Quotes about Community

Most of us have become quite good at the church thing. And yet, disciples are the only thing that Jesus cares about, and it's the only number that Jesus is counting.

If we are going to build a culture of discipleship, we will have to learn to balance invitation and challenge appropriately.

If we can't live the sacred journey with Christ daily and are not actively drawing others into that journey—way outside the worship center or sanctuary and outside our stained-glass or silk-plant ghettos—we can't expect to do it in an hour on Sunday morning or Wednesday night.

we should focus on people who don't know Jesus yet, but Jesus himself gave us the model for doing that: Disciple people.

So while many churches say, "We do discipleship in our small groups," the fact of the matter is that their small groups are missing one of the main ingredients of a discipling culture: Challenge.

Effective discipleship builds the church, not the other way around. We need to understand the church as the effect of discipleship and not the cause. If

We are a society of disconnected people longing for connections.

The message was clear: to be a disciple meant that you learn how to make disciples — an ever-multiplying movement meant to bless the whole world.

The problem is that we don't have a "missional" problem or a leadership problem in the Western church. We have a discipleship problem.

If you set out to build the church, there is no guarantee you will make disciples. It is far more likely that you will create consumers who depend on the spiritual services that religious professionals provide.

From our experience, if you want to make disciples, if you want to build a discipling culture in your community, you are going to need three things: 1. A discipleship vehicle (I call it a Huddle) 2. People need access to your life (the texture of Family on Mission) 3. A discipling language (the discipling language I use is called LifeShapes)

Effective discipleship builds the church, not the other way around. We need to understand the church as the effect of discipleship and not the cause.