Jim Putman > Quotes

“Inspired by Jesus (literally), we seek to love people and tell them what we have found in him.”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“You see, the pastor is not making disciples who follow him; he is making disciples who follow Jesus.”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship Training Manual: Equipping Disciples Who Make Disciples

“Some believers are more interested in their rights as outlined in the Constitution than in giving up their rights as Jesus did so that people can be saved.”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples

“Leaders need to see the people they serve as their peers — unless they don’t really believe in the priesthood of all believers! Following Christ’s example, they choose to meet with a group of ordinary men and be real with them.”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“An evangelism pastor would write something like, “The purpose of the church is to reach our community for the glory of God so we can make disciples.”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“When we spend time with Jesus-when His Holy Spirit resides in us-we cannot help but care about what He cares about.”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples

“Relationships create a bridge over which the Word of God can travel and be heard and received.”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“discipleship meant “do what I do; go where I go.”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“When I asked him where he was going to church, he answered, "Nowhere really."
When I asked him why not, he said he was tired of the organized church. He was unconnected, searching, disillusioned. Like many I have talked with, this believer loved Jesus and the Word, but he had lost faith in what he called organized religion. He longed for relationships and purpose inside of a local body of believers who valued biblical theology, but he had lost faith that such a church was possible to find. Oh, he had started his ministry journey as so many believers do: idealistic, full of zeal and confidence. God was going to change the world through him and through the church he would help to lead.
Then he accepted a leadership position in a church.”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples

“disciples but”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“It's the job and privilege of every Christian to be a disciple of Jesus, and it's the responsibility of every church to make disciples. I also believe that the Word tells us that it is the job of every pastor to develop a system that will equip and enable all of the people in the church to be in the relational process for discipleship. The simpler, more deliberate, and more intentional that process, the less time wasted.”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples

“As a group, Christians are known more for what we are against than for our love.”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples

“But attendance, busyness, construction, finances, and programs are not real indications of success. The core question of effectiveness — the question that ultimately matters — is whether the people who are getting saved are being conformed to the likeness of Christ. Are we making mature disciples of Jesus who are not only able to withstand the culture but are also making disciples of Jesus themselves?”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“The vision is that the church’s primary mission is to create disciples who create other disciples, just as Jesus intended us to do. It’s helping people see that the church isn’t a social club, it’s not a hospital, it’s not a university, and it’s not a big show. The church is a community that is developing people who follow Jesus, are changed by Jesus, and then join Jesus on his mission.”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“The Word of God, along with the Spirit of God and the people of God, are the three primary components in affecting life change.”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“So that’s how I chose to enter pastoral ministry. Flawed, real, broken, and genuine. I thought, I can try to be perfect and polished, but that’s never going to happen. Or I can enter ministry with authenticity — forgiven by God, continually cleansed from sin, and a model of growth, not perfection”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“The New Testament church was all about being and making disciples of Jesus.”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“Eastern philosophy permeates our society and has invaded every part of our thinking. The new American religion is one of no wrongs and everyone going to heaven. It is a hodge-podge of multiple religions, with the main objective being self-fulfillment and satisfaction. The Christian world has incorporated many of the doctrines of these religions without even knowing it. God’s winning team was supposed to reach the world. Instead, the world is reaching us.”
― Jim Putman, Church Is a Team Sport: A Championship Strategy for Doing Ministry Together

“He was going to teach them and empower them to be like
Himself. Jesus was going to address their beliefs (head), their attitudes (heart or character), and actions (hands) as He shaped them into messengers who would deliver the good news to the world.”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples

“Most people are not auditory learners and struggle to keep focused for any period of time, especially now in the era of the short attention span.”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples

“If we want to create a church truly committed to discipleship, every assumption about church needs to be filtered and reevaluated through the lens of the Scriptures and especially Jesus’ methods for doing discipleship and church.”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“The wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere" (3:17).”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples

“biblical leadership begins with who we are and our walk with God.”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“We live and learn in a literate world, but much of the rest of the world lives and learns in an oral world. Do people have to become literate to become followers of Jesus?”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples

“A bad church is like an inoculation. To inoculate someone is to give them a small dose of a disease you don’t want them to get. The body then develops antibodies so it can fight off the disease—the real thing. When people get a small dose of Christianity that doesn’t accurately represent the real thing, then they think they know what the real thing is, but they actually don”
― Jim Putman, Church Is a Team Sport: A Championship Strategy for Doing Ministry Together

“Humble people thrive in a team setting. A proud person will kill the team most every time.”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples

“This comes with the humble recognition that we will never be perfect this side of heaven, yet we also recognize that the Holy Spirit is doing his work and increasing spiritual fruit in our lives. If we model this for the church, then people who struggle on the path of discipleship will have a new model for growing in godliness. This is one reason why God, in his Book, gives us flawed, broken characters. The Bible is filled with the failures and sins of men and women, but those are the very people God saves and uses for his purposes. This should give us hope that he can use us as well.”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“Theology rarely causes church splits; breaks in relationships always play the biggest part in internal battles.”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples

“But attendance, busyness, construction, finances, and programs are not real indications of success. The core question of effectiveness — the question that ultimately matters — is whether the people who are getting saved are being conformed to the likeness of Christ. Are we making mature disciples of Jesus who are not only able to withstand the culture but are also making disciples of Jesus themselves? Let’s look at some research.”
― Jim Putman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples

“It’s the job and privilege of every Christian to be a disciple of Jesus, and it’s the responsibility of every church to make disciples.”
― Jim Putman, Real-Life Discipleship: Building Churches That Make Disciples