Download PDF GDI Executive Summary
The purpose of Global Discipleship Initiative is found in our motto: You Know Why, We Know HOW. It is an astonishing reality that though most pastors and church leaders could identity Jesus’ Great Commission as the reason the church exists, when asked, “What is your plan for making disciples?”, the vast majority have no response. Our main focus is to answer the critical question: HOW? Knowing the need for a simple, reproducible approach to MAKE DISCIPLES, our mission is to transform and multiply disciples through MICRO groups (3s and 4s). Our reproducible and transferable process with our experience with thousands of people of over 30 years in numerous countries teaches us that micro groups are an ideal environment to transform and multiply disciples. Personal Transformation The micro group brings together four environmental conditions that create what we call “the hot house effect.” When we…
- open our hearts in transparent trust to each other;
- around the truth of God’s Word;
- in the spirit of life-changing accountability;
- while engaged in our God-designed mission
…we are in the Holy Spirit’s hothouse of transformation.
Multiplication of Disciple Makers
Within the US context, these micro groups covenant to meet weekly for 90 minutes to explore a core curriculum such as Discipleship Essentials. The goals are two-fold: Rooted in Christ: A foundational curriculum creates the big picture of what being a follower of Jesus entails: After examining Christ’s all-encompassing claim on our life, disciples engage four areas of growth:
(1) practice basic spiritual disciplines in order to stay connected to the vine;
(2) grasp the central truths of the nature of triune God and His rescue plan through Jesus Christ;
(3) understand the internal transformational work of the Holy Spirit to develop a Christ-like character; and finally
(4) engage the world as witnesses to the life-changing love of Christ.
Committed to Multiplication:
From the very first engagement with the covenant, the expectation is created that the participants are committed to reproduce this same process with others following the initial completion of Discipleship Essentials, thus becoming a disciple maker. At the conclusion of the group covenant each member initiates the process of inviting two or three others to join them and simply reproduces the process they have experienced. Corporate Transformation As the groups multiply from 4 to 16 to 35 to 80 to 130 over a five-year period, an entire congregation is transformed from within. During this multiplication process, a number of things can be done to inculcate this practice into the culture of a church so that momentum increases.
Group members gather quarterly to celebrate the life they are experiencing; as group leaders multiply they are recognized publicly, passing a literal baton; testimonies of transformation are video-taped to be played publicly in the gathered congregation.
GDI Vision: Compelled by Jesus’ Great Commission, we are multiplying transformed disciples through MICRO GROUPS in every country in the world by 2026.
GDI Mission: GDI trains, coaches, and inspires pastors and Christian leaders to establish indigenous, multiplying, disciple making movements, both nationally and internationally.
