Quotes about Growth

Effective discipleship builds the church, not the other way around. We need to understand the church as the effect of discipleship and not the cause. If

Fundamentally, effective leadership is based upon an invitation to relationship and a challenge to change. A gifted discipler is someone who invites people into a covenantal relationship with him or her, but challenges that person to live into his or her true identity in very direct yet graceful ways. Without both dynamics working together, you will not see people grow into the people God has created them to be.

one creates a discipling culture, modeled on the life and ministry of Jesus, by accident. No one accidentally creates disciples. Discipleship is an intentional pursuit.

The problem is that we don't have a "missional" problem or a leadership problem in the Western church. We have a discipleship problem.

balance invitation and challenge appropriately

Effective discipleship builds the church, not the other way around. We need to understand the church as the effect of discipleship and not the cause.

We need leaders who will step out of "managing church" and make discipling others their primary objective.

We don't have A "missional" problem. We Have A discipleship Problem.

It is not strange... to mistake change for progress.

If you are reading in order to become a better reader, you cannot read just any book or article. You will not improve as a reader if all you read are books that are well within your capacity. You must tackle books that are beyond you, or, as we have said, books that are over your head. Only books of that sort will make you stretch your mind. And unless you stretch, you will not learn.

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.

If a book is easy and fits nicely into all your language conventions and thought forms, then you probably will not grow much from reading it. It may be entertaining, but not enlarging to your understanding. It's the hard books that count. Raking is easy, but all you get is leaves; digging is hard, but you might find diamonds.