Greg Ogden on Discipleship
Referenced in: Strategies for Church Renewal: Diagnostic/Prescriptive – Disciple-Making
Dr. Greg Ogden is executive pastor of discipleship at Christ Church of Oak Brook in Oak Brook, Illinois. He also served for nine years as senior pastor of Saratoga Federated Church in Saratoga, California, where he developed a discipleship program used by over 15,000 people. He has written four books, two that describe the ministry philosophy, and two group guides to help churches activate discipleship programs in their churches.
Ministry Philosophy
Greg Ogden, Unfinished Business: Returning Ministry to the People of God. Zondervan, 2003. This is the best place to start in understanding Ogden’s ministry philosophy. It is a newer edition of his 1990 work, The New Reformation. It still captures the essential idea:
New Reformation seeks nothing less than the radical transformation of the self-perception of all believers so that we see ourselves as vital channels through whom God mediates his life to other members of the body of Christ and to the world. (18)
He stresses an understanding of church leadership that seeks to equip and empower the entire church to utilize their gifts in ministry as they follow Christ, and helps leaders to abandon clergy models that inhibit others’ growth in life and ministry. This is the book on how to lead a church that produces disciples. The next book, Transforming Discipleship, discusses in more detail the process of discipleship.
Greg Ogden, Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time. IVP Books, 2003. From the Publisher – Greg Ogden introduces his vision for discipleship, emphasizing that solutions will not be found in large-scale, finely-tuned, resource-heavy programs. Instead, Ogden recovers Jesus’ method of accomplishing life change by investing in just a few people at a time. And he shows how discipleship can become a self-replicating process with ongoing impact from generation to generation. Biblical, practical and tremendously effective, Transforming Discipleship builds upon the insights and philosophy of ministry behind Ogden’s other work, Unfinished Business. Together, these ground-breaking books have the potential to transform how your church transforms the lives of its people.
Small Group Guides
The following tools are group guides designed to help leaders activate the ministry philosophy that is outlined in Unfinished Business and Transforming Discipleship. They operate on the assumption that disciples are made not through an enrichment seminar, but through “personal eyeball-to-eyeball invitation” to participate in discipleship groups of three or four. (pp. 7-8) Ogden believes these triads or quads are superior to one-on-ones. Groups shift away from the hierarchical teacher-student relationship into a mutual relational journey toward maturity in Christ. They also enhance the multiplication process. On the other hand, going to groups larger than four increasingly minimizes truth and transparency, decreases the rate of learning to the individuals, and hinders mutual accountability. Another key factor is Ogden’s philosophy of the discipler:
Simply covering the content violates the intent of these tools. The tool is a vehicle which helps create the context and provide content for disciplers who want to invest themselves in love and commitment to growing disciples. The tool raises the issues of discipleship, but the disciple embodies the principles in life patterns and convictions. Modeling will be where the real instruction occurs. The most recent studies in secular education reveal that modeling is still the most significant learning dynamic. Neither coercion nor rewards shape human behavior as much as a ‘motivated attempt to resemble a specific person. (11)
Each lesson in these guides follows a common pattern:
- Core Truth – the nugget around which each lesson is built, which is clarified in the rest of the chapter.
- Memory Verse
- Inductive Bible Study
- Reading – a contemporary commentary that is designed to be stimulating and challenging.
Ogden has also written four guides:
Greg Ogden, Discipleship Essentials: A Guide to Building Your Life in Christ. Expanded Edition. Zondervan, 2007. This is a guide for use in small groups or mentoring relationships to help people live out the It is designed to deal with the question:
What are the basics that a follower of Jesus needs to practice as spiritual disciplines (part 1), comprehend as core biblical and theological truth (part 2), become in terms of character and lifestyle (part 3), and do to engage the church and the world (part 4).
Greg Ogden, Leadership Essentials: Shaping Vision, Multiplying Influence, Defining Character. IVP Connect, 2007. This is a follow up to Discipleship Essentials. It helps disciples lead others or “multiply their influence.” It is divided into four parts:
- The character of the leader – holiness, spiritual disciplines and humility.
- The posture of a leader – kneeling in servant love, teaming with others to accomplish mission.
- The vision of a leader – loving Christ, engaging people in mission, and lifting others out of lethargy and inertia.
- The shaping of a leader – taming temptations, conquering criticism, and defeating discouragement.
Greg Ogden, The Essential Commandment: A Disciple’s Guide to Loving God and Others. IVP Connect, 2011. This guide focuses on the Great Commandment of love for God and neighbor.
Greg Ogden, Witness Essentials: Evangelism that Makes Disciples. IVP Connect, 2012. This guide focuses on the Great Commission of evangelism.
About the Author
Greg Ogden (DMin, Fuller Theological Seminary) is the executive pastor of discipleship at Christ Church in Oak Brook, Illinois, and served previously as director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has more than twenty-four years of experience in pastoral ministry in churches in California and Pennsylvania.
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