#140 Spheres and Stages of Discipleship
The 5 Stages and 4 Spheres of Discipleship
The book DiscipleShift explores the complexities of discipleship. The five stages of discipleship are described as a cycle. Starting with the spiritually dead, infant, children, young adult, and then parent. Each of these stages are characterized by what a believer is like. In the spiritually dead stage a person is not alive. They have no relationship with God. Next is the infant stage where someone is like a newborn baby that does not know how to feed itself. Their actions and words may be markedly unchristian as they do not yet know better. At this stage people need to share their life with others, and to show how they are growing. The next stage is children. This stage is characterized by selfishness. They need to grow their connection to GOd and the church community, and to join a small group. The fourth stage is young adult. This is when people become other focused. They are learning to serve, they need to be equipped for ministry and released to do ministry. The last stage is parent. This stage is based on intentionality. They need to be able to explain the discipleship process. They need to start discipling others with supervision and then on their own.
The 4 spheres of discipleship also from DiscipleShift are the areas in which we all as disciples operate. The spheres form a venn diagram. The spheres are relationships in the home, relationships in the world, and relationships with God’s family. These meet in the middle for our relationship with Jesus. Relationships in the home might include your parents, siblings, spouse, and children. While relationships in the world are your relationships with non christians. Such as with your employer or employees, friends, hobbies, or community. Then there is your relationship with God’s family that is your fellow believers particularly the ones in your church. This is about your position in the body of Christ, your giftings and using them in the church, and your relationship to the purpose of that church. Finally there is your relationship with Jesus. That is the main and most important relationship. It is what makes you a disciple and it comes out in these three other spheres. Within each of these spheres we might find ourselves at a different stage. Yet when we as a church become more “resilient, reforming and sensitive to God’s rhythm inspires responses in those outside its membership.” This means as we submit more areas of our life to Christ we can see God using us to affect those around us.
What Stage of Discipleship I am in
When it comes to the stages of discipleship I believe that I am in the parent stage. This stage has three parts where in the beginning you are learning to explain the discipleship process, then you are discipling another person, and third released to disciple alone. I believe I am somewhere between the last two stages. I have been sent by my church as a missionary and am commissioned as a pastor. I have also done premarital counseling for some couples on my own. This leads me to think I am in the last category where I am “Release to Disciple Alone.” On the other hand I am still learning and growing in many areas of my life. I am working towards becoming an Air Force Chaplain which would mean more training under another chaplain in the future. Furthermore in my current church I am called to disciple but not on my own but under the supervision of other leaders. When I put these inline with the four spheres of discipleship it looks somewhat different. In my home I have my wife, our two children, my in-laws, and brother in-law. I am confident to counsel and disciple as Proverbs 27:17 (NASB) says as “Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.” In the world sphere I am in a missionary community and employed by the church. I am at times discipling and others being discipled by my fellow missionaries. When we reach out to non believers I find myself discipling under supervision. Within the church I am discipling under supervision with small groups, and on my own with premarital counseling. I know my place in the church.
Spheres to Submit to the Centrality of Christ
To be honest I believe I am doing well in all of the spheres yet my center ought to be strengthened. I am doing well with my church, family, and community. Yet my relationship with Christ is what seems to be most lacking. When It comes to the centrality of Christ there are three questions to consider, they involve the head, heart, and hands. Head is your willingness to surrender to Christ. Heart involves tangible changes in a person's life and character. Then there are hands, going where Christ is leading them. By these metrics I am doing well in my relationship to Christ but I still see it as the sphere that could use some growth. I cannot simply relate to Christ through the church and others in my life. I must have a solid relationship with Him one on one. My personal spiritual disciples need to be further developed. Time of prayer, devotional time outside of coursework, time alone with God, and Bible memorization are areas I need to improve in. When it comes to all of these realms we need to remember that God created us. We are designed by God for a purpose and it is by God that we can do what He has called us to do. As it says in Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” As long as we follow Christ and listen to what God is trying to tell us we will accomplish the things God has made us for.
What it Means to be in Submission to Christ
How can we be in submission to Christ? To be in submission to Christ requires us to follow Him and to do what He commands. In the Bible Jesus gave us over “more than five hundred commands” according to John Piper. These commands can be grouped into fifty themes and three basic commands. The three main commands of Jesus are to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself, then to love one another, and the great commission calling us to make disciples. Bonhoeffer expounds on what it means to be in submission to Christ when he writes “the call to discipleship is a commitment solely to the person of Jesus Christ, a breaking through of all legalisms by the grace of him who calls.”Bonhoeffer goes on to mention Psalm 119:45 which says “And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts.” This means that when we follow the commands of Christ we experience freedom in Christ. The commands do not limit us but rather removes the burden of sin from our lives. The book Spiritual Formation Is… describes the three commands previously mentioned as being directionally based. Inward, outward, and upward. It has to do with how we relate to God, believers, and everyone else. So Spiritual formation “is not just about words either; they (children) need to see your good example of following Christ.” Our following Christ is about what we do and about what we say. In summary, to be in submission to Christ is to do what He says. Christ says “follow me” in Mark 2:14. So we follow Christ and follow the commands that He gives to us. Commands that are not a burden but rather commands that bless us. We will know if we are following Christ by the weight on our shoulders as Christ says “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” Matthew 11:30.
Bibliography
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Discipleship. Edited by Martin Kuske et al. Translated by Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss. Vol. 4 of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003.
Cotton, Robert. Reimagining Discipleship: Loving the Local Community. London: SPCK, 2012.
Dempsey, Rod. “Practiced at Home.” In Spiritual Formation Is . . .: How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence, 194. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2018.
Earley, Dave. “Obeying Everything Jesus Commanded.” In Disciple Making Is . . .: How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence, 53. Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013.
Putman, Jim, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman. DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013.
