Many of us have engaged in discipleship relationships before, and this has had mixed results. While these resources may not be the perfect solution, it is meant to help give more direction and support for discipling relationships. o what is discipleship? It is apprenticeship to Jesus in life. It is learning what is means to live in Christ and with Christ in us. Because modern life is so fragmented and dis-orienting, discipleship to Jesus is about integration and orientation. By regularly engaging the practices that help us to love God with our whole selves – heart, mind, and strength – and by allowing ourselves to learn the habits and practices of loving our neighbour and one another, we begin to see and experience our life as complete, as integrated, as lived within and for God’s coming Kingdom.
Use the resources in the packets as well as the resources online to think about, grow in, and learn about our five practices. Use the questions in the packet to assess how you are doing in that area, and then decide on an experiment, or a way in which you will engage the practice in the next couple weeks. At the next meeting, discipling partners should hold one another accountable to the practice. What have you learned? What will you do about it? What is God saying?
Every one or two months, discipling partners should change to a new practice so that we work through all five practices every single year. In summary, here are some questions to direct your discipleship time together:
Storytelling
- Where have you seen God at work in the past week? Where has he given you life?
- Where have you struggled to see or experience God?
Apprenticeship
- What was your experiment from last time? How did it go? What did you learn?
- What value(s) or practice(s) is God calling you to grow in? Express your intentions – I think God wants me to grow in:
- Look at the resources in the packet according to that value. Do the assessments or read the texts.
- Declare an experiment: In light of what I am hearing, I will do __________ over the next month. Be as specific as possible
- Ask for help: I will need my discipling partner to help me in this practice in the following way.
Write these down and then pray for one another.
There are lots of different ways to do this, but this format can be a helpful way to engage discipleship in a consistent manner that attends to our need to integrate and orient our lives in the kingdom of God.
Loving God with all our Hearts…
Use this Heart booklet in discipling relationships to grow in our practice of prayer together. You’ll find a brief questionnaire that will help you think about how you keep company with God, some direction with the Lord’s Prayer, a Guide to Morning and Evening Prayer, a look at prayer as a spiritual discipline, styles and forms of prayer, some fun discussion starters and some book recommendations.
Loving God with all of our Strength…
This Strength booklet gives an overview of the four areas of practice: Time, Treasure Talent and Terra. Here are some great questions to work through in discipling relationships. Strength Discipling Questions.