Making Disciples a Few at a Time

Global Discipleship Initiative (GDI)

Love of God and love for others is our primary motivation as we come alongside others. Each of us—not just pastors, not merely priests, not only leaders—but ALL who believe in their heart in Christ Jesus are disciples. We all are to become disciplemakers. GDI is for everyone who calls themselves Christian. Our calling: Be disciples (Christ-followers) in practice.

As Christ-followers, we experience and practice what love means. Jesus revealed how to love by obeying The Great Commandment, staying true to His first love of God the Father, and then releasing The Great Commission. Our mission, vision, and values of GDI fuse organic growth (non-clergy) and intentional outreach.

GDI is not a program or a one-time class—but a lifestyle change for accelerated spiritual growth in a relational environment, for ordinary people everywhere since God's call is on all of us, not only leaders and pastors.

All are called to love God first. Love is revealed by obeying God's commands.

The Great Commandment: "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself."

The Great Commission: “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

When Jesus spoke these, words, He gave all authority to you and me. He did not give this commission only to church leaders. We honor people who are not considered to be leaders who respond to the call of God to make disciples. Some may have misinterpreted Matthew 28:18-20 to be only for a few, but you and I are included!

You are not left out. The pastor of a church does not have to start the organic movement.

Mission: In partnership with the local church, ­­­­GDI motivates, equips, and coaches Holy Spirit-led people, pastors and Christian leaders to establish indigenous, MicroGroup-based disciplemaking churches.

Vision: Encourage MicroGroup-based disciplemaking people and churches to be in every nation of the world where "taproot" relationships deepen organic growth.

Values: Generational - Relational - Intentional - Transformational - Spirit-Energized (GRITS)

Over 40 years ago in the 1980s, we began GO MICRO. Why?

A MicroGroup culture has been tested over time to be reliable and valid as a strategy to make disciples who make disciples of Jesus Christ. Greg Ogden takes time to reflect the origins of GO MICRO decades ago. How did this come about, and how can you best use this material?

Well, it kind of came out of frustration. I had thought that discipling was primarily a one-to-one relationship, so I practiced that for many years.

You know the definition of insanity, right? "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Well, that is what I did. I would meet with a man on a weekly basis for the better part of a year. We would share some of the foundations of the faith together, study basic principles like Christianity, work through foundational doctrines of the faith, and practice spiritual disciplines like Bible study, prayer, meditation, and scripture memory. We would also apply our faith to different dimensions of life, such as work and home life.

But at the end of the year, I expected they would be equipped to disciple others. Guess what? They weren’t.

I did not see much in the way of reproduction.

Then I had two epiphanies, which came in close proximity to each other, that would transform my life and ministry—my "aha" experience.

The first epiphany occurred while I was jogging around the high school track. I did this regularly, and on this particular day, I wasn’t even thinking about disciple-making or my frustrations with it. But it felt like I ran under an arrow out of the sky. It went right through me, and all of a sudden, I had the content and format of what would become Discipleship Essentials.

It was all laid out in the four parts you will see in the book. I went back home, excited, and told my wife I needed to start working on this new tool. I had a sense of calling to write this discipleship tool. It all came together, and I used early versions of it, which later became Discipleship Essentials.

Then came the second epiphany, which had to do with the context in which the material could best be used. I was completing my Doctor of Ministry degree and had written an early version of Discipleship Essentials as my final project. Since it was a ministry project, I tested it in three different settings: 1) one-to-one; 2) a group of ten, and 3) a group of three, as suggested by my ministry supervisor.

I was immediately struck by the dynamics of the group of three. I would go into these meetings, sometimes feeling tired, but leave with excitement and energy! The three men provided insights into God’s Word and encouragement for each other. One-on-one is not a circle, but three is—it is a context where you can truly share your lives.

It was in that setting that I realized the importance of bringing the discipleship tool together with the right environment. We like to call this the "secret sauce" of the discipleship process. You need a biblically-based curriculum (CONTENT) placed in a transformational setting (CONTEXT) to reproduce and multiply disciples. When these two elements come together, you have a powerful combination. We call these groups the "hothouses of the Holy Spirit" because we see accelerated growth taking place in this environment. More

Now 40 years later Discipleship Essentials is translated in over 30 languages and counting.