Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Stages and Spheres of Discipleship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
My Current Stage of Discipleship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Submitting to the Centrality of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Bibliography
Introduction
Disciple making is a process that incorporates the practices of daily Christian living into a
complete reception of the Triune God into our life. The resulting lifestyle, both individual and
communal, will expose the highest ideals of faith in Jesus Christ: loving all others as we should
love ourselves (including enemies), practicing unbounded forgiveness, and the sharing of the
written Word of God.1 Discipleship and its counterpart, spiritual formation, are grounded in total
dependence on God through salvation by the sacrifice of Jesus and the empowerment for daily
living by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
1 Dave Early, Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making is… How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and
Confidence, (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2013), 22.
1
The Stages and Spheres of Discipleship
In their book Discpleshift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make Disciples Who
Make Disciples, Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington and Robert Coleman emphasize the models of
the “Spheres” and “Stages” of discipling they have developed to assist in gauging where
Christians are in their walk of faith and to help address areas where Christians need to grow in
their relationship with God and the World.2 This section will give a summary of these Spheres
and Stages and the roles that they play in discipleship making.
Level 1: Spiritually Dead
This stage consists of anyone who has not accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. Level 1
encapsulates a vast group of people. This can consist of those who are against God, those who
claim to be spiritual, but have no relationship with Jesus, and even some who call themselves
Christians, but it is in title only. People who are spiritually dead need to be introduced to Jesus
through sincere friendships and relationships. They must see us as living epistles of the Gospel.
Our Words will not draw them nearly as much as our actions. They are in need of clear,
definitive answers about the Word of God and they need an invitation to accept Jesus and follow
Him. This must be done in a loving environment.
Level 2: Infant
This stage consists of Christians that are like newborns. They have accepted
Christ as Lord and Savior, but that is all they have done. This level can refer to new converts,
and Christians who have been saved for several years, but have never put the work in to grow
their faith and their relationship with Jesus. Hebrews refers to them as infants who live on milk
2 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, Discipleshift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make
Disciples Who Make Disciples, Exponential Series (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 37.
2
and not meat. The Holy Spirit is working in the infant, but they may be clouded by adverse
worldviews or just ignorant to the truth of the Word. In this stage, Christians are in need of care,
protection, and guidance. They need the truths of Christianity taught and modeled for them as
they learn how to study and know Christ for themselves.
Level 3: Child
Christians in Stage 3 are continuing to grow in their walk with Christ as well as with the
body. While they are showing strides in their spiritual development, they may still be self-
involved. They are usually unaware that they are self-centered and they also tend to be rigid in
their beliefs. They may exhibit, pride, overconfidence, and contrarily may exhibit shyness,
insecurity, self-loathing, and an attitude of defeat. Christians in this stage are in need of strong
relational connections to a mature believer. At this level, they need to continue to learn about
who they are in Christ, how to have close relationships with other believers, and what to expect
from other believers . It is here where they are learning that obedience is better than sacrifice and
they must trust God and obey Him, even if they do not feel like it.
Level 4: Young Adult
Young adults are exhibiting definitive growth in their walk with Christ. They are
transitioning from being self-centered to being God and kingdom minded. They are in a place
where they are experiencing revelation that they are called to serve the body. In this stage, they
are involved in ministry and understand that they do everything as unto God, not man. They are
excited about God and their walk with Christ and want to be used by Him to affect change. They
are becoming less judgmental and more forgiving of the faults of others. They have come to see
the correlation between God’s grace and mercy. It is here that they are honing their gifts, talents,
and abilities and putting them to use for the kingdom. They need continued training and to grasp
an understanding of how to serve those that they lead.
Level 5: Parent
This is the stage where Christians are actively involved in the spiritual reproduction of
disciples. They are responsible disciples, who have exhibited growth and understanding of the
Word. They are now living out God’s Word daily. Their lives are surrendered to Christ and their
focus is on glorifying God and furthering His kingdom by training up other disciples. They
understand that each sphere in their lives must be developed and fed: God first, then their spouse
and children, then the church and others. They express a desire to develop others for the
kingdom, and they are always concerned about how they represent the Gospel.
The Four Spheres
The four discipleship spheres are: our relationship with God, our relationship with God’s
family and the church, our home life, and our relationship with the world. In each sphere, a
disciple understands God’s commands and submits to His authority, is transformed by Jesus, and
joins Jesus on a kingdom mission in every area of their lives. As a disciple abides and grows in
Christ, each area of their lives is transformed. The most important sphere is the relationship with
God; growth in this sphere affects all the others. A consistent reliance on God keeps the disciple
balanced and is a reminder that we are saved by grace and not works. As we walk with Christ,
we grow in the second sphere and build and learn to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. The
third sphere is integral in the discipleship process. As disciple makers, we can pose the questions
listed in each sphere in relation to the head, heart, and hands in order to ascertain where others
are in their walk and determine what their needs are.
