This video is a description of my quest to find an effective disciple-making strategy and the ideas and experiences that started me down the path toward developing the Story-Formed Life discipleship training and using it as the foundation of our training centers.
From Eden to Zion
attempted insights on our collective journey from paradise lost to paradise regained
From Eden to Zion 
Awesome! Let the disciple-making begin! Fort Thomas-Seattle-Detroit and beyond!
I find this very interesting and thought provoking. How can I find out more about Story-Formed Life? More specifically are materials available? Thank you!
JP –
Nice that you’ve formalized this. One of the things I’m focused on is the disciplines of the disciple. In our home, we (like you guys do) celebrate Sabbath. We tell the story from Creation to Re-Creation every week. We also hold daily prayer offices to remain “in” the story every day. Also, at every meal, the family talks goes through the Scriptures, reiterating our identity and our story. But this is the training…
We are also making sure we “get in the game.” In other words, we’re beginning to reach out an invest into our greater community. How do we use the gifts that we have to encourage and support other believers? How do we invest into the life of our township? our city? At a recent small group, I became increasingly frustrated that many Christians are simply going to worship service and then going to small group to learn. I’m tired of learning for the sake of learning or worshiping for the sake of my own musical taste. The Church should not embrace the faulty educational model of the Academy. As Hauerwas argues, theology, ethics and practice can never be estranged – they are intertwined. So, I’m interested on how disciples put training into practice, i.e. how a community of disciples is mobilized to function as a Body within a greater city. How does the City of God and the City of Man intertwine? Because these disciples have to go build something. We have to do something. We can’t just keep training and never play the game. We should yearn to see God’s Redemptive narrative take shape in the geography in which we live, not just in our own lives. I’m interested to see how a group of trained disciples can mobilize and intentionally serve the people that are around them. In my opinion, there is no better way to improve as a disciple than to get into the game and experiment with the training that one is receiving.
Best,
Gavin
Jeremy, like I’d mentioned earlier.. .I believe God has been preparing me for this very work and I’m way psyched to be joining what you guys are doing. Thanks a lot for your obedience and willing to share what you’ve been learning.
Hey Gavin,
It seems that Paul and Jesus’ ministry/mission was the training of disciples.
If disciples are being trained and doing nothing than are they being trained or only taught? But when a disciple is really trained they become part of a larger training movement.
I’m becoming increasingly uncomfortable with training being seen as an internal activity divorced somehow from our mission. The making of disciples is the mission. It is the activity that results in the expansion of God’s Kingdom both within and with-out.
Hey Brad,
I know can’t wait to see how God will have us partner in this work of making disciples.
Hey Bill,
The Story-Formed Life is a part of a larger strategy to create regional Discipleship Training Centers. I’m working on these videos as a training tool but we plant these DTCs through Apostolic Teams actually moving to where a core team is to help establish the Center.
how do we start one of these?
1. Contact me – jp__at__marketplaceearth.com
2. If you’re ready we’ll train you
We want to do this through relationship so reach out to us if you want to explore this deeper.
[…] If you are curious, you can find out more here. […]
I’m in the middle of one of these and I’m torn. On one hand I like being on a radical cutting edge idea. On the other hand I’m not inspired to love. Every week I feel like I am told what a horrible person I am.
Maybe it’s the guys teaching our groups but they feel arrogant and better than anyone who hasn’t been through SFL 10 times…
Now, I’m a vocal person. Most of my friends who are turned off by this simply walk away but I believe in the overall goal of missional living. I’m not willing to abandon this radical idea so quickly.
But, there are some broken components to this. Like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Not everything we have done in our Christian culture is bad. Also, there is something in us that God loves so very much. We should not ignore that. And we should be careful not to be arrogant or impatient with others. To do so and pretend we are the only source of interpretive truth is cultish. Yes, I used the “c” word. I’ve been around a while and the cults are always started by the most radical… Here, I think we should take the lessons of old and apply them so as to avoid such an outcome.
So I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m going to go through the SFL several times until I “get it”. Then I’ll have to figure out if this is the path God wants for me. If not then so be it and I’ll pray for SFL’s continues success without me. Again, I like the premise a lot.
Bob over at CR