Discipleship Essentials

a guide to building your life in christ

expanded edition

Greg Ogden

An imprint of InterVarsity Press

Downers Grove, Illinois

InterVarsity Press

P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426

World Wide Web: www.ivpress.com

E-mail: email@ivpress.com

1st edition ©1998 by Greg Ogden

Expanded edition ©2007 by Greg Ogden

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA®, a student movement active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write Public Relations Dept., InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895, or visit the IVCF website at <www.intervarsity.org>.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The readings “Demands My All” (chap. 2), “Handling the Trauma of Holiness” (chap. 6) and “The Intimate Presence” (chap. 14) are used by permission of Darrell Johnson.

The reading “If Quiet Time Is New to You” (chap. 3), adapted from Lord of the Universe, Lord of My Life, is used by permission.

Design: Cindy Kiple

Images: Anatoliy Zavodskov/iStockphoto

ISBN 978-0-8308-7809-3 (digital)

ISBN 978-0-8308-1087-1 (print)

To Eric

a dear brother who in his dying

radiated the presence

of the living Christ.

Contents

A Word from the Author

Getting the Most from Discipleship Essentials

Part One: Growing Up in Christ

1 Making Disciples

2 Being a Disciple

3 Quiet Time

4 Bible Study

5 Prayer

6 Worship

Part Two: Understanding the Message of Christ

7 The Three-Person God

8 Made in God’s Image

9 Sin

10 Grace

11 Redemption

12 Justification

13 Adoption

Part Three: Becoming Like Christ

14 Filled with the Holy Spirit

15 Fruit of the Holy Spirit

16 Trust

17 Love

18 Justice

19 Witness

Part Four: Serving Christ

20 The Church

21 Ministry Gifts

22 Spiritual Warfare

23 Walking in Obedience

24 Sharing the Wealth

Bonus Section

25 Money

Appendix: Building a Discipleship Ministry

A Word from the Author

Since the first release of Discipleship Essentials, it has been quite gratifying to see that this tool has been used in such a variety of settings to assist the growth and multiplication of disciples of Jesus. The response to Discipleship Essentials, though, is simply an indicator of a broadly felt need. Discipleship or spiritual formation appears to be a theme that is coming into focus as a vital necessity.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer chided the church two generations ago because we were settling for what he called “cheap grace.” He ...