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Stages and spheres -
Assignment
Discipleship Ministries (Liberty University)
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LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
SPHERES AND STAGES OF DISCIPLESHIP
Submitted to Dr. Rod Dempsey,
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500-D01
Discipleship Ministries
by
Dean Barker
November 15, 2020
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Contents
Introduction…...................................................................................................................3
The Five Stages of
Discipleship…...................................................................................................................3
My Stage of Discipleship…...............................................................................................8
Spheres...............................................................................................................................9
Submission to Christ..........................................................................................................10
Conclusion…......................................................................................................................11
Bibliography…...................................................................................................................13
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Introduction
Discipleship is not a singular event, but instead, it is a lifelong process. The process of
how believers develop into disciples varies among scholars. Without an understanding of the
discipleship process, believers may miss out on important opportunities for continued growth as
followers of Jesus Christ. This paper will show the process and application of discipleship as
outlined in Discipleshift as well as the importance of worldly detachment and suffering in
submitting to Christ. The analysis first identifies five stages and four spheres of discipleship,
followed by a personal analysis of each area, prior to describing the meaning of being submitted
to Christ.1
Five Stages of Discipleship
Level 1: Spiritually Dead
According to Putman, he stated that “Ephesians 2:1–5 describes those who are “dead in
[their] transgressions and sins.” People in this stage have not yet accepted Christ as Lord and
Savior. They may reject God, they may be seeking God, they may call themselves spiritual, they
may even claim to know God or call themselves Christians, but there is no true fruit in their
lives. They may claim to know Jesus, but they do not have the Holy Spirit living in them.”2
According to Dr. Rod Dempsey in his video presentation, these are the people who say the
following: “I don’t believe there’s a God. The bible is just a bunch of myths. Religion is a
crutch for the weak. Christians are just intolerant and homophobic people. There are many ways
a person can get to God. I do not believe in hell. I have been a good person, so when I die,
everything will be okay. There is not absolute right or wrong.”3
1 “Spheres and Stages of Discipleship,” Lives Transforming, accessed November 12,
2020, https://www.livestransforming.com/spheres-and-stages-of-discipleship/.
2Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church
to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 61.
3Presentation: What Is Discipleship?, Presentation: What Is Discipleship?, 2020, accessed November 12,
2020, https://learn.liberty.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?
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Level 2: Infant
Level two stage of discipleship refer to regenerate individuals. Stage two, infancy,
represents individuals who are normally, but not always, new to the faith and minimum
knowledge of Jesus Christ, while continuing to live a worldly life focused on his or
herself. Comparable to human infancy, the individual is needy and dependent on others for care.
They are dependent on the world and people in it. The Apostle Paul refers to people in a state of
infancy in his letter to the Corinthians when stating, “But I, brothers, could not address you as
spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid
food, for you were not ready for it.” (1 Cor 3:1-2a).4 Author Jim Putman takes this description a
step forward by stating: “The writer of Hebrews describes those he is writing to as people who
are still living on milk when in fact they should be eating solid food for the mature and teaching
others (Heb. 5:12–14). Spiritual infants tend to lack knowledge about what Jesus taught. They
are not unintelligent; they are simply uninformed and in need of truth. Often, they are the
product of the culture they live in. The Holy Spirit is working in the infant, and there is
receptivity to what the Word says. But they may have also gotten mixed up with the philosophy
of the world, combining it with Scripture in a hybrid that works for them or at least at this point
they think it is working for them. Their lives are generally all about them and what they think
works to fulfill their perceived needs. Like actual infants, they do not know any better. They
have been trained by the world to consume, so naturally they look to their pastor and the church
as a service that will cater to their needs.”5 Examples of these types of people were given by both
Rod Dempsey
course_id=_675433_1&content_id=_43920472_1.
4 “Spheres and Stages of Discipleship,” Lives Transforming, accessed November 12,
2020, https://www.livestransforming.com/spheres-and-stages-of-discipleship/.
