Real-Life Discipleship is experiencing the same type of remarkable growth author Jim Putnam has seen take place in the church he pastors. Quickly selling out after its September 1 release, Real-Life Discipleship went back for a second printing in record time. Similarly, Putnam’s church, Real Life Ministries (RLM), started as a four-family church plant in 1998 and now is one of the fastest growing churches in the United States with weekend attendance topping more than 7,000 people. 

One key to the both the book and the church’s popularity is their specific focus. Real-Life Discipleship and its companion Discipleship Training Manual offer proven tools and strategies for strengthening small groups and creating disciples.

“Real-Life Discipleship is answering a real need in the church today for creating environments of discipleship through relational disciple-making small groups helping believers grow in their faith from the inside out,” says NavPress Executive Vice President Barry Sneed.

Real-Life Ministries, with its home base in Post Falls, ID, features a community of relational, disciple-making small groups that, like all of the church’s activities, revolve around four purposes:

• Sharing Christ with a dying world, making disciples of all nations (1 Peter 2:9)
• Connecting disciples into a leader-directed small group (2 Tim. 2:2)
• Training disciples to minister in the church and in the world (Eph. 4:11-12)
• Releasing those who have been developed to disciple others (Mt. 28:19)

Churches across the country have taken note of this successful model and its community impact. To accommodate the many requests it receives from church leaders who want to know what RLM is doing and how to replicate it, The Real Life Association now hosts high-touch, experiential “Immersion” conferences and church planter boot camps.