The Power of Connection: Building a Thriving Church Community (Includes Small Group Study Guide)

In our fast-paced, individualistic world, it’s easy to lose sight of the importance of genuine connection within our faith communities. Yet, the heart of Christianity beats strongest when believers are truly connected – to God, to each other, and to their purpose. This interconnectedness is not just a nice-to-have; it’s essential for spiritual growth and…

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God Speaks: Are We Listening?

So how can we know what God’s will for us is in our everyday lives? How do we make decisions that align with His purposes? The key lies in us recognizing and understanding how God communicates with us. God speaks through the Holy Spirit, using four primary channels: the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church.

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Peace in Chaos

Finding True Peace in a World At War: It StartsWith You

“Discover the paradoxical journey to true peace in ‘The Paradox of Peace: Finding True Harmony in a Chaotic World.’ Explore how internal transformation, spiritual humility, and divine wisdom can help you become a peacemaker. Learn to navigate life’s challenges with compassion, grace, and a profound sense of purpose, and uncover the deeper truths that lead to lasting harmony in a world filled with discord.”

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The 5 Stages of Small Group Development

It is not surprising that first-time leaders will often experience feelings of nervousness and fear when stepping up to lead a group. Even when you feel like you have some tools to navigate this new role, understanding the next steps for your group can be challenging and feel like a journey into the unknown. In…

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The Three Buckets: Separating Personal Preference from Essential Doctrine

  When it comes to Christianity, there have been various issues that have sparked debate and disagreement throughout history. At Real Life Ministries, we divide these issues into three categories: salvation, unity and peace essentials, and preferences. The first category focuses on the core beliefs necessary for salvation. These are the beliefs that someone must…

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The Power of Head, Heart, and Hands: A Leader’s Guide to Utilizing them in Discipleship

What is a Disciple? When it comes to Discipleship – we try to empower our leaders with tools that they can utilize as they are both living out and teaching others along their journey. One of these tools is our powerful Head, Heart, and Hands analogy. Here is where that comes from: At Real Life…

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Impact of Church discipleship in the home

The Impact of Church Discipleship in the Home

How do you measure the impact your Church’s discipleship culture having in the homes of your people? Church leaders usually have ways to discover if the discipleship culture they’re trying to promote is actually happening throughout the church. But how can we know the impact of church discipleship in the home? For instance, how can…

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The Disciple’s Journey – with Jim Putman

  I am excited to share with you a new workbook put together by myself and our Real Life Ministries Team.  For many years leaders who have gone through our Real Life Discipleship Manual have asked us if we had something with a similar format that was for everyone, not just leaders. This is that…

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Who are you cover 3

You are a disciple

You are called to be a disciple. Let me start you off with making it clear that if you have truly accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord, you are a disciple.  A disciple has not only been drawn to Jesus, they have also accepted the invitation. If God drew you then He has a purpose…

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The Revolutionary Disciple – Shifting the Paradigm on Discipleship by Jim Putman

  The work of studying Scripture and really looking at what God’s word has to say about discipleship has been the journey of my life. It’s what I care most about – it also leads into everything that Real Life Ministries is as a church, from our programs and leaders to our staff and our…

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Hardwired For Relationship

In 2003 the Commission on Children at Risk published a study called Hardwired to Connect: The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities. The commission, made up of doctors, research scientists, and youth service professionals, described “recent scientific findings suggesting that children are biologically ‘hardwired’ for enduring attachments to other people and for moral and spiritual…

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The Bonhoeffer Show – Bill Hull Interview with Jim Putman – Podcast

Bill Hull, host of The Bonhoeffer Show Podcast, interviews Jim Putman about his story – and how a National championship wrestler who had turned his back on God, became a world wide disciple making leader- “The Bonhoeffer Show is a no holds barred interaction around religion, culture and politics. The shows purpose is to call…

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A Beginners Guide For How To Study The Bible (Plus Small Group Study!)

