Discipleship Group Training in Halfway Houses
Discipleship Group Training in Halfway Houses
On August 22, 2018, we were blessed to be invited to speak to two different men’s groups inside the prison system to share some of what we learned in our recent 5 weeks of discipleship training at Team Expansion.
Tony shared his testimony – what his life was like before Christ, how he came to Christ, and what his life is like today because of Christ. He also shared with the men one of the ways they can OBEY God’s command!!
Kim shared the DNA of a DMM – Disciple Multiplication Movement – and challenged the men to GO and do the one section she trained on.
Looking Up.
In this section, the men first prayed audibly and asked God to teach them the passage she was about to read. After reading the passage, Kim asked them to answer four questions about that passage:
- what they liked about the passage,
- what they found challenging or didn’t understand about the passage,
- what the passage taught them about people,
- and what the passage taught them about God.
It was a moving and powerful experience teaching the men how to be disciples who make disciples; teaching them how to hear God’s Word, how to obey God, and then how to share and train others to do the same.
After the meeting, we were thrilled to see (and hear) that the response was “AWESOME” – the best the man who invited us had seen from any of his speakers. It was also a great blessing to know that four men had stepped up to the challenge to start a group.
God commanded us to do more than invite people to church.
The DMM process we trained the men on is a small church planting movement and is unlike the traditional church where we invite someone to come to church and our part is, well, pretty much over. The traditional church is based on addition – adding members to the church and having activities inside and outside of the church that is dependent upon the church.
Although this is a great way for people to get connected to Christ, to the church, and to one another… it doesn’t always fulfill God’s command for us to “Go… and make disciples.”
The DMM process is based on multiplying the Kingdom of God by planting small churches that are not dependent upon a traditional church. They grow on their own through effective disciple-making strategies.
Team Expansion believes that DMMs are the most strategic and effective way to share the gospel. Teaching these small church planting strategies to others is a great way for anyone to become a disciple who makes disciples.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you…”
~Matthew 28:19-20
The room was buzzing with excitement!
God is so good!! We were blessed to be invited back the following week to further train these men on how to conduct a 3Thirds Discipleship Group Study of their own.
Several men told us they were going back that night to share what they learned with other inmates, as well as with their families and their churches… Praise God!!
We’re excited to see God open hearts and doors for these men who are hungry to get right with God, stay connected to His Word by committing to be obedient to what they learned, and to GO start disciple-making movements.
We are excited to teach these effective disciple-making strategies to the men, but only God can change mindsets and transfer hearts. Please pray for these men that they will OBEY GOD and become disciples who start a disciple-making movement that spreads wide and deep among fellow inmates, their families, and their churches.