5 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to
Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 63.
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and Jim Putman that consist of the following: “I need to go to church regularly? I have never
heard that before. I need to pray and regularly read my Bible? I do not know how. I did not
know the Bible said that. Tithing? What is that? I do not need anyone else. It is just me and
Jesus. I need someone to regularly care for me. I know Jesus is God, but isn’t karma real too? I
just got baptized, but still have problems in my life. I thought Jesus was supposed to take care of
all my problems.”6
Level 3: Child
According to one website and as they grow, it stated that spiritual infants move into
the spiritual child stage of progression. At this point, they understand the basic language of
faith. They can be overjoyed about their faith. They depict someone who is innocent and cute.
However, they still act childishly and are often rebellious and self-centered in many ways.
Spiritual children tend to do what they should only when they are rewarded or threatened with
some kind of punishment. They may do the right thing, but it is usually to deflect from an
outcome they dislike or to get something they desire.7 Rod Dempsey gave description of these
infants as those that state: “I don’t know if this church is meeting my needs anymore. Maybe I
should go to a different church that does better. Do not branch my small group into two. We will
not get to be with our friends. Who are all these new people coming into our church? The
church is getting too big. It is too hard to get a parking spot anymore. Why do we have to learn
new songs? I like the old hymns better.”8
Level 4: Young Adult
6 Jmreich, “The Five Stages of Discipleship,” JoshuaReich.org, last modified July 12, 2013, accessed November
12, 2020, https://joshuareich.org/2013/07/12/the-five-stages-of-discipleship/.
7 Steve says: and Steve, “The 5 Stages of Growth of a Disciple (Free Resource Download),” Jim Putman, accessed
November 12, 2020, https://jimputman.com/2018/06/04/the-5-stages-of-growth-for-a-disciple-free-resource-
download/.
8 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to
Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 63.
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As spiritual children grow up, they develop into the spiritual youthful adults. At this
stage, they have grown tremendously from beginning. They are eager to serve, think
independently, and become like adults; however, they still have much to master in terms of
responsibility and about how to care for the spiritual needs of others. They are zealous for God
and can be depicted as being “God-focused” and “other-centered.” Young adults are becoming
intentional or strategic about sharing their faith and will see people converted. However, young
adults are not yet able to reproduce disciples who can make disciples. Young adults serve
intentionally, but do not make disciples intentionally. They want their independence, and in
some cases, they should have it. However, they need continued guidance in the art of
discipleship.9 Youth adults can be identified when you hear statements or questions such as “In
my devotions, I came across something I have a question about. I really want to go to Uganda on
a mission trip this summer. I love serving. I can see how God has gifted me and is using me. I
have 3 friends I have been witnessing to, and our missional community is too big for them, can
we start a new one? Someone missed our missional community, so I called them to see if they
were okay.
Look at how many are at church today – it’s awesome.”10
Level 5: Parent
According to Jim Putman in his textbook, he states “we use the term “spiritual parent”
rather than “spiritual adult” because we want to reinforce the concept of spiritual reproduction.
In other words, when someone tells me they are spiritually mature, I ask them who they are
discipling. If they tell me no one, then I am going to question whether they are spiritually
mature. Spiritually mature people make disciples (have spiritual children, so to speak). If they
are
9 Steve says: and Steve, “The 5 Stages of Growth of a Disciple (Free Resource Download),” Jim Putman, accessed
November 12, 2020, https://jimputman.com/2018/06/04/the-5-stages-of-growth-for-a-disciple-free-resource-
download/.
10 Jmreich, “The Five Stages of Discipleship,” JoshuaReich.org, last modified July 12, 2013, accessed
November 12, 2020, https://joshuareich.org/2013/07/12/the-five-stages-of-discipleship/.
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capable but are not parenting, then they are really just young adults at best. Parents, obviously,
are responsible for raising children, helping them grow from infants to children to young adults,
and then finally to be parents themselves.”11 Putman uses 2nd Timothy 2:1-2 as an example.
