Discipleship Lab - Serge :: Grace at the Fray

Enrollment in Spring Cohorts Opens November 1st!Register Now

You’ve been changed by the gospel. And you want to share that transforming experience with others.

Serge’s Discipleship Lab is a 6 month, interactive, video-based, group training program that helps you gain the core theological understanding and practical discipling skills you need to help others live out the gospel in their lives.

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Whether you want to sharpen your discipling skills or learn how to train others in gospel-based discipling, Serge Discipleship Lab will help you:

✓ Clarify key gospel-centered theological concepts that often stay in our heads and not our hearts.

✓ Refine your discipleship posture in order to create a healthy discipling relationships

✓ Find new ways to help people see the reality of their sin and Jesus’ love for them without coming off as condemning or judgmental

✓ Gain insight from other’s real-life discipling relationships

✓ Make disciples that are so transformed by their daily relationship with Jesus that they joyfully reach out to love and serve others, particularly those who don’t yet know Jesus.

What Others Are Saying

Discipleship Lab is a great way to find and work through heart issues in the bright light of the Gospel. Don’t expect a list of rules, but look for fruit of the Spirit growing in bunches from you and the people you’re discipling.

Jim Richie, Missionary in Kenya with World Gospel Mission

There are a lot of discipleship training programs, but yours is uniquely Gospel-based, Gospel-centered. In my own experience, Discipleship Lab has been very good for my ministry, and personally for my own renewal.

Gary Watanabe, Redeemer City to City/ Mission to the World Church Planting Coach

How this Course is Different?

Experiential Training

The richness of this training, we believe, is really provided by the group experience of applying the material to our current ministry contexts and discipling relationships. We encourage you to be discipling others while you’re in the midst of training so you can immediately put into practice what you’re learning.

Dedicated Coaches To Guide You

In Discipleship Lab, you won’t be on your own. Dedicated, experienced Serge coaches with over 20 years of experience in cross-cultural discipleship will answer your questions and challenge you to stretch further.

You Keep the Course Materials

We desire for Discipleship Lab to not only help you disciple others, but to equip you to train others in the art of gospel-centered discipling. That’s why we make our teaching outlines available to you to train others in your own church or ministry context.

DISCIPLESHIP LAB SPRING COHORTS BEGIN LATE JANUARY 2020

Discipleship Lab is an in-depth course that is an investment in your long term ministry goals.

Over the course of 6 months, you will meet every other week with an online group and 2 dedicated Serge coaches. We ask that you read through the lesson outlines and work through the application exercises before each session.

Your investment for the course is $1000.

This subsidized fee covers the cost of our coaches time and enables us to keep this program running.

How to get started:

Sign up using the Discipleship Lab Registration form.
Find out the schedule. A member of our Discipler Training team will reach out to you with the schedule of the course in December.
Submit payment. In that same email, you will get a link with a password to pay for the course. We accept all major credit cards.

If you have any questions about this process, you can write us at grow@serge.org.

WHAT’S INSIDE THE COURSE?

Each lesson helps clarify key gospel-centered theological concepts that often stay in our heads and not our hearts. And provides a practical discipling skill to help you foster deeper gospel relationships.

These lessons include –

- - - Lesson 1: How to set a gospel-centered discipling foundation
    - Lesson 2: How to help others find the root causes behind their sin
    - Lesson 3: How to draw people out with good listening
    - Lesson 4: How to ask bold questions that help people engage their hearts
    - Lesson 5: How to help others stay rooted in their adoption with Christ
    - Lesson 6: How to help others cultivate a lifestyle of repentance
    - Lesson 7: How to help others see the height and depth of God’s love for them
    - Lesson 8: How to help others rest in the power of the Holy Spirit
    - Lesson 9: How the gospel compels us outward into love and obedience
    - Lesson 10: How to help others forgive more deeply
    - Lesson 11: How the gospel moves us beyond ourselves
    - Lesson 12: How to avoid common traps in discipling others

To sum it up, Discipleship Lab provides a rich context to both hone your discipling abilities and benefit from immediate practical application of the material to your real-life discipling relationships.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does it work?

Discipleship Lab takes place through live, online, group training sessions. Serge staff will facilitate the conversation and provide key insights for the discussion, but the group learns from each other and everyone contributes. You will have already worked through content online prior to the cohort meeting, and so much of the conversation will be centered around case studies that each member of the group will present, as you all seek to apply what you’re learning to real-life situations. You’ll get to know one another and build a sense of community as you pray for one another and think together about important things.

How is Discipleship Lab different from other discipleship courses?

1. A combination of solid Biblical theology (Core Gospel Concepts–for instance a consideration of sin, faith, and the Holy Spirit) and practical coaching in discipling skills (for instance listening well, and asking good questions).
2. Collaborative learning in community. We learn as we listen to a variety of voices, and as each of us contributes to the conversation.
3. A grounding in the gospel of grace. Our goal in building disciples is not that they would try harder to be different on an external level. It’s rather that they would grow deeply in knowing God’s love for them, and the resources available to them in Christ, so that they may be changed from the inside out as the Holy Spirit delivers the gospel to their hearts.

Who is it for?

Men and women who want to help others grow as followers of Jesus, and who are currently involved with others toward that goal. Cohorts may include Serge workers serving overseas, overseas workers from other agencies, local church leaders outside the US, and others serving in a variety of ways within the US–as pastors, elders, church planters, those involved in student ministry or women’s ministry, “professionals” as well as “ordinary Christians,” veterans and those new to ministry. We consider the diversity of participants to be a great asset, and value each voice in the conversation.

Who are the trainers?

The trainers are staff members of the Serge Renewal Team, a small group of men and women with extensive ministry and life experience. Some have been pastors; all have advanced theological degrees. We have collectively mentored hundreds of people through Sonship and have taught and trained all over the world, and have a unique perspective that comes from having worked with people across cultures, different stages of life, and from many different backgrounds.

How much of a time investment will I need to make?

There are 12 sessions, and for each you’ll want to budget three or four hours of time for reading, writing, and reflection. Your cohort will meet for a two-hour round table discussion via video conference every two or three weeks (we’ll give you the schedule up front) over the course of six months.

Are there any prerequisites to Discipleship Lab?

No. Given the not-insignificant investment of time and energy that DL requires, most participants are people who have already used other Serge resources and found them valuable. Some have completed Mentored Sonship, and now desire to grow so that they can lead others through that program–but many others have only been exposed to small group resources such as The Gospel-Centered Life, and their ministry context is informal. Anyone is welcome, regardless of prior experience, and the principles you’ll be trained in have wide application.

What if I live outside the USA

If you have a reliable internet connection, you can participate in this course. We’ll work to set meeting times for an international learning community who live in many different time zones. If you’re unsure about time differences, go ahead and register—there’s no obligation—and we’ll do our best to find a cohort that will work for you.

What if I can’t make every cohort meeting?

Sometimes you can’t – over the course of six months most folks will miss at some point. Because nurturing community is part of the goal, we don’t allow participants to attend a different cohort’s meeting. If you have to miss multiple meetings, you may want to postpone participation for a future date.

How often does Discipleship Lab happen?

We have two start times every year. Fall cohorts begin in September and usually conclude by the end of March. Spring cohorts begin in late January and conclude by the end of June. Exact dates depend on the cohort.

Is this the same thing as ‘Discipler Training?’

Yes. We recently changed the name of this course from Discipler Training to Discipleship Lab because we wanted to highlight one of the most important aspects of the course – the group experience and immediate, practical application of the material to real, live discipling relationships.

Why do we charge for Discipleship Lab?

Discipleship Lab is an intensive training program led by 2 coaches with over 20 years of discipleship experience. We do not profit from any fees invested in this course, but instead all fees cover our coaches time and allows us to continue to provide this program.
If you are actively discipling others, we highly believe this course is a valuable investment in your long-term ministry goals.

Are scholarships available?

Not commonly. Our trainers are missionaries who raise their own support to work with Serge. We only charge what is needed to continue to offer this type of training at a high level. But sometimes we’re able to help. You can write to Marc Davis, Global Learning Program Leader, to inquire: mailto:mdavis@serge.org.

Sign Up for Discipleship Lab's Spring CohortSign Up Now

What others are saying

“We found Discipleship Lab equally applicable to formal discipling and informal times that happen over coffee or with a neighbor. It would benefit anyone who is willing to risk going deep with others to help them go deeper with Jesus.

Tom Gilliam, Serge Team Leader, Dublin, Ireland

“Discipleship Lab helped me remember the God given abilities within me and learn the art of staying curious as I am in relationship with others! I loved being in a group with so many perspectives of context, culture, and locations!“

– Former Serge Missionary