Vision, mission, purpose & beliefs
Vision
To see every Christ-follower formed, conformed and transformed in the image of Jesus. We are passionate about Jesus and His command to make disciples. We carry out this purpose by producing and providing free biblical discipleship resources aimed at encouraging and equipping Christ-followers around the world.
Mission
Make disciples.
What Is Core Discipleship?
We provide all of our discipleship resources free online. We do so based on what the Apostle Paul said,
What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge… that I might win more of them (1 Corinthians 9:18-19).
We believe that for a church to be the kind of church Jesus promised to build, the church must be committed to the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, and the four biblical essentials found in Acts 2:42: teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. Everything we do in church or ministry should have discipleship as the ultimate core goal.
Core can be integrated by any believer, church, or ministry anytime, anywhere. Core Discipleship is modeled after Jesus' inner core relationship with Peter, James, and John - the same model used by Wesley.
How Jesus Made Disciple
Jesus made disciples by selecting a few into whom He devoted His life - He purposely invested His ministry with just a few everyday, normal people. We must realize that disciples cannot be mass produced. Much like parenting, discipling is a personal relationship where we intentionally walk alongside a few others in order to encourage, correct, and challenge them in love to grow in Christ-likeness.
What does a Core Group look like
A Core Group is made up of 3 and no more than 4 believers of the same gender who meet weekly for an extended time to grow in relationship with God and each other. In a Core Group, each person sincerely and intentionally desires to be formed, conformed, and transformed by both hearing and doing God's Word (knowledge), growing in Christ-likeness (character), and as a result, a transformed life (conduct). The Bible is absolutely essential (Acts 2:42; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Heb. 4:12) and the group facilitated by - but never dominated by - a more spiritually-mature believer (2 Tim. 2:2). Core Groups embrace an environment where life-transformation and multiplication can be greatly accelerated (Gal. 4:19; Rom. 12:1-2; Eph. 4:11-16). More about the CORE Process.
In addition to overseeing Core, Doug directs communications for one of the nation's leading children's discipleship publishers. Suzie is a work-at-home mom and oversees our book distribution.
Since 1994, our little ministry has provided more than 300,000 free eBooks to churches, ministries, individuals, schools and prison ministries around the world. We are honored to be a small part of Jesus' Great Commission.
About Doug & Suzie
Doug accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in 1971. Suzie accepted Jesus into her life in 1973. They met while attending Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, were married in 1984 and have three children: Katheryn, Hannah and Nate.
May our Lord Jesus bless you as you purpose to fulfill the Great Commandment and Great Commission.
Also, please feel free to use the terms Core Discipleship, Core Groups, or C3 Discipleship - many have done so since we first launched and we think it perfectly describes the purpose and process.
Core Beliefs
•The Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God.
•We acknowledge the Creator - God as our heavenly Father, infinitely perfect, and intimately acquainted with all our ways.
•We claim Jesus Christ as Lord - the very God who came in human flesh - the object of our worship and the subject of our praise.
•We recognize the Holy Spirit as the third member of the Godhead, unceasingly at work convicting, convincing, and comforting.
•That Adam's fall into sin left humanity without the hope of heaven apart from a new birth, made possible by the Savior's death and bodily resurrection.
•The offer of salvation is God's love-gift to all. Those who accept it by faith, apart from works, become new creatures in Christ.
•That anyone who trusts in Christ by faith is a new creation in Him - clothed in His righteousness and fully loved and accepted by God.
•That God expects our lives to reflect that we belong to Him and that we are pursuing a holy life.
•That Satan, under the sovereign permission of God, tries to destroy the faith of believers and that drawing near to God is the only way to resist him.
•That as new creations in Christ we will continue to wrestle with our sin nature. We will, however, continue to grow in grace and become more like Jesus. Ultimate perfection and freedom from sin, however, will only come when we finally stand in the presence of the Lord.
•That, as believers in Jesus Christ, we are members of His universal church and that the local church is the place God has designed for His people to worship Him, observe the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Table, and love other Christians.
•That, having embraced Jesus Christ by faith, we are to make Him known to non-Christians in our sphere of influence.
•We anticipate our Lord's promised return in power and glory.
•That all who have died will be brought back from beyond - believers to everlasting communion with God and unbelievers to everlasting separation from God.