Visit projetobonhoeffer.com for more information about upcoming cohorts!
Visite projetobonhoeffer.com para obter mais informações sobre as próximas coortes!
How can a person become a disciple-making leader?
DISCIPLES WHO MAKE DISCIPLES, WHO MAKE MORE DISCIPLES = A WORLDWIDE REVOLUTION!
Jesus' mission to the Church is to make disciples; we have all been called to this as disciples are agents of change and transformation in our communities. Our churches exist to form disciples, who make disciples who make more disciples.
Therefore, we are a training center for all those wishing to be part of The Bonhoeffer Project, whose mission is to transform the culture of the church into a disciple-making one.
Do you long to create a culture of disciple-making in your church? Do you want to equip leaders to be disciple-makers rather than program leaders? Do you really want a transformation in people's lives beyond just attending a Sunday service? This is not just another discipleship program.
Through face-to-face or online cohorts we, through The Bonhoeffer Project, want to challenge you to examine how to create opportunities on a daily basis for disciple-making and transformation of lives, churches and nations.
Rather than offering materials, we want to partner with you and work together for a year of learning and mentoring so that you can create a discipleship DNA in your faith community.
The Bonhoeffer Project has been designed to bring clarity to this process and assist each church in its mission of making disciples. Count on us!
The Bonhoeffer Project Brazil Story
By Jonathan Matthews, Lead Global Worker || Southern Cone Initiative || Converge
Eighteen months ago, my family and I moved to Southern Brazil to launch the Southern Cone Initiative. We define the Southern Cone as a geographic region in South America located east of the Andes Mountains and south of the Tropic of Capricorn that encompasses Argentina, Uruguay, and Southern Brazil, whose people are primarily of European descent and who are considered to be mostly least-reached.
As we moved, we were asking God for a Gospel Movement in every least-reached community in the Southern Cone in our generation. We characterize a Gospel Movement as the Spirit-led progression of gospel proclamation, disciple multiplication, community engagement, and church planting. This is the same progression that we see in Acts as the gospel of the Kingdom is proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our strategy was pretty simple. We aimed to Connect with ministry leaders in the region, Catalyze Gospel Movement identity and best practices through cohorts and intensives, and Coach these leaders through relational rhythms of Biblical accountability in new church plants. As a team, we wanted to see new churches planted and dying churches revitalized throughout the region, but we knew that we had to start with a healthy gospel that would produce Kingdom disciples.
Having lived and worked in Brazil for more than two decades, I was well aware of the distorted gospel prevalent in most churches. Those distorted gospels had produced distorted disciples who had, in turn, planted distorted churches that only replicated the same gospel. A course correction was necessary to see healthy churches planted throughout the region, and we knew we would have to address the core issue, the gospel. We developed a cohort framework, but we did not know how to design a functional cohort that would effectively address the gospel issue. We prayed, and in God’s providence, a friend directed us to The Bonhoeffer Project. I had read a few of Bill Hull’s books, but I had not heard of TBP. I visited the website, and I immediately knew that this was what we needed. I connected with Stephen Kimbrell over a zoom call to ask a few questions, and that set things in motion for us to launch our first TBP Brazil Cohort.
In July 2021, we launched our first TBP Brazil Cohort with 10 participants. This inaugural Cohort for Brazil is currently offered in English, but we aim to launch Portuguese Cohorts through key Brazilian leaders in April 2022. Over 30 Brazilian pastors have already filled out a preliminary interest form. Portuguese is spoken in Brazil, but it is also spoken in these nine countries: Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Macau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe. We have already identified key ministry leaders in some of these countries who are interested in joining a Portuguese Cohort in 2022. As we continue asking God for a Gospel Movement in every least-reached community in the Southern Cone in our generation, we are now also asking God for a Gospel Movement in every Portuguese-speaking country.
Jonathan Mathews lives in Criciúma, SC with his wife Erin and children, and serves as the Lead Global Worker for the Southern Cone Initiative through Converge.