Growing to Be Like Christ: Six Sessions on Discipleship
By Rick Warren
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About this ebook
Rick Warren
Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church, one of the largest churches in the world, with campuses in the US and around the globe. He is the author of The Purpose Driven Life, one of the bestselling nonfiction books in publishing history. It has been translated into 137 languages and sold more than 50 million copies in multiple formats.
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Book preview
Growing to Be Like Christ - Rick Warren
GROWING TO
BE LIKE CHRIST
six sessions on
discipleship
written by
BRETT and DEE EASTMAN
TODD and DENISE WENDORFF
KAREN LEE-THORP
We want to hear from you. Please send your comments about this
book to us in care of the address below. Thank you.
Contents
FOREWORD
READ ME FIRST: DOING LIFE TOGETHER
SESSION 1: GROWING DEEPER IN CHRIST
SESSION 2: THE POWER FOR LIVING
SESSION 3: PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
SESSION 4: ENTERING GOD’S PRESENCE
SESSION 5: A TASTE FOR GOD’S WORD
SESSION 6: THE UNLIKELY ROUTE TO JOY
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
APPENDIX: PURPOSE-DRIVEN GROUP AGREEMENT
APPENDIX: SMALL GROUP CALENDAR
APPENDIX: PURPOSE TEAM ROLES
APPENDIX: PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE HEALTH ASSESSMENT
APPENDIX: PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE HEALTH PLAN
APPENDIX: SPIRITUAL PARTNERS’ CHECK-IN PAGE
APPENDIX: SERVING COMMUNION
APPENDIX: MEMORY VERSES
APPENDIX: DAILY DEVOTIONAL READINGS
APPENDIX: PRAYER AND PRAISE REPORT
SAMPLE JOURNAL PAGE
LEADERSHIP TRAINING
LEADER’S NOTES: : SESSION ONE: GROWING DEEPER IN CHRIST
LEADER’S NOTES: : THE POWER FOR LIVING
LEADER’S NOTES: : SESSION THREE: PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
LEADER’S NOTES: : SESSION FOUR: ENTERING GOD’S PRESENCE
LEADER’S NOTES: : SESSION FIVE: A TASTE FOR GOD’S WORD
LEADER’S NOTES: : SESSION SIX: THE UNLIKELY ROUTE TO JOY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
SMALL GROUP ROSTER
Copyright
About the Publisher
Share Your Thoughts
FOREWORD
Over twenty-five years ago I noticed a little phrase in Acts 13:36 that forever altered the direction of my life. It read, David had served God’s purpose in his own generation.
I was fascinated by that simple yet profound summary of David’s life, and I determined to make it the goal of my life, too. I would seek to discover and fulfill the purposes for which God had created me.
This decision provoked a number of questions: What are God’s purposes for putting us on earth? What does a purpose-driven life look like? How can the church enable people to fulfill God’s eternal purposes? I read through the Bible again and again, searching for the answers to these questions. As a direct result of what I learned, my wife, Kay, and I decided to start Saddleback Church and build it from the ground up on God’s five purposes for us (which are found in the New Testament).
In the living laboratory of Saddleback Church, we were able to experiment with different ways to help people understand, apply, and live out the purposes of God. I’ve written two books about the lessons we’ve learned (The Purpose-Driven Church and, more recently, The Purpose-Driven Life). As other churches became interested in what we were doing, we began sharing the tools, programs, and studies we developed at Saddleback. Over a million copies of The Purpose-Driven Church are now in print in some nineteen languages, and The Purpose-Driven Class Curriculum (Class 101–401) is now used in tens of thousands of churches around the world. We hope that the same will be true for this exciting new small group curriculum.
DOING LIFE TOGETHER is a groundbreaking study in several ways. It is the first small group curriculum built completely on the purpose-driven paradigm. This is not just another study to be used in your church; it is a study on the church to help strengthen your church. Many small group curricula today are quite self-focused and individualistic. They generally do not address the importance of the local church and our role in it as believers. Another unique feature of this curriculum is its balance. In every session, the five purposes of God are stressed in some way.
But the greatest reason I am excited about releasing this DOING LIFE TOGETHER curriculum is that I’ve seen the dramatic changes it produces in the lives of those who study it. These small group studies were not developed in some detached ivory tower or academic setting but in the day-to-day ministry of Saddleback Church, where thousands of people meet weekly in small groups that are committed to fulfilling God’s purposes. This curriculum has been tested and retested, and the results have been absolutely amazing. Lives have been changed, marriages saved, and families strengthened. And our church has grown—in the past seven years we’ve seen over 9,100 new believers baptized at Saddleback. I attribute these results to the fact that so many of our members are serious about living healthy, balanced, purpose-driven lives.
It is with great joy and expectation that I introduce this resource to you. I am so proud of our development team on this project: Brett and Dee Eastman, Todd and Denise Wendorff, and Karen Lee-Thorp. They have committed hundreds of hours to write, teach, develop, and refine these lessons—with much feedback along the way. This has been a labor of love, as they have shared our dream of helping you serve God’s purpose in your own generation. The church will be enriched for eternity as a result.
Get ready for a life-changing journey. God bless!
—Pastor Rick Warren
Pastor Rick Warren is the author of The Purpose-Driven Church and The Purpose-Driven Life [www.purposedrivenlife.com].
READ ME FIRST
DOING LIFE TOGETHER
DOING LIFE TOGETHER is unique in that it was designed in community for community. Four of us have been doing life together, in one way or another, for over fifteen years. We have been in a small group together, done ministry together, and been deeply involved in each other’s lives. We have shared singleness, marriage, childbirth, family loss, physical ailments, teenage years, job loss, and, yes, even marital problems.
Our community has not been perfect, but it has been real. We have made each other laugh beyond belief, cry to the point of exhaustion, feel as grateful as one can imagine, and get so mad we couldn’t see straight. We’ve said things we will always regret and shared moments we will never forget, but through it all we have discovered a diamond in the rough—a community that increasingly reflects the character of Jesus Christ. God has used our relationships with each other to deepen our understanding of and intimacy with him. We have come to believe that we cannot fully experience the breadth and depth of the purpose-driven life outside of loving relationships in the family of God (Ephesians 2:19–22; 4:11–13).
Doing life together was God’s plan from the beginning of time. From the relationships of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Trinity, to the twelve apostles, to the early house churches, and even Jesus’ final words in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16–20)—all share the pattern of life together. God longs to connect all of his children in loving relationships that cultivate the five biblical purposes of the church deep within their hearts. With this goal in mind, we have created the DOING LIFE TOGETHER series—the first purpose-driven small group series.
The series is designed to walk you and your group down a path, six weeks at a time over the course of a year, to help you do the purpose-driven life together. There are six study guides in this series. You can study them individually, or you can follow the one-year path through the six studies. Beginning Life Together offers a six-week overview of the purpose-driven life. The other five guides (Connecting with God’s Family, Growing to Be Like Christ, Developing Your SHAPE to Serve Others, Sharing Your Life Mission Every Day, and Surrendering Your Life for God’s Pleasure) each explore one of the five purposes of the church more deeply.
In his book The Purpose-Driven Life, Rick Warren invites you to commit to live a purpose-driven life every day. The DOING LIFE TOGETHER series was designed to help you live this purpose-driven life through being part of a purpose-driven small group. A purpose-driven group doesn’t simply connect people in