A testimony from Greg Peterson:
I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve written or given my ‘testimony’ over the years. This will be the first time it will be focused entirely on discipleship. It has been almost 50 years that I’ve walked with God, as his disciple. The man who helped me understand what it meant to be a Christian was focused on helping those new believers understand their faith, grow in their relationship with God and begin doing the work the new believer was called to do. He took me through a basic discipleship course, 1-1, which helped me understand a bit of doctrine, some best practices (disciplines) such as quiet times with God, prayer etc. this was only a short 8 weeks or so, but he continued to regularly meet with me for about 3 years helping me understand my walk and provide support and opportunities. I remember when he had me give my personal testimony at a businessmen’s luncheon in Milwaukee, truly scary for me. Then I moved to a different city.
That phase of my life led to dramatic changes in everything my life was about. Over the course of those first years, I began taking other men through the same discipleship materials, meeting regularly with guys, mostly 1-1. I also served in the church in the children’s ministry during the week and other activities on Sundays. With my wife, we also led a small group doing some discipleship materials with about 8 people. Our focus was to know God, help others know God and do ministry work.
After 4 years we moved to another city and joined a very different and smaller church. This church had a small group ministry but no real discipleship ministry. We became part of a small group, then began leading one or more groups depending on the need, developing others to lead small groups. We also began working with the youth program and took over that ministry for about a year when a new youth pastor search was going on. During this time, we applied discipleship principles with whatever activity or program we were doing with the youth. After a few years I found myself in leadership (elders) and we began building a more formal discipleship focus, hired a Pastor to focus on that and brought in formal materials to help. During this time, we mostly used the Navigators 2:7 series. Facilitating it on Sunday mornings. Class sizes at that time were 40 – 70 individual adults. Yes, the church was growing quickly. This process continued for several years handing it over to others to facilitate.
We looked at a gap in discipleship that showed we were not developing new leaders effectively. Out of this need I took a couple groups of men through a yearlong leadership processes that developed character and spiritual formation, with an emphasis on leading others. I point this out as I feel there are emphasis tracks of discipleship that focus on a few different disciplines like leadership or perhaps teaching, helping others grow their spiritual gifts.
During much of the previous years I was also in 1-1 accountability relationships with other men. We actually made that a requirement of all the Pastors and Elders. We met on a regular basis to discuss how life was going, how our walk with God was going and what challenges we should discuss. Another opportunity for discipleship was during regular ministry team meetings. I always used some time, maybe just 15 minutes, to emphasize some aspect of our walk with God. I also used this practices when I was on staff at a church. In each of the team meetings I led we discussed a book or a principle that helped us keep our focus on God.
As you can see, discipleship for me has been a life focus. There are many ways to go about it but in the end, it is walking this journey with God and walking with His people together in the work we are given to do.
I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve written or given my ‘testimony’ over the years. This will be the first time it will be focused entirely on discipleship. It has been almost 50 years that I’ve walked with God, as his disciple. The man who helped me understand what it meant to be a Christian was focused on helping those new believers understand their faith, grow in their relationship with God and begin doing the work the new believer was called to do. He took me through a basic discipleship course, 1-1, which helped me understand a bit of doctrine, some best practices (disciplines) such as quiet times with God, prayer etc. this was only a short 8 weeks or so, but he continued to regularly meet with me for about 3 years helping me understand my walk and provide support and opportunities. I remember when he had me give my personal testimony at a businessmen’s luncheon in Milwaukee, truly scary for me. Then I moved to a different city.
That phase of my life led to dramatic changes in everything my life was about. Over the course of those first years, I began taking other men through the same discipleship materials, meeting regularly with guys, mostly 1-1. I also served in the church in the children’s ministry during the week and other activities on Sundays. With my wife, we also led a small group doing some discipleship materials with about 8 people. Our focus was to know God, help others know God and do ministry work.
After 4 years we moved to another city and joined a very different and smaller church. This church had a small group ministry but no real discipleship ministry. We became part of a small group, then began leading one or more groups depending on the need, developing others to lead small groups. We also began working with the youth program and took over that ministry for about a year when a new youth pastor search was going on. During this time, we applied discipleship principles with whatever activity or program we were doing with the youth. After a few years I found myself in leadership (elders) and we began building a more formal discipleship focus, hired a Pastor to focus on that and brought in formal materials to help. During this time, we mostly used the Navigators 2:7 series. Facilitating it on Sunday mornings. Class sizes at that time were 40 – 70 individual adults. Yes, the church was growing quickly. This process continued for several years handing it over to others to facilitate.
We looked at a gap in discipleship that showed we were not developing new leaders effectively. Out of this need I took a couple groups of men through a yearlong leadership processes that developed character and spiritual formation, with an emphasis on leading others. I point this out as I feel there are emphasis tracks of discipleship that focus on a few different disciplines like leadership or perhaps teaching, helping others grow their spiritual gifts.
During much of the previous years I was also in 1-1 accountability relationships with other men. We actually made that a requirement of all the Pastors and Elders. We met on a regular basis to discuss how life was going, how our walk with God was going and what challenges we should discuss. Another opportunity for discipleship was during regular ministry team meetings. I always used some time, maybe just 15 minutes, to emphasize some aspect of our walk with God. I also used this practices when I was on staff at a church. In each of the team meetings I led we discussed a book or a principle that helped us keep our focus on God.
As you can see, discipleship for me has been a life focus. There are many ways to go about it but in the end, it is walking this journey with God and walking with His people together in the work we are given to do.