A pathway to being disciple makers
In June 2024 the YBA/Biglife Discipleship Pathway came to a close, although the journey of being disciples who make disciples continues. Central to the Pathway year was an immersive visit to Biglife, a Disciple Making Ministry (DMM), in India.
Biglife is one of a number of movements with their roots in Asia, who have experienced rapid church growth over the past 20-30 years. In more recent years the Biblical principles on which these movements have been based are being returned to in other contexts across the world. This has been an important part of the YBA journey for the last five years with Biglife
For the YBA team, the Discipleship Pathway provided a unique opportunity to see the movement in action in India, and then to be continue to meet together, to learn from one another and to apply the lessons learnt into contexts back in Yorkshire.
In India, the team were struck by the focus on every believer passing on the Gospel message through personal story from one to another with boldness.
Nicola Mayer from Sheffield wrote: “This year has sharpened and increased my faith: India and its disciple-makers, as well as my fellow disciple makers in Yorkshire, have challenged me to have a clearer focus and a greater urgency to sharing Jesus and telling my story to whoever will listen to it. Time is running out!”
In addition, the team were struck by the simple approaches that drew people into growth as disciples around reading God’s word together, and being prompted to transformation and action as a result.
Reflecting on this and applying the principles in her own context, Jodie Thorpe from Dronfield wrote, “It’s been great to journey with others through the Discipleship Pathway, helping one another to process new experiences, to learn together, to support and cheer one another on and to share a simple model of reading scripture with people in very different cultures and settings.”
Jonathan Gray from Leeds summed the experience up as follows: “We have prayed together, learned together and grown together in our understanding and outworking of discipleship principles.” We look forwards to seeing how the group continue to apply the principles of disciple-making and encourage others to do the same.
If you want to know more about the partnership between Biglife and YBA and how you can benefit from it, then contact Peter Dunn on peter.dunn@yba.org.uk .
