More than 1,000 churches have taken the Reveal Survey for the purpose of discerning their church’s spiritual growth. Among their findings, the authors discovered that churches successful in moving people toward maturity, have an identifiable, nonnegotiable, high challenge, “core curriculum” consisting of effective next steps for spiritual growth.1 The core curriculum was not the only venue that was utilized, but it was the essential one for taking the next step on the pathway to maturity.
Much like stepping stones on a pathway make walking forward doable, so also specific venues help people to take their next spiritual step. Those next steps should be sequential and provide a faith challenge but not be more than one can handle.
In my early years with The Navigators in college we used a core set of materials for our discipleship pathway. A new believer was introduced to “Lessons on Assurance” which was followed by a Bible study series called “Design for Discipleship” and The Navigators Topical Memory System. This was our core curriculum. (They are still available from NavPress). Although I now use different tools in my discipling process, the strategy is the same; I have a core pathway I use at each level of maturity.
A core curriculum serves the same function as courses taken in college. Each discipline has its 101, 201, 301 courses. That is not all that is offered, but they are foundational. The 200 level courses are not available until you demonstrate competency at the 100 level. As an engineering student in college, I had many mathematical course options but not until I mastered calculus.
This process strategy is common in secular education but rare in our pathway for spiritual development. Usually we go with a general “whatever” or “one size fits all” approach. This is partly true because our American culture is constantly offering options making a standard pathway sound archaic. In fact, choices are expected. We are told that everyone is unique, has his own learning style, and has the right to decide for himself what he/she wants or needs. Of course, following a clear pathway doesn’t exclude options; it simply makes them a complement to the core – not the core itself.
Another major hindrance to a core curriculum approach is that we tend to do with others what was done with us. People who have not experienced a clear pathway to discipleship, are very hesitant to mentor someone else. Their personal experience has been limited to casual fellowship and a “hit and miss” understanding of scripture. Consequently, they don’t know where to begin or how to progress along a spiritual pathway. The advantage of a core curriculum is that it is not only effective in building the basic concepts and skills of the Christian life, but it also provides a disciple with tools needed to disciple the next spiritual generation.
I observed this dilemma first hand a few years ago. I was training the regional directors of a mission organization in how to be intentional in disciplemaking. All of the men were mature, seasoned missionaries, and now leading missionaries. When I asked if anyone could tell me how they got to their current maturity level, the room was silent. Their histories had all included a variety of very good, life-changing experiences, but none had a clear pathway for discipleship that was pass-on-able.
So let’s do a little assessment. Do you have the tools to create a pass-on-able pathway? If you were given the assignment to help a person grow from spiritual childhood to spiritual parenting, what would you use? Or consider another scenario. A person recognizes your spiritual maturity and asks if you would help them become a mature apprentice of Christ like yourself. What if he/she were to ask you, “If I give you access to my life for the next two years to be discipled, what would we do? At the end of the two years what will I look like? How will I be different?” How would you answer?
There are a couple of ways you can “learn” to play the game of golf. One is to go out with your buddies and just play the best you can trying to emulate what they do. Some may play well, most are just “hackers” but, hey, they generally hit the ball in the general direction of the green. A second way is to find someone who plays well and knows how he/she got there. They have taken the time to break down the golf swing into its various components and can pass on what they have learned. They know the proper technique requires starting with the putter and working your way to the driver: a process with manageable next steps.
Consider filling in the following grid for your own discipleship process. If you have some holes in your grid, how can you fill them in? Who do you know who can give you some suggestions?
In the next few blog posts I will explore the skeletal framework of discipleship, the part that is hidden but holds it all together and gives support.
Here is a summary outline of the current series on The Anatomy of Discipleship
1. Profile: Learner or Apprentice (TAD Blob 59)
2. Pursuits: What are we aiming at? (TAD Blog 60)
3. Purpose: What is it designed for? (TAD Blog 61)
4. Pattern: Who do we Look Like? (TAD Blog 62)
5. Provision: Where is the Power? (TAD Blog 63)
6. Priority: How Important is it? (TAD Blog 64)
7. Process: Cruise Ship or Ocean Liner? (TAD Blog 65)
8. Proof: Where is the Evidence (TAD Blog 66)
9. Pathway: What is the Next Step? (TAD Blog 67)
1 Move, Greg Hawkins & Cally Parkinson, Zondervan/Willow, p210