He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV).
We believe that making and training disciples by following Jesus’ model is our primary responsibility as believers in the gospel. If you’re interested in learning more, check out our guide to making disciples. In today’s article, we want to share some of the global work happening to make disciples.
From the Americas to Asia, God is raising up disciple-makers in every corner of the world. Here are a few updates and stories from those disciples:
Discipleship Training Cohorts Around the World
We work with pastors and church leaders to coach them on leading life-on-life missional discipleship movements in their own churches.
We built our Training Cohorts to take a holistic, relational approach to equipping churches to make disciples. Too many discipleship conferences bring people together for a few exciting days and then send people on their way. Not us.
Our discipleship training cohorts last for 2.5 years and include three different in-person discipleship workshops, regular coaching calls, and guidance as you launch your own discipleship groups.
Today, several discipleship training cohorts are happening in various countries around the world:
- Atlanta, GA
- Northern California
- Uganda
- Romania
- Brazil
- Philippines
- Metro Atlanta Seminary Doctorate Program
- Guatemala
- US-based cohort for Portuguese-speaking and Brazilian churches (starting soon)
We have several other opportunities coming soon in other countries as well:
Our Envisioning sessions are in-person events where Randy Pope shares the story of Life on Life to help churches see how it can help spark real transformation. Upcoming opportunities are planned for:
- Ireland
- Peru
- The Balkans (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro)
- Egypt
- London, England
- Cape Town, South Africa
Lastly, we are also hosting an Equipping Workshop for our Malaysian church partners to enable them to host their own cohorts.
If you are interested in learning about any of these upcoming cohorts or envisioning sessions, contact us at support@lifeonlife.org.
Translating the Journey
The Journey Curriculum is our discipleship platform that engages the five elements of T.E.A.M.S.: Truth, Equipping, Accountability, Mission, and Supplication.
The print version of the curriculum has been available in English for decades and is also now available in a convenient, customizable online version.
The Journey is also available in several additional languages. Today, discipleship groups can experience The Journey in the following languages:
- English
- Chinese
- Spanish
- Tagalog
- Portuguese
- Hindi
In addition, we are in the process of translating The Journey into several more languages:
- Romanian
- Ugandan
- Korean
- Polish
- Thai
- Malay
- Vietnamese
These translations are a major project, but the effort is worth the reward. For instance, Ugandan churches are very excited to receive The Journey in their native language. Around 30 churches are going through the Training process now. They love The Journey and are excited for the depth that life-on-life missional discipleship is bringing to their churches. Printing costs and access are a major hurdle right now in Uganda, but one group is so excited they saved up money for a year to buy their group one Journey book to share.
You can learn more about the discipleship movement in Uganda in this podcast interview with Ugandan Pastor, Peter Kasirivu.
Malaysia is also excited about translating The Journey into Malay. They see the potential of the Journey Online platform and are excited that their leaders will one day be able to customize The Journey for their groups across their three congregations in English, Chinese, and Malay.
Spiritual Multiplication
One of the primary goals of discipleship is spiritual multiplication. As Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2 (ESV), “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”
We have seen countless examples and heard thousands of stories of disciples who grew and went on to lead their own life-on-life missional discipleship group. We love hearing these stories and they will never get old.
We are also excited and thankful to see that same spiritual multiplication happening at an organizational level through coaching.
Several churches have now completed the Life on Life training cohorts and are hosting their own training cohorts, seeking to equip the churches in their sphere of influence.
When churches seek to host their own training cohorts, we still support them (much in the same way a discipleship group leader would continue to support their disciples who go on to lead groups of their own). This looks different depending on the church, but we always provide them with the resources and training materials needed to host a training cohort. Sometimes they help us lead the training, sometimes we help them, and sometimes they do the whole training themselves while we celebrate their work.
Churches in the following locations are helping lead their own training cohorts:
- Brazil
- Singapore
- Northern California
- Chicago
- Malaysia
- Philippines
- India
- Poland
The following testimony comes from a pastor in Brazil who shared why he believes discipleship is essential to the revitalization of the faith in our world today:
Prayer Opportunities
If we look back to the words of the Great Commission, we are reminded that it is the authority of Jesus that enables us to make disciples. We ask you to pray for us and the many churches around the world who are seeking to make more disciples and teach others to do the same.
Here are some specific prayer needs:
- Travel and upcoming Envisionings: pray for churches to show interest and excitement for a long term training process to be equipped in disciple making and training.
- For partner churches: We are always seeking more churches that would have a vision to partner with us, equipped to train other churches themselves.
- For translation efforts: We don’t just want a strict translation, but are trying to adapt and localize for the culture and heart of each people. This is particularly true in lower literacy areas.
- The Journey Online: Pray for wisdom and resourcing as this expands into other countries, starting with a Portuguese version in Brazil.
- Our next cohort: Pray for God to be at work during our next cohort, which takes place in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and starts on August 1.
- Wisdom for the Life on Life team: Please pray for us, that as our team grows and we seek to equip people around the world to make disciples that God would grant us wisdom and understanding as we seek to follow the model of Jesus.
Conclusion
This is an exciting time to be a part of the ministry of Life on Life. Several hundred churches have completed the training, and we have over 150 churches currently involved in the training process.
These churches represent people from 15 different countries and 6 continents. Over the next year, we hope to add churches from 7 new countries. New cohorts start every year, and we are expecting over 150 more new churches to join in the next year of cohorts. In the country of Brazil, they plan to start 17 regional training hubs next year!
God is doing amazing work all over the world to see His Great Commission fulfilled. We consider it a great privilege to play some small role in the making and training of disciples.
If you are a church looking to get involved, please contact us for upcoming opportunities.
If you are an individual or organization who would like to support these efforts, then please pray for us and consider donating to Life on Life to help fund future translations, training materials, cohorts, and more!