Discipleship Journal: A Great Magazine For Every Christian!

I was involved in a Christian college fellowship for a couple of years. One year of that I spent leading a discipleship group (we called core groups). Our fellowship had approximately twelve groups on and off campus; I led a freshman group in the dorms. Our small group met once a week for a time of fellowship, worship, Bible study, or whatever God had for us. I had many responsibilities to that small group and to the fellowship as a whole. I would meet with each individual member once a week for a personal discipleship time, plan for our small group, evangelize on campus and in the dorms, and have my own personal time with God. One day my pastor introduced me to the only magazine he reads, Discipleship Journal. In his opinion the Discipleship Journal was extremely helpful for small group leading as well as for personal devotions. So I decided to give it a try.

To be honest at first I didn't think that the magazine would live up to the hype that my pastor built up. I had read many different Christian magazines, all were good, but most were on theology with limited personal application. So I surprised when I first flipped through the pages of the Discipleship Journal to find a magazine filled with nothing but personal application! The magazine is filled with articles to aid in discipleship and personal growth. What makes this magazine unique is how they lay out these articles throughout the magazine. The Discipleship Journal breaks their magazine down into three sections: features, special section, and departments. Each of these sections has a specific function in the magazine for the reader. In the feature section they have four to five different articles by featured authors that offer their personal experiences on many different Christian topics. Some of the topics that have been done in the past were helping young believers, passing on your testimony to future generations, praying when life gets hard, and opening your house to new believers. I found these articles very helpful since they included a personal testimony from the author. In the special section are articles that deal with the theme of that issue. For instance the March/April 2000's title is, The Promise of Purity. There are six articles in that section dealing with purity. Each issue has a different topic. The last section is the departments, where you find a grab bag of things like letters to the editor, comments, and DJ Plus. DJ Plus is eight pages dedicated for the small groups. Each page is then broken up into three different sections. These sections include missions, evangelism, serving, teaching, discipling, relating, leading, studying, and resources. Each of these topics give you a vast amount of information that you could use for one group meeting. It gives you ideas on how in implement these topics into your group. I found this section extremely useful for the group.

The ads in the magazine are helpful as well. They have ads from Christian colleges, Sound and Spirit (Christian Columbia House), Christian book clubs, and other Christian businesses. A relief from the alcohol and car ads in secular magazines.

I found the Discipleship Journal a welcome aid in leading a small group as well as personal growth. They aim to cover many different Christian topics. The Discipleship Journal is a respectable magazine that any small group leader or individual would enjoy and find useful.