the world, the joy of making disciples who make disciples continues. Translations of Discipleship Essentials is one tool or "rails to run on" for a basic curriculum. With intentional strategies to practice handing off the interactive process, accountability to Matthew 28:18-20 increases.
Facilitating meetings in a safe, transparent environment removes the fear of leading or participating.
MicroGroups Forming Throughout Africa
Pastor MacDuff in Malawi, along with pastors
from Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique are a part of GDI’s SADC. "We had a successful meeting today. We have the General Secretary of Malawi Council of Churches, the former General Secretary of
Zambezi Evangelical Church, and the pastor of a Presbyterian Church (CCAP) in Malawi. This is our first Malawi GDI microgroup. Thank you for your prayers."
The Church is bleeding people!
In the book The Great Dechurching, the authors tell us that 40 million people have left the Church of Jesus Christ over the last 25 years. Since 2007, 16% of the population declare themselves to be "nones," meaning they have no religious affiliation.
That percentage now has risen to 30% of the US population. How do we stop the bleeding? We have to ask the question, "Why are people leaving the church?"
MicroGroup Multiplying Moments:
Fear of Bankruptcy
About to go bankrupt, Grant shares his story. In Greg Ogden's MicroGroup, the openness of dealing with current circumstances surfaces.
The fear of bankruptcy was like his "old friend" was back.
Jesus focused on relationships.
Disciplemaking prioritizes relationships with each other at a transparent, authentic level.
MicroGroup Synergy
What is the power that transforms people from being full of information to actual transformation as followers of Jesus?
This animated video was created by the son of a pastor from a country where Christians are persecuted. Collective spiritual growth comes from intentional relationships that thrive by encouraging one another where "iron sharpens iron" in gender-specific groups of 3-4.