I am often asked about the tools I use for discipleship, and our church has been working on putting together a library of some free downloadable discipleship resources on our website. As many of you know, my Dad was my main disciple maker and  extremely instrumental in bringing me from  atheism to belief in God. My…

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Do You Have The Kind Of Discipleship That Stands Through The Storm?

I find that people who often have the hardest time becoming relational are those who have been in church a long time. If you ask personal questions, they don’t want to talk. They will often point to the Bible and say, “This is all we need for spiritual growth. Read it. Study it. Learn it.”…

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When it Comes to Discipleship – Small Groups are the Vehicle, not the Destination

As a senior pastor of Real Life Ministries and a board member with the Relational Discipleship Network, I am passionate about the importance of a relational environment to making disciples of Jesus. Small Groups are one such relational environment that works well when trying to create a culture of disciple making in your church. Because…

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Focus on the Family – Hope for the Prodigal with Jim and Bill Putman Part 2

On part two of this Focus on the Family podcast, Pastor Jim Putman and his dad Pastor Bill Putman, representing three generations of prodigals, candidly discuss the difficult challenges they and their families have experienced, and offer practical advice and encouragement to families with prodigals. You can watch the video of this podcast by clicking…

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Focus on the Family – Hope for the Prodigal with Jim and Bill Putman Part 1

On part one of this Focus on the Family podcast, Pastor Jim Putman and his dad Pastor Bill Putman, representing three generations of prodigals, candidly discuss the difficult challenges they and their families have experienced, and offer practical advice and encouragement to families with prodigals. You can watch the video of this podcast by clicking…

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Why They Left Our Small Group…

  Some good friends just left our small group. And they aren’t coming back. It’s been a little over six months since we invited them. Over that time we have had them in our home, barbecued together, and vacationed together. We celebrated together and walked through difficult situations together — taking our turns at both…

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How Can You Determine When Your Disciple Is Ready To Leave The Nest?

When we talk about the 5 different stages of spiritual growth in a disciple as found in the Discipleship Wheel, we use terms that correlate with basic physical stages of growth. The 5 stages are Dead – Infant – Child – Young Adult – Parent. When we are looking at spiritual growth, the difference between…

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Be Careful You Don’t Overlook The Value Of The Ordinary In Discipleship

Jesus modeled relationship by being with His disciples. Being an intentional and relational leader means making time to spend with those you are discipling. Disciple Makers are more likely to accurately evaluate their disciples growth stages and aptitude if they spend time together. If Jesus had interacted with His disciples only once a week for…

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You Need The Kind Of Accountability You Can Sink Your Teeth Into

The word accountability has been subtly stolen from us by our enemy. He’s happy to distort accountability by either of two errors. Many call their small groups “accountability groups”, but all they do is share their struggles. They don’t do anything to help one another change, usually because they don’t know how and they don’t…

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How Does Discipleship Work In A Digital World?

This weeks podcast features Real Life Ministries new Online Campus Pastor, Patrick Annotti. Patrick and Lance are discussing the topic of Discipleship and how it integrates with the digital world we find ourselves in. Some of the things they cover in this episode include: What are some of the reasons people might attend church online?…

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Are You Using These 2 Rules For Conflict Resolution In Your Discipleship Small Group?

What comes to mind when you hear the term Conflict Resolution? Are you someone that runs away from conflict? Or are you the kind that runs head-first towards it? I personally have tended to do the latter – (And by the way, neither of those options is the best choice) You have heard me say…

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Are You Using This Teaching Method? 4 Invitations Jesus Gave His Disciples

We often think of teaching as something that is accomplished through words alone, but the truth is, sometimes the best teaching happens through a combination of words and actions. Even in formal education, much of the training includes both classroom  and practicum (lab) sessions. And it turns out that is an excellent way to ensure…

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Too Many People Stumble Over The Simplicity of Discipleship – Are You One Of Them?

