Changes lives and churches!
Helping you to know Jesus Christ and to share in His Life!
It is not designed as a Bible study to be done in a group setting but as a mentoring exercise with a mentor and one or two others. In this setting, we have found that intimate and transforming moments can happen with Jesus and with one another as we immerse ourselves in the gospel text. In this way, we walk with Jesus and his first disciples as they traversed the dusty roads and trails of Judea and Galilee. The first disciples were transformed by being with Him on those roads and trails; we are transformed by being with Him as we walk through the pages of the gospel text.
Take The Challenge and you feel a connection to the eleven disciples who walked with Jesus. You’ll walk with the disciples who gathered with Jesus at a pre-arranged meeting place on a mountainside in Galilee to hear his last charge to them before he ascended back into heaven to take his place at the Father’s right hand.
His words to them were, “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 hat I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
His instructions to us are the same as those he gave to those gathered on a mountainside in Galilee some 2,000 years ago. Our call is to go and make disciples, to baptize and to teach. The late Dallas Willard, a brilliant scholar and renowned Christian thinker, made a profound observation in his book The Great Omission. He wrote, “The greatest issue facing the world today is whether those who are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from Him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.”
The Gospel Challenge is divided into two sections.
Section 1
In the first section we read through the four gospel accounts in 90 days by reading one chapter per day. This is combined with a weekly meeting with one’s assigned mentor to discuss the seven chapters from the previous week.
Section 2
In the second section we complete eight discipleship lessons based on the eight behaviors of the earliest followers of Christ. This requires about an hour to complete and a weekly meeting with your mentor.
These traits provide a framework for living out one’s faith.
We sometimes refer to them as our Rule of Life. Not only do the eight traits give a valid framework for one’s own pursuit of faith, they become a valuable tool for moving from disciple to disciple-maker. Upon completion of the Gospel Challenge, our hope is that each person will be able to say that I, too, have been with Jesus; my life has been transformed; and I want to help others experience the joy of knowing Christ! Each graduate is presented with a copy of The Gospel Challenge Workbook and is encouraged to recruit someone else to take the Gospel Challenge with them.
We believe God has called and equipped us to help strengthen His Church by helping believers fall more deeply in love with Jesus and teaching them how they can make an impact in their own church by helping others become disciples and disciple-makers.