Discipleship + Growth
Discipleship
Foundational Concepts for Discipleship
These concepts consist of lessons to help new or young believers become grounded in their faith before preparing to start their own disciple groups. This is a great first step if you have never discipled someone before. The materials are easy, transferable, and quick to prepare. This is adapted from Cru’s Collaborative Discipleship and The Compass.
Assurance of Salvation. It is critical that a new believer knows that being saved means you are safe. Using 1 John as a guide you want to show: 1. It is possible to know that you have eternal life. 2. The gift of eternal life comes through faith in Jesus. 3. There are experiential realities that can bolster this assurance.
Position in Christ. Your objective in this lesson is to help your disciple understand his position and identity in Christ.
The Spirit Filled Life. Who is the Holy Spirit and why should we be “filled” with the Holy Spirit?
How to be Filled with the Spirit. This will work in tandem with the previous discipleship packet, The Spirit Filled Life.
The Word. What is the Bible and why should we read it?
God’s Love and Forgiveness. It is one thing to know God, it is another thing to know God personally. Read through this with your disciple to explain God’s love and forgiveness for you.
How to Pray and Worship. This follows the ACTS prayer model and other helpful models of prayer.
The Great Commission. Jesus’ final teaching to his disciples. . . “Go and make disciples of all nations.”
Christian Fellowship. Why is Christian community so important for new and old believers?
If you’re still wanting more, check out our “Spiritual Multiplication: Disciples that Make Disciples” below.
Spiritual Multiplication: Disciples That Make Disciples
Growing as a disciple of Christ is a life-long process and happens through many avenues. Below are a few resources to help you help others grow spiritually and build a multiplying movement.
Making and Multiplying Disciples. What does it mean to make disciples? Start here for a framework for discipleship.
Discipleship Packet. How do I start discipling someone? This packet will give you the big picture and some tracks to get started in discipling another person. Includes: Making and Multiplying Disciples, Practical Discipleship, Growth Circles, etc.
Growth Circles. This will help you and your disciple identify areas they want to grow and develop in.
The Compass - Spiritual Multiplication. This will explain the Biblical principles of spiritual multiplication.
The Compass - Challenge to Discipleship. This lesson will teach you a method for challenging students to discipleship in a way that casts vision and makes clear what we mean by discipleship
The Compass - A Primer on Discipleship. This will help your disciple learn to disciple someone else.
Collaborative Discipleship. What should I do during discipleship? Collaborative Discipleship is a resource that will give you tracks to run on. It is full of content, studies, and ideas for discipleship.
5 Things. What would it take to have an impact for God throughout your lifetime? Here are 5 Things to help you think through your unique gifts and talents, how to involve yourself in meaningful community, and ways you can make God known wherever He may lead you.
Responsible For vs Responsible To. A great resource for anyone needing to see the greater picture of their personal responsibility.
Testimony Training. Need help working on your story? Follow this 5-part outline Paul used in his ministry.
Gift of God Series
These studies use a gospel-centered approach to five of the most relevant issues on campus, confronting the primary idols in the lives of today’s student with the good news of Jesus Christ.
Relationships: The Pursuit of Fulfillment. Relationships are a gift from God. But, we have sought after ultimate fulfillment in them. The Gospel confronts the way we try to pile the deepest longings of our heart onto one person instead of God himself.
Alcohol: The Pursuit of Happiness. Alcohol is a gift from God. But, it is often an abused gift. The Gospel confronts both the way we use alcohol to get the happiness that only God can give and the way we use legalistic solutions to fix alcohol abuse.
Beauty and Appearance: The Pursuit of Acceptance. Beauty is a gift from God. But, it is often a redefined and abused gift. The Gospel confronts both the way we use beauty to get the acceptance that only God can give and the way we use our moral performance to make ourselves beautiful enough for God.
Sex: The Pursuit of Intimacy and Pleasure. Sex is a gift from God. But, we abuse this gift by redefining its boundaries. The Gospel confronts both the way we pursue sex as life's highest pleasure and the way we reduce sex to either an appetite or procreation.
Success: The Pursuit of Worthiness. Success is a gift from God. But, we use our work, family, and spiritual achievements to receive praise from God and others. The Gospel confronts the way we try to acquire a sense of worthiness from our successes rather God himself.
Time: The Pursuit of Productivity. Time is a gift from God. But, we abuse this gift by spending our time chasing our own pursuits rather than God Himself. The Gospel confronts our complaint that we have no time.
Discipling a New Believer: Helping Articulate Their Faith
The following lessons are designed to help a new or young believer become established in their faith. Download and print each lesson to go through it together.
Every Student is another great tool to use with any friend, regardless of their faith background. It is an easily accessible site dedicated to answering hard questions.
Practicing the Way
The Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon has a fantastic resource called Practicing the Way. It includes personal discipleship on simplicity, silence and solitude, prayer, fasting, etc. You might recognize John Mark Comer as the head preaching pastor. You can find some of these practices in his new book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.
