Dear Friends,
Consider the scenario of an evangelist who reaches 1,000 people for Christ every day. How long would it take to reach the world at this pace?
- Assuming a frozen population, it would take over 15,000 years! However, consider the immaturity of many of these converts who are never intentionally discipled!
Now consider the scenario of one person discipling another for one year. Then in the second year, that person trains a new disciple and the one who was just trained begins to disciple someone, and this continues on down the line….
- Assuming an accurate and growing population rate, the entire world would be reached for Christ in the 34th year! And imagine the spiritual maturity of all of these people who had been intentionally discipled!
This is why we intentionally focus on equipping leaders to be disciple-makers. We believe that as we invest in disciple-making, we will see a significant change in our nation where only .04% would consider themselves evangelical Christians.
A New Discipleship Program is Launched: After months of preparation, we recently launched a discipleship training program in Wroclaw called Practical Discipleship.
The results have exceeded our expectations!
We hosted a team from Downline Ministry who were participants of their own nine month intense training in biblical discipleship in Little Rock, Arkansas. They shared what they learned through this process and facilitated discussions on how to practice discipleship in everyday life to our participants in Poland.
We had more than 40 leaders representing five churches in our city, including two new and thriving church plants that attract younger people. There is a great hunger to learn and apply Jesus’ strategy and vision for growth in terms of disciple-making. It’s about building intentional relationships and sharing “truth and life” with others.
Discipleship is not a program. It’s a lifestyle! It applies to church, family and market-place leadership.
We heard inspiring testimonies of leaders who applied discipleship in their ministries. One next-generation leader told us that this is the first time he understood what his mission truly is. He decided to apply the principles and teach others in his student groups. Another leader asked us to assist their entire church in applying this strategy with their leaders. One church plant put “disciple-making” as their core value! Praise the Lord!
At Golden Apple Institute, we are committed to promoting biblical discipleship as a way to reach our nation for Christ! This recent training was an introduction to a nine month School of Biblical Discipleship that Golden Apple will launch in October 2018.
Please pray that the Lord will bless our endeavors as we promote discipleship among the leaders through Practical Discipleship workshops. The workshops will be augmented with individual mentoring and coaching. In order to launch a School of Biblical Discipleship in 2018, it will require hard work on our part:
Developing curriculum and print-ready materials.- Recruiting biblical teachers, churches and participants.
- Securing additional funds.
However, we trust that as the Lord called us to fulfill this compelling vision, He will provide everything we need to complete it!
Thank you for being on his journey with us.
Blessings, Wojtek and Agnieszka