Insourcing: Bringing Discipleship Back to the Local Church
Too many of today’s pastors and leaders mistakenly think that thriving programs, lively worship services, and relevant preaching are adequate for developing people into the spiritual dynamos God desires. In many churches, the primary objective of the church—personally discipling individuals into mature followers of Jesus—has been “outsourced” to large-scale programs. But are people truly being disciple and taught how to follow Jesus? Are they growing in spiritual depth and missional determination?
Twenty-five years ago, the leadership team of Perimeter, Randy Pope’s rapidly growing church realized that nothing but personal discipleship could account for the uniqueness of individuals and the call of God on each person’s life. Perimeter calls their approach “life-on-life missional discipleship,” and this book tells the story of how they learned to bring discipleship back from the margins of church life to the mainstream.
Many pastors and leaders are slowly awakening to the reality that current models of ministry just aren’t working the way they had hoped they would. Randy’s journey as a pastor will encourage you and invite you to consider the effectiveness and fruitfulness of your own church’s discipleship efforts.
Top Highlights
“Life-on-life missional discipleship is laboring in the lives of a few with the intention of imparting one’s life, the gospel, and God’s Word in such a way as to see them become mature and equipped followers of Christ, committed to doing the same in the lives of others.’” (source)
“Equipping adds modeling, explaining, and asking questions” (source)
“Let me rephrase the questions posed above more alarmingly: What if the pastoral/attractional model of church produced an army of Christians who are consumeristic, shallow, and bland? And what if the influential model of church cranked out wild-eyed activists who do loving acts without the love that springs from spiritual maturity? What if the church marched on, resolutely doing many of the right things, but without being the right people?” (source)
“Coaching,’ he explained, ‘is when you allow your employee to watch you perform his task before he’s asked to do it. It’s allowing him to ask you questions and then asking him questions to make certain he understands what he’s being asked to do. It’s giving him feedback as you watch him begin to perform his new job.’” (source)
“mission as their exercise and the Word as their food. Both are essential, but mission drives nurture.” (source)
Product Details
- Title : Insourcing: Bringing Discipleship Back to the Local Church
- Authors:
- Pope, Randy
- Murray, Kitti
- Ingram, Chip
- Publisher: Zondervan
- Publication Date: 2013
- ISBN: 9780310490685