Second Timothy 2:1–2 depicts believers who are strong in the grace that is seen Christ Jesus.
Reliable disciples, who have grown and matured to the point where they are now, are qualified
to be teachers of others. Spiritual parents have mastered and are grounded in a solid
understanding of God’s Word and have a deep, abiding relationship with God. Spiritual Parents
have a desire to be involved in mentoring other disciples. Spiritual parents create their lifestyle
in God’s Word in their daily lives. They are grounded in being kingdom-centered and God-
dependent.12 Some of the statements that you might hear from a person of this caliber is “I
wonder if God is leading me to invest in Bill and help him mature in his faith. I want to help this
guy at work. He asked me to explain the Bible to him. Pray for me as I spend time in the Word
with him. We get to baptize someone from our small group tonight. When is the next
foundations class? Getting him plugged into ministry is essential for his growth. Our small group
is going on a mission trip. I am praying for God’s wisdom as I give each person a different
responsibility to help them grow.13 Other statements can be “The most important discipleship is
with my children. Will you hold me accountable to lead devotionals with my kids on a daily
basis? I get so busy that I am not consistent with them.”14
My Stage of Discipleship
11 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church
to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 69.
12
Ibid.
12
13
Ibid., 70.
13
14 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to
Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 70.
15 King James Bible (Place of publication not identified: Thomas Nelson, 1991).
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After reading the chapters of this course on Discipleship, I believe that I drift from
“Parent to Young Adult.” Many times in my life have come and gone where I questioned what
God has planned for me. As a transgender individual who did not know Christ before making
that lifestyle change, I never asked to be called to ministry. When I got the calling and
passionate desire, I felt that God was placing a cruel joke on me. In the past, I have tried to walk
away from ministry, but I never seem to be able to forget about it, let it not bother me, and stop
the pull of God to it. Present day, I am devoted to evangelism and serving Christ. When the
situation presents itself, I share Christ with others. Currently, I am discipling a lady who came to
Christ several months ago after her older sister died. As a parent, I feel that I am progressing in
the art of discipleship in a way that God desires me too. It is evident as I mentor this lady. As the
bible points out, Romans 3:23 states for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.15 This
includes the imperfect me. I sometimes relapse in my ways and habits. I pray that God
strengthens me to do better, but I feel that I miss many blessing because I am weak in faith and
not everything that I do is right or how society thinks that I should be or do. Moreover, because I
got my calling in my mid 40’s, I feel like that I do not much time left to fulfill my calling,
assignment, or to do something big for God. God’s churches are shut closed in my face by the
people that run them because of my former lifestyle. I am raked over the goals by them because
of it. This is why I feel like this is joke or it is just all in my imagination.
Spheres
According to the textbook, the spheres of discipleship refer to the areas in our lives where
we need to grow and build relationships. Putman identifies four spheres of discipleship. They
include our relationship with God, our relationship with the church, our relationship with our
families, and our relationship with the world. When it comes to our relationship with God, we
15
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must submit to Him by obeying His commandments and spending personal time with Him in the
word and in prayers.16 Putman states: “This sphere is the core, the hub that unites the other
spheres together. If we forget that we are saved by grace, that our security and our strength are
from God and not from ourselves, then we fall into a form of salvation by works. Without the
gospel, we will become proud because we will naturally compare ourselves with others,
forgetting what our righteousness looks like to God (not good). More likely, we will become
burdened with guilt and simply give up on wanting to grow to become like Christ.”17 Putman
goes on to reference John 15.
According to Jim Putman, he states: “The second sphere of relationships is where we
grow as the body of Christ. Scripture tells us that when we are born again, we become part of the
family of God and have a spiritual Father as well as brothers and sisters in Christ. It can be easy
for us to accept the good news that we have a Father who loves us yet fail to relate to other
believers as brothers and sisters, but the two are connected.18
Sphere 3