a discipleship plan - getting started

God’s plan for us addresses every area of our lives. He desires for us to see Jesus as Lord over everything we do. You and I may be committed to honoring God by going to church on Sunday, but do we honor God in our relationships, do we honor Him with our bodies, with our money and with our thought lives?

How about the people you have care over?

What is your plan for helping your people follow Christ in every area of their lives?

“Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you…” Matthew 28: 20 (NLT)

Carrying out this verse is a daunting task, mainly because of that word, ALL. However, all aspects of life can be divided into seven areas. People need to be discipled in God’s plan for each of them:

Spiritual – a person’s relationship with God
Psychological – a person’s mind, will and emotions
Social – a person’s relationships with others
Physical – a person’s body
Financial – a person’s money
Marital – a person’s relationship with his or her spouse
Parental – a persons relationship with his or her children

Consider in this diagram how a hand is used to depict the interconnectedness of the seven different areas of life.

There is nothing more important than the spiritual area of life. Just like the hand must be connected to the body to survive we all need to be connected to God. The Spiritual area of life is where we do that. The psychological area is illustrated as the palm of the hand with the spiritual area giving it life. The remaining five areas of life (social, physical, financial, marital and parental) are all directly connected to how a person is doing spiritually and psychologically.

Answer the following questions regarding the people God has given you charge over:

Q.1 Do the people you minister to understand that their relationship with God affects every area of their lives?

Q.2 Do the people you minister to understand that how they are doing in life is a direct result of what they think about, what choices they have made and how influenced they are by their emotions?

Q.3 Do the people you minister to understand how to show love, acceptance and forgiveness to others?

Q.4 Are they honoring God with their bodies?

Q.5 Do they follow God’s principles in their finances?

Q.6 Are the couples you minister to experiencing intimacy physically, psychologically and spiritually?

Q.7 Are the parents you minister to following God’s example of acceptance and accountability with their children?

After considering these questions, do you see a need for your people to be discipled in any of the seven areas of life? If so, it’s time to come up with a plan and put it in action.

We realize this is not an easy task and we certainly can’t offer you a cure-all for all your discipleship needs and challenges. What we can offer are discipleship materials written with life-change in mind, a tried and true discipleship method fostering the deep down life-change we all yearn for, and customized training options to suit your congregation's needs.

For more information on our materials, methods, and/or a customized discipleship plan for your church contact Laurie Southwick at 602-482-2164 x 118 or lsouthwick@vcli.org