The Spirit-Filled Life
A resource to help articulate the Holy Spirit and His role in our lives. This is a simplified version of the Satisfied booklet.
The Compass
A mature disciple is one who walks by faith, communicates their faith, and multiplies their faith. The Compass is an extensive discipleship tool and has over 40 lessons in spiritual growth. The Compass is designed to help staff and student disciplers guide other students through the process of becoming mature disciples.
The Compass is organized under three main headings: Walk, Communicate, and Multiply, which corresponds with our understanding that a mature disciple is one who walks, communicates, and multiplies their faith.
Prayer
The Compass - Prayer - the how-tos of prayer.
Preparatory Prayer - A reflective, guided prayer by St. Ignatius of Loyola. Consider leading mature disciples through this practice. If you enjoy prayer journaling, look at this!
Examen of Consciousness - This is an ancient spiritual discipline of examination of consciousness – not just of conscience, seeing where we have been wrong, but of consciousness, seeing where God has been present today. It involves a simple, four-step process of examining your thoughts and attitude throughout the day.
Transferable Concepts
Try these resources created by the founder of Cru, Bill Bright. These are timeless resources to help equip any believer about their assurance of faith, God’s forgiveness, how to be filled with the Holy Spirit, how you can introduce others to Christ, and much more!
Summer Reading Challenge
Want to grow in your knowledge of the Bible this summer? Follow along with us as we read through the Gospels.
Sexual Wholeness
The Desire Series is a nine-part resource designed for women seeking sexual wholeness and healing in their lives. If you struggle with sexual desires that feel like they’re taking over your life or carrying secrets that you think don’t belong in the life of a normal woman, especially a Christian — you’re in the right place. This guide can be done individually, your disciple, or a couple of close friends.
The Flesh Series is a ten-part resource designed specifically for men. It contains a collection of articles, next steps, and group discussion guides around these issues in a clear, comprehensive manner. The series doesn’t stir up guilt but helps individuals understand the battle they’re facing and implement practical growth steps. This guide can be done individually, your disciple, or a couple of close friends.
The Needs Cycle shows a cycle of where we go to have our needs met. However, we can get out of the cycle and trust God.
Spiritual Adventure Pack
How does a rational person believe in God? Faith in God is not something that just happens to you. A former atheist explains the logical thinking that leads a person toward God in this 7-part series of emails. Simply subscribe and receive an email every few days with the freedom to unsubscribe any time. (This is a series of articles from Every Student.)
Silent Outreach
A great tool to use with new disciples. Take them to the second floor of the Student Union overlooking the atrium and describe what you see and feel. It might help develop your heart for your peers.
Evangelism: Sharing the Gospel With Others
Short Films
Short films are a great way to take the conversation deeper when initiating spiritual conversations or with old friends. There are discussion questions to help facilitate Gospel conversations. Our goal is to help you discover a person’s story through the theme of the films. As you listen to their story, you can share your own and connect the viewer to the person of Christ.
My Last Day. A moving video of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Includes discussion questions on the website.
B Me. A video about misplaced identity and where to find it. Includes discussion questions on the website.
Knowing God Personally
Learning to use the Knowing God Personally booklet (fondly know as the KGP) will help you to share the gospel more clearly and equip you to share your faith more comfortably in all different situations. (This resource can also be found on the God Tools App.)
Soularium
Soularium is a picture survey designed to help you “explore” with others. It is a great tool for finding out more about people’s spiritual journey and thoughts about God. Because images connect deeply with our emotions and experiences, they enable us to engage in meaningful conversations about life and God. Soularium provides 50 original photographic images and 5 simple questions – allowing you to enter and explore the lives of people around you.
Which 3 photos describe your life right now?
Which 3 photos describe what you would like for your life?
Which one photo represents God to you?
Which one photo describes your spiritual journey?
Which one photo represents what you would like your spiritual life to look like?
You can also find this in the Google or Apple App Store and share it on your phone!
God Tools App
Download the God Tools App on your android or iPhone! This is a great tool with access to Gospel presentations like Knowing God Personally, Honor and Shame, the 4 Spiritual Laws, Power Over Fear, Satisfied, etc.
Perspective Cards
The worldview of the average student grows increasingly irrational and eclectic. And most of the time, they don’t even know it. This combination (non-biblical worldview plus lack of self-awareness) can be a huge barrier to the gospel. How can we overcome this obstacle in order to communicate the gospel clearly and effectively?
Perspective provides a disarming approach to a spiritual conversation, allowing others to share their perspective about five important topics. In each category, participants choose the card that best represents what they believe, and then they tell you why they believe it.
Download the Perspective Cards App in Google Play or Apple iTunes!
The Claims of Christ
This seeks to answer, “Why is there something instead of nothing?” and “How can we know what that something is like?”