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My Current Stage of Discipleship
This is difficult for me to convey as I am not in a position to be discipled as needed, and,
just as importantly, currently there is no outlet or venue available in which to disciple others. I
am diagnosed with non-retractable Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; in that, there is tremendous
challenge in reaching out to others in any dimension. To approach an unbeliever with the Gospel
is nearly impossible for me psychologically.
Additionally, church attendance has been curtailed in our area of Indianapolis and Central
Indiana. Various reasons caused this, COVID among them, and it is particularly heart-breaking
for me as I love to go to church. When we do gather, a laissez-fare attitude seems to permeate
the congregation. How to you even begin to disciple when there is no Sunday night service, no
plans for Bible School, and only two or three regular Sunday School classes? And there are only
a few regular attendees and no one appears to care or to correct?
As the world opens up, and as I continue in psychotherapy with the goal of opening
myself up, I hope to make myself available for discipleship. The day workers in Matthew 20: 1-
16 were standing, day by day, waiting for the opportunity to go into the fields. They were
motivated, as I am, by their emptiness and powerlessness to be made available.
I have to wait and depend on God for direction in finding the proper therapy and
counseling for my mental condition. In this, I am as poor as the parabolic day workers the Lord
taught about. Yet, like Moses, who, at age 40, wanted to be God’s right hand on earth, he had to
wait twice that lifetime for Jehovah to prepare him, to set him up with the ultimate opportunity
(Exodus 3: 1-12).
5
Scripture says, Unless the Lord builds the House, they that labor to build it labor in
vain (Ps 127:1).3 True discipleship waits on the Lord. Fruitful discipleship is based on a call
from the Lord. Often, I think I am ready, and that I have a great deal to contribute to a class
when in truth, God in his wisdom is holding me back. Admittedly, He is doing it because I’m not
prepared. With my condition, I could be easily antagonized, or fall into withdrawal while in a
group. The Lord knows what I can and cannot handle. I want to believe the procrastination on
his part is really preparation: providing me with what I will need, emotionally and intellectually,
to carry out the matters in my life He is simultaneously preparing.
Submitting to the Centrality of Christ
The main sphere relating to the centrality of Christ would be the first
sphere, The Centrality of a Relationship with God. The Putman book, DiscipleShift, referenced
the first two chapters of Ephesians as the support for this sphere, our relationship with God. This
is the hub that holds it all together and unites all the spheres together. DiscipleShift emphasizes
the head, heart, and hands in three questions: Does the person who is being discipled have a
personal relationship with Christ; has his or her heart been changed; does his or her life have
evidence of change? Are these people willing to go where Christ is leading them?4
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s call to the cross suggests that disciples will
recognize their cross in communion with Christ when they begin to follow the suffering Lord.
Bonhoeffer wrote, “Thus, suffering becomes the identifying mark of a follower of Christ. The
3 All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible
4 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, Discipleshift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to Make
Disciples Who Make Disciples, Exponential Series (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 47.
6
disciple is not above the teacher. Discipleship is passive suffering or having to suffer. That is why
Luther could count suffering among the marks of the true church.” 5Bonhoeffer mentions the
Augsburg Confession. He wrote, “Those who do not want to take up their cross, who do not want
to give their lives in suffering and being rejected by people, lose their community with Christ.
They are not disciples. But those who lose their lives in discipleship, in bearing the cross, will
find life again in following the community of the cross with Christ. The opposite of discipleship
is being ashamed of Christ, being ashamed of the cross, being scandalized by the
cross.”6 Without Christ in the center, there is no discipleship.
A Christian who is in full submission to Christ is a person
who loves God will all their heart, soul, and mind. Bonhoeffer wrote, “Everyone enters
discipleship alone, but no one remains alone in discipleship. The promise for those who follow
Christ is that they will become members of the community of the cross, they will be people of
the mediator, people under the cross.” By submitting to Christ, one is accepting the fact that he
or she must bear their own cross alone, and yet in community with other followers of Christ. He
or she is responsible for their own salvation and walk with Christ.
5 Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 4 (Fortress Press, 2003), 30.
6 Ibid., 39.
7
Bibliography
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Volume 4. Minneapolis: First Fortress Press,
2003.
Earley, Dave, Rod Dempsey, Disciple Making is… How to Live the Great Commission with
Passion and Confidence. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2013.
Dunham, Maxie. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Edited by Lloyd John Ogilvie.
Vol. 31. The Preacher’s Commentary Series. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1992.
Putman, Jim, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman. DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help
Your Church to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples. Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
2013.
Stott, John R. W. The Radical Disciple. Downers Grove: Inter Varsity Press, 2010.