Too many believers think they need a special kind of qualification or training when it comes to making disciples. We have a saying around here – “Discipleship is simple, it’s just not easy.” You have heard me talk before about the model and method of discipleship that Jesus gave us in the gospels. We call…

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Here Are 4 Reasons Small Groups Are A Vital Component Of Discipleship

Jesus was the greatest disciple maker in history. After just three years spent with 12 men – he commissioned them (and us) to go out and make disciples, and from that beginning the Good News was spread throughout the world. We have a record of those three years in the 4 gospels and the book…

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3 Key Components Of An Effective Discipleship Small Group

The best vehicle for discipleship is relationship. And a small group is a great environment where relationship can take place. But it can’t be just any small group. Your soccer team getting together may be a small group, but the group is not aiming for the purpose of encouraging discipleship. There are a few intentional…

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Which Of These 5 Levels Of Intentional Listening Do You Use Most Often?

One of the aspects of relational discipleship is spending time with the person you are discipling outside the formal church or classroom settings. This gives you a chance to discuss things that might not come up in a small group/bible study environment. And quite often these discussions can give you tremendous insight into the spiritual…

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The Biggest Indicator Of Spiritual Maturity Might Not Be The Thing You Are Looking For

Do you ever find yourself trying to determine where the people you are discipling are in their Spiritual maturity level?  Often people try to get a sense of someones Spiritual maturity by looking at things like church attendance or Bible knowledge. These outward signs, however, don’t always indicate an inward heart change. Now I am not saying those things don’t play a part – but…

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The Process Of Disciple Making – The Discipleship Wheel (Free Resource!)

Great coaches create winning teams because they have an intentional and reproducible system. Through this process, they not only create winning teams, they create players that become great people that go on to become successful leaders themselves. Jesus was a masterful coach. His apostles knew how to make disciples themselves because of what He had done intentionally and…

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If My Dad Hadn’t Steered Me Towards These Resources, I’d Have A Different Testimony Today.

Why Believe (Free Resource) I started as a pastor’s son in a Christian home. My parents were sincere, faithful followers of Jesus, but because sin entered into my life at a very young age, guilt and shame isolated me from them and from God. When I went to college, the professors taught me that there was…

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If You Want To Lead Like Jesus, You Had Better Adjust To Accommodate The Growth Level Of Your Disciple

A good disciple maker or leader does not allow his lesson or training to be limited  to a once a week study or a classroom. He does not need to attempt to execute the perfect lesson plan by trying to control every possible distraction. Jesus was flexible – Jesus met people where they were, on their…

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Are You Missing These 12 Effective Small Group Discussion Guidelines? FREE Download!

(Be sure you scroll to the bottom to download your free pdf Guidelines CHART) Do you find that you have a hard time getting people to connect in your small group system?  Or are you a church launching small groups, and you’d like to set up for success? Either way, getting people to connect and develop relationships with each other, outside of a…

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The Church Today Needs To Make The Shift From Program To Purpose When It Comes To Discipleship

When Jesus said to go and make disciples, he defined his methodology by his own example. Jesus’s methods were more involved than just standing up in front of people and teaching them biblical truth. He walked alongside people – holding conversations with them through the course of the day. He held them accountable and demonstrated…

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Biblical Storying – An Easy Way To Utilize The Bible As Your Small Group Curriculum + FREE Curriculum Download

Bible Study Curriculum is simply a tool in the hands of a disciple maker. No curriculum itself is going to make disciples. There is a Discipling Method, however, that makes an excellent curriculum. It is something we have used off and on quite successfully at Real Life Ministries, both in our Church’s Small Groups and…

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Creating An Ideal Home That Your Prodigal Will Find Hard To Leave, But Easy To Come Back To

What does an ideal home, one that is hard to leave but easy to come back to, look like? This type of home will have love and relationship, boundaries for our own good, and respect for all. It would be a home where people are loved no matter what, and there are restoring conversations, grace, and…

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Your Core Values Have The Power to Influence The Quality Of Your Life: For Better or Worse

Core values are the fundamental beliefs of a person or organization. These guiding principles dictate behavior and can help people understand the difference between right and wrong. Core values also help companies to determine if they are on the right path and fulfilling their goals by creating an unwavering guide. The core values that you hold have the…

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