3 Testimonies that Show how Discipleship Strengthens Marriages

One of the many benefits of life-on-life discipleship is that it can help strengthen marriages. We’ve seen this happen hundreds and thousands of times – when men and women become involved in discipleship they often become better spouses.

This isn’t like a magic formula or love potion. Discipleship brings us closer to Christ and transforms every aspect of our lives. Our relationship with Jesus should make us more like him in the way we treat our co-workers, neighbors, enemies, children, and spouses. 

In today’s article, we’ve got three different testimonies from people who experienced discipleship. Each story features people going through different phases of life and stages of marriage, but they all show the way God used discipleship to strengthen a marriage. Watch the videos or read the summaries below.

Testimony 1: Life-on-Life Discipleship Transformed My Marriage

Eduardo Noronha, is a discipleship group leader at the Lusa Church in Goiânia, Goiás Brazil. He has seen firsthand the way that life-on-life discipleship transforms the people in his church and beyond.

In the following video, he shares a story about an Uber ride he took during a Life on Life Discipleship Training Workshop in Brazil.

Here’s a quick snippet of their conversation that illustrates the way life-on-life discipleship changed someone’s life:

“The driver asked what we were doing in town, and I told him we were at a conference about Life on Life discipleship.”

And he looked at me and said, “Life on Life? That changed my life!”

I asked, “what do you mean?”

He replied, “my marriage was almost over, and thanks to a Life on Life group, my life was transformed, I received support, there were people who invested in my life. My marriage was saved by this instrument of God in my life.”

Eduardo later concludes the video by saying, “it was a testimony to the great impact of how God transforms lives and expands the Gospel in the life of people that we can’t even imagine.”

Testimony 2: Life-on-life discipleship taught me how to be a better husband

In this second testimony, Tiiago Campos, a member of the Church of Light in Brazil, explains how discipleship has impacted every area of his life, and the life of those he has had the privilege of discipling.

In the video he says that discipleship has taught him “How to be a better husband, how to be a better father, how to be a better servant of God, how to be a better leader, and how to be a better professional…Life-on-life discipleship Life on Life really changed my whole way, it transformed my way of living.”

Discipleship didn’t only transform Tiiago’s life, because he was also equipped to make and train disciples. One of the stories that sticks out to Tiiago is a man who joined his group because he was in a very difficult situation. The man had recently been divorced, his wife had taken everything, and she had sued him. He was struggling, totally lost, and didn’t really know what to think about the Gospel.

The man even considered suicide at one point, but slowly, through Tiiago’s faithful efforts to invest in this man, his life turned around. He found hope and peace in Jesus and was saved. Today, he has a powerful testimony and has a healthy marriage with a woman of God.

Tiiago finishes the story by saying, “we really have to glorify God, because it wasn’t me, it wasn’t the group, but it really was the Holy Spirit who…rekindled the heart of that man, and to really live the Gospel through being a disciple of Jesus.”

Testimony 3: I thought my wife was going crazy, until I found God through discipleship

Felipe lives in Porangatu, Brazil and is married to Julianna (who also shared her testimony with us). A few years ago, neither of them believed the Gospel, but when Julianna started exploring the claims of Christianity, Felipe became very concerned. 

“I said, Juliana is going crazy. I won’t even discuss this here. I won’t let this happen because it felt like madness or depression or something medical.”

Felipe even admits that he was very prejudiced against Christians and actively judged them. He started attending church with Julianna, not because he was interested but because “I wanted to hear what these people are talking about – otherwise she will end up being crazy.”

Felipe slept through most church services, but eventually, God got to work in his heart: 

“It wasn’t over preaching, it wasn’t over a biblical study. It was in the discipleship, it was right there in a Life on Life growth – Talking about Jesus, going deeper about what he did for us.

The scales fell on my eyes and I fell in love with the Lord.”

“Jesus has completely transformed our lives. It was chaos before – always thinking about work, about money. God and family were totally in the background, but not anymore.”

Felipe’s skepticism of Christianity could have derailed his marriage to Julianna, but through discipleship he found Jesus too. Now, not only has his heart for God changed but he prioritizes God and his family above material things like money.

What will your story be?

These are just three examples of the way God uses discipleship to strengthen marriages and transform lives. No matter what you’re going through, life-on-life discipleship can help bring you closer to Jesus. This faith gives you a hope in the things above, and equips people to actually live their faith wherever they live, work, and play. 

If you want to learn more about our approach to life-on-life discipleship, then register for one of our upcoming Information Calls.