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Welcome to the Building a Discipling Culture Study Guide! We designed this guide to help you grasp, explore, and go deeper with the major concepts presented in Building a Discipleship Culture. The book was first published in 2005 and has gone on to become a global bestseller. Before diving in, we feel it's important to understand where and why this book was originally conceived. It came out of frustration and desperation that accompanied trying to disciple people who had little or no education, people who would traditionally never open a book and read it.The following LifeShapes were designed to help those who had the least access to training yet wanted to grow in their understanding of Jesus and the Bible. The simplicity of the shapes allowed for easy understanding. The LifeShapes prevented the overwhelm and intimidation that can accompany text-centric methods. They could be shared on a napkin over coffee or a brown bag over lunch.In this guide, we have attempted to make it again accessible and straightforward. It can be used by anyone, anywhere, and at any stage in their journey of faith. We pray that you will find many uses for this guide so that every disciple can be equipped in building a discipling culture in their homes, workplaces, school, and coffee shops.This guide does not go through Building a Discipling Culture exhaustively, but serves as a introduction through the key LifeShapes: The Matrix: Invitation & Challenge The Circle: Learning from Life The Triangle: Deeper Relationships The Semi-Circle: A Balanced Life The Square: Multiplying Life The Pentagon: Personal Calling The Hexagon: Definitive Prayer

Much ink and many pages have been devoted to all of the missional issues facing the Western church today. As our culture becomes more post-Christian with each passing day, we are all realizing that what has worked in the past is no longer working, that we are far less effective for the Kingdom than we were even 10 years ago. But we would suggest it isn't because we don't know what the Great Commission states or the imperatives of the Gospel, or that our church services just aren't getting it done.Its because we are in the midst of a discipleship crisis in the Western church. The people sitting in our pews are rarely becoming like the people we read about in Scripture. They may come to a worship service, join a small group or even tithe, but their lives just don't seem to look like Jesus life.The truth of the matter is that we don't have a missional problem or leadership problem in the Western church. We have a discipleship problem. If we make disciples like Jesus made them, well never have a problem finding leaders or seeing new people coming to faith.The central issue is that we have no idea how to make disciples who can do the things that Jesus did for the reasons Jesus did them. Building a Discipling Culture is the product of more than 25 years of hands-on discipleship practice in a post-Christian context that has turned into a worldwide discipling movement, dealing specifically with how to make the types of missional disciples Jesus spoke of. We all want to make disciples. Most of us are unsure how to do it.Dallas Willard put it this way: Every church needs to be able to answer two questions. One, do we have a plan for making disciples? Two, does our plan work?For most of our church communities, we have a plan, but the plan isn't working.If you find yourself in this situation, this book is for you.

As you know, I've spent more than two decades helping people around the world lead out in discipleship and mission. But as I look back, I can't help but ruminate on how many people who have led out the movement of discipleship and mission have embraced the effect rather than the cause. They focus on discipleship but overlook communication that so often sparks it to life.In these reflections, I've come to believe that communication usually comes first, and the awakening that happens through communication causes the effect of passion and palpable desire for discipleship and mission.So for me, it's time to rewind the process of discipleship by going back to understand the cause. I have spent the last few years doing this both at a personal and academic level, and now I want to share what I've learned as I've reflected on my experience and what I've seen in my studies that has so often held up a mirror to what I've experienced.