2024 Disciple-Making Leaders (Foundational) Network
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The aim of the Disciple-Making Leaders Network: Foundational Track is for each participant to develop biblical convictions about leadership and disciple-making, so that by the end of the Forum they understand their calling as leaders to build relationships that help God’s people become mature. A key component of this Network will be small group interaction, discussion, and time set apart for Q&A throughout the four days of the Forum, which will help deepen participants’ learning. The Network will also include lectures on key biblical material and discussion of practical examples. Participants will be encouraged to develop practical strategies for becoming more effective in disciple-making.
Applicants should be those involved in Christian leadership (at any level) who desire to develop maturity in the members of the body of Christ and are willing to grapple honestly with their responsibility to make disciples. Prior preparation will be set for all applicants.
What Network Participants Are Saying
- "I am a pastor and many of the people in my church come from agnostic or Catholic backgrounds. They are first generation Christians and it takes time to disciple them and help them grow. The Forum is the highlight of the year for me. It is a time of spiritual refreshment and growth. God uses this week to work in me through the content of lectures and relationships with other participants. The Disciple-Making Leaders Network helps me to better understand and minister to those in my church."
- Adrian Strozek, Pastor, Poland - "This year has been difficult for me and being at the Forum has really been a blessing. Being encouraged by other brothers and sisters, learning so much about God, and being provided with the tools to study the Word and make disciples have all been so helpful for me. The Forum’s Disciple-Making Leaders Network has encouraged me to go back home and keep serving in the local church. It has also helped me make connections with people from all over the world that will last a lifetime."
- Alja Ravnik, Youth Leader, Slovenia
Applicants should be leaders who desire to develop maturity in the members of the body of Christ and are willing to grapple honestly with the responsibility to make disciples. This Track is designed for those who have NOT attended the European Leadership Forum Disciple-Making Leaders Network in previous years.
Network Leadership
Network Speakers
Amy Allert was born and raised in Austin, Texas, United States, before God called her and her family to serve abroad in Kenya, Germany, and currently, the UK. She has discipled leaders for over 30 years through local church university ministries, Cru, and most recently Via. She helps to lead her… Read more
Zala Cempre was born and raised in Slovenia. Currently, she lives in the capital, Ljubljana, where she serves as an overseer of children, youth and young adults ministry in her local church. On a national level, she leads a 2-year discipleship program for college students. Until last year, she… Read more
Terry English is a leadership and organisational development coach who seeks to help leaders to “love growing their organisations”. He currently lives in the Czech Republic and has equipped ministries and leaders across Central and Eastern Europe for the past 27 years. In his free time he… Read more
Stephen McQuoid grew up in Ethiopia where his parents were missionaries. He then lived in Ireland where he qualified as a nurse before going on to study theology, gaining a variety of degrees including an MTh and PhD in theology. He is the author of 16 books on subjects such as discipleship,… Read more
Maurice Nightingale is a member of the Relational Mission core team with responsibilities that include the supervision of early-stage church planting on the mainland of Europe, in particular training and coaching pioneer leaders and developing strategies for both initiating and supporting church… Read more
Dave Patty has been involved in training youth leaders and leading national and international youth movements in Europe for over 30 years. He serves as the president of Josiah Venture. He is also a founding member of Concentric, which mobilizes and equips youth ministry trainers in over 60… Read more
Emanuel Tundrea completed his PhD in software engineering at Polytechnic University of Timisoara, Romania, in conjunction with the University of Nice, France, and then he earned his MA in Pastoral Theology in Oradea. In 2001, he joined the staff at Emanuel University of Oradea where he is… Read more
Kristy Williams has 18 years of experience as a full-time missionary in the context of youth ministry and leadership training. She serves primarily in Ukraine, though her love for training leaders takes her to different places across Europe with her missionary organization, Josiah Venture.… Read more
Network Programme
Sunday, 26 May
Discipleship is not a new concept. Even though many churches do not yet give real focus to the discipleship process, discipleship itself is as old as Christianity. This is because Jesus made discipleship a central feature of His ministry. He took twelve men and poured His life into them so that they would be able to continue His ministry once Jesus had returned to be with His father. Given Jesus' commitment to discipleship, it is natural that we look to His example and try to emulate Him. In this session, we want to study His discipleship ministry, which is described for us in the Gospels. We will see why Jesus did discipleship, how He discipled the twelve, and we will explore the content of His discipleship curriculum. This will give us a firm biblical foundation for our disciple-making today as we learn from the Master.
Most leaders know that disciple-making is important, but when it comes the practical outworking it often gets a bit more complicated. What does disciple-making look like on a day-to-day basis, in the real-world pressures of ministry? What are the practical habits that turn theory into reality? At the end of Christ’s ministry, in his high priestly prayer recorded in John 17, Jesus reflects to his Father about seven things he repeatedly did with his disciples. How can we understand these seven habits of effective disciple-making? What could we do to build these habits into our lives and ministry?
Monday, 27 May
Our current socially distant context has created many challenges, but also provided us with new opportunities. This session will examine how we can continue to follow Jesus’ command to make disciples even when it is hard to meet in person. If Paul could do it from prison, we can for sure do it from the comfort of our homes!
The culture of the world is forever endeavouring to confuse or distort masculinity, either by diluting and weakening its distinctiveness at one extreme or by celebrating toxic domineering behaviour at the other extreme. Discipling men and bringing clarity and definition to the question of appropriate Biblical masculinity is an urgent priority in Christian leadership across Europe. In this session, we will begin to explore Biblical masculinity and how it ought to shape the way we disciple men.
*Note: This is a breakout session for male Network participants.
The disciple-making process is not a complicated one, but for the women we disciple, unique obstacles affect their engagement with the biblical mandate to become disciple-makers themselves. In this session, we will look at the barriers women face to faithfulness in discipleship, how we can help remove them, and, by God’s grace, recover discipleship as Jesus’ means for changing the world.
*Note: This is a breakout session for female Network participants.
Tuesday, 28 May
Today we live in a digital age where social networks, search engines, and internet browsers are harvesting information to build personal profiles for each one of us. Many companies are using profiling technology in ways that go far beyond what many of us could imagine. Yet, this is not something entirely new. Our enemy uses this same strategy in his spiritual war against us. He is profiling all our vulnerabilities and then using them to target us. This session explores this crucial topic as we seek to grow as resilient disciples and also embark in the ministry of making disciples of Jesus Christ. We will explore how Christ made disciples and how He—who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and knows best our spiritual profile—continues to be “the founder and perfecter of our faith.”
How we raise a future generation of disciple-making leaders is of urgent importance for the church in Europe today. Through this session, we will consider important principles for helping young people grow towards spiritual maturity as well as explore helpful practices for empowering young leaders.
Wednesday, 29 May
During the years of 13-25, most habits and life-choices are made, including the decision to become a follower of Christ. Studies show that 90% of professions of faith are made before the age of 21. Without youth ministry, there will be very few adults and families in the church in the years to come. So how can we be intentional in discipling this generation? What is important to know when we interact with them and what are some practical ways to disciple them? In this session questions like these will be addressed. We will also seek to understand best practices and mistakes that are made in discipling teens and young adults, enabling you to create a strong disciple-making relationship with young people.
We learned that there is no shortcut to maturity and there is no shortcut to mature leadership. All of us embark on life’s journey with a variety of backgrounds and experiences that affect the progress we make in our growth. All of us are led by God to make disciples in different contexts. One thing is sure: no matter how much we know, or what our spiritual, psychological, or emotional heritage might be, it takes time to mature and it takes perseverance in the long term to make disciples. In this last session we will explore:
- How can we continue to grow as disciple-makers?
- What are the next steps to springboard to fruitful ministry?
We plan to end by forming cohort groups to keep one another accountable to the plans we've made and to spur each other on throughout the year and then entrust each other in God’s providence in prayer.