Quotes About Growth

There's usually no need to lecture or punish. It's much more effective to just let people feel the natural consequences of their choices.

It means that we work on our side of the relationship, no matter what happens on the other side. We don't change them; we change ourselves.

But the closer we become, the more the relationship will be challenged. Like a river overflowing its banks and moving in new directions, people are unpredictable. When someone we know goes against our expectations, we're uncomfortable and we want to move things back to our set point.

The deeper an introvert's relationship with God is and the more it grows, the greater the impact he or she will have on others.

The American laughed and scoffed at him. He said, "You know, I have an MBA from Stanford, and I can help you. You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds you could buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, and eventually you'd have a fleet of fishing boats, and then instead of selling your catch to that middleman over there, you could sell directly to the processor,

eventually opening your own cannery. You could control the product; you could control the market. You could control all the processing and distribution. And then, of course, you'd need to leave this little fishing village and move to Mexico City. Then you'd move to LA and eventually New York City, where you would run an expanding enterprise." The Mexican fisherman said, "But, Señor, how long will this take?

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, Chip and Dan Heath use

We will all be far better spouses, parents, and leaders as we take time to grow in prayer.

If we have the Word without the Spirit, we dry up. If we have the Spirit without the Word, we blow up. But if we have the Word and the Spirit, we grow up.

If we have the Word without the Spirit, we dry up. If we have the Spirit without the Word, we blow up. But if we have the Word and the Spirit, we grow up." In this way we can walk together in the fresh move of the Holy Spirit.

If you make disciples, you always get the church. But if you make a church, you rarely get disciples.

JESUS CREATED A HIGHLY SUPPORTIVE BUT HIGHLY CHALLENGING CULTURE.

Here's the thing that can be difficult to wrap our minds around: If you make disciples, you always get the church. But if you make a church, you rarely get disciples.

If you are being discipled by a rabbi, you certainly want to know what the rabbi knows. But the actual goal of being a disciple is to become who the rabbi is. Not just to know what he knows, but to become like him.

Every disciple disciples. You can't be a disciple if you aren't willing to invest in and disciple others.

Most of us have become quite good at the church thing. And yet, disciples are the only thing that Jesus cares about, and it's the only number that Jesus is counting.

If we are going to build a culture of discipleship, we will have to learn to balance invitation and challenge appropriately.

When disciples are in stage three, the concept that sets them free is "God is in charge." They have to acknowledge grace and begin to work it into their lifestyle. This is not easy for most of us, but it is the one thing that will move us on to growth and maturity.

So while many churches say, "We do discipleship in our small groups," the fact of the matter is that their small groups are missing one of the main ingredients of a discipling culture: Challenge.

Effective discipleship builds the church, not the other way around. We need to understand the church as the effect of discipleship and not the cause. If

Fundamentally, effective leadership is based upon an invitation to relationship and a challenge to change. A gifted discipler is someone who invites people into a covenantal relationship with him or her, but challenges that person to live into his or her true identity in very direct yet graceful ways. Without both dynamics working together, you will not see people grow into the people God has created them to be.

one creates a discipling culture, modeled on the life and ministry of Jesus, by accident. No one accidentally creates disciples. Discipleship is an intentional pursuit.

The message was clear: to be a disciple meant that you learn how to make disciples — an ever-multiplying movement meant to bless the whole world.

The problem is that we don't have a "missional" problem or a leadership problem in the Western church. We have a discipleship problem.