Disciplemaking Mama

When Jesus sent out His disciples to proclaim His Kingdom He sent them "as sheep among wolves". He is still sending His disciples in the same way today. In this episode, we look at Jesus' promises OF persecution and FOR those who are experiencing persecution as they are His witnesses.

In a conversation that spans over a few episodes my husband Hanno and I   are looking at principles and practicalities around healing and   deliverance, sharing from the Gospel of Luke, the book of Acts and some   of our own experiences.

In a conversation that spans over a few episodes my husband Hanno and I  are looking at principles and practicalities around healing and  deliverance, sharing from the Gospel of Luke, the book of Acts and some  of our own experiences.

In a conversation that spans over a few episodes my husband Hanno and I  are looking at principles and practicalities around healing and  deliverance, sharing from the Gospel of Luke, the book of Acts and some  of our own experiences.

In a conversation that spans over a few episodes my husband Hanno and I are looking at principles and practicalities around healing and deliverance, sharing from the Gospel of Luke, the book of Acts and some of our own experiences.

Having been strongly influenced by Greek philosophy, both the Western church and Western society have split up and compartmentalized body and spirit, the natural and the supernatural, as well as sacred and secular spheres of life. This dualism is not Biblical thinking and often hinders us to be practical and fruitful disciplemakers.     

Jesus told us that we are the light of the world and that we should put our light on a stand. What can be "lamp stands" in your daily life that allow people to "see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven"? 

"What kind of baptism did you receive? Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" - In Acts 18 and 19, we see that the first Christians were not afraid to ask each other these questions. In today's episode I'm talking about what happened to the Ephesian believers in the Book of Acts - and to myself - when facing those questions.

The author and preacher John Bunyan was famously drawn to faith and repentance after overhearing a group of housewives "gossip" about the living word of God in their lives. How can we become like those women, that even our chit-chat will draw people to Jesus?  

Mama, do you feel hidden and unseen? Overwhelmed and underchallenged? Lonely but longing for a moment by yourself? I do. 

This is a chatty episode from my heart to yours

The topic of baptism often brings up a lot of questions. In this episode, Hanno and I discuss the most common (and most existential) ones.

A rather chatty episode in which I share principles and practicalities of how I try to create an integrated lifestyle of loving Jesus and sharing His reality with the people around me (and why we eat chicken and rice almost every Monday ;-))

How can we disciple people well considering that:

1. We are all called to obey the same Lord, the same Holy Spirit and  the  same Bible. There are no exceptions based on personality, history  or  circumstances.
2. We are all different.

It's  been a while since Disciplemaking Mama was on air and a lot has  happened in the meantime: we moved continents - twice! We had a baby.  And the world is still in the grips of a virus that triggers many  emotions. In this episode I share a brief life-update and some thoughts  on the times we're in.

In this episode we continue our journey through the book of Acts, looking at Paul and Barnabas' first mission journey and - as always - try to glean principles for our own evangelism.

Baptism was considered a vital part of becoming a Christian for the people we read about in the New Testament. In this episode, my husband and I are looking at some practical principles that we can glean from the accounts and descriptions in the Book of Acts and the epistles: who could be baptized, who did the baptizing, what was practically done, where and when did the baptisms happen - and what can we learn for today?

A fascinating interplay of godly intervention and human obedience had to happen in order for Cornelius and his household to hear and respond to the Gospel. In this episode, I share a few thoughts about how we can hear and discern God's voice and (as always when we look at an evangelism passage in the Book of Acts) what we need to voice in order for people to encounter the Truth of God. 

When we want to express that someone has become a Christian, we often say “He has come to faith.” Or: “She believes in Jesus.” But what does “faith” mean in the context of living with Jesus? What are practical aspects of faith and how can we grow in faith? Join us as my husband Hanno and I are exploring these questions in this episode.

After having looked at principles for sharing "our stories" with the people around us in order for them to draw closer to Jesus in the last episode, I am sharing "my story" with you in this episode, hoping that this is exactly what will happen: that you will grow in your faith in and love for Jesus as you listen to what he has done in my life. 

Each one of us has a story to tell of how we became followers of Jesus. But how do we tell it well? In this episode we are looking at biblical examples of people using their story to invite their listeners into an encounter with Jesus and try to glean some principles for our own story-telling.

In this last episode in our mini-series about DBS we are doing another practical Discovery Bible Study together, this time on Psalm 1. Books mentioned in this episode and heartily recommended: "Miraculous Movements" by Jerry Trousdale and "Dancing with my Heavenly Father" by Sally Clarkson.   

After learning about the method and theory of Discovery Bible Study last time, we are doing a DBS together in this episode! Let’s read Matthew 20:20-28 together and ask ourselves: What do we learn about God? What do we learn about people?What touches our hearts? How can we obey? And who can we tell?

In the last two episodes, we looked at the "big picture" of discipleship. In this episode, we'll get more practical and I am sharing a useful and simple discipleship tool with you: Discovery Bible Study. 

In the last episode, we learned that the Bible often compares discipleship to parenting. If that is so, what principles from parenting can we take to help us as we disciple younger believers?

What does "discipleship" actually mean and how do we do it? In this episode we are looking at the way Jesus engaged with His disciples and glean principles from that for our own disciplemaking.

"Love God, love people.", that's how Jesus summarized God's expectations of His people. A short but heartfelt episode that also features my kids, the wind and some traffic noise ;-) 

All of us are made to be imagers of God and as Christians, we are furthermore commanded to be ambassadors of Christ. But we are all made uniquely and our lives' circumstances differ. In this episode I am sharing some thoughts on how we can each find our unique expression of obedience to God. 

Join my husband and me as we unpack "repentance": where in the Bible do we read about it, what does it mean, is it necessary for a restored relationship with God, how do we practically do it and how do we guide and counsel others to do it?

Looking at some excerpts of a book that I am reading at the moment I am discussing obedience to Jesus as a must-have characteristic of any citizen of His Kingdom. 

In this episode, I am looking at Acts 3:1 - Acts 4:4, trying to identify principles in sharing the Gospel that we can apply in any context. Besides that, I am sharing about the day that a lame man was healed in Jerusalem, and of the day a lame man was healed in Japan.  

Revisiting the principle of "Broad Sowing" that we talked about in a previous episode, I talk about stories as a powerful "seed" that we can scatter as we share about Jesus. In this episode, my husband and I tell some of our stories of how we have experienced God's character and reality in our own lives.

In this episode, we look at the context and content of Peter sharing the Gospel in Acts 2, starting to look at lessons we can learn from him for our own Gospel-sharing. 

Experience how I usually share the Gospel as you listen to this episode! :-)

In this episode we look at ways that can make us more aware of the people who need Jesus around us, discuss practical ways that can help us to pray for them with faith and dedication, and explore how we can "store up good things in our hearts" - so that "our hearts will overflow of what our hearts are full of". 

Depending on your personality, culture and experience, you might actually feel rather uncomfortable with sharing the Gospel. In this episode, I look at some misconceptions that might keep us from sharing the Gospel and discuss Jesus' parable of the sower (or the soils) in light of what it can teach us about evangelism.

Jesus told us to go and make disciples of all nations. How do we do that when we have little ones? And how can we start seeing motherhood as a great opportunity to obey Jesus' Great Commission? In this episode, we'll start exploring these questions together!

In this episode I am sharing how God took me from a part-time mentality in motherhood and ministry, to a wholehearted lifestyle of making disciples inside and outside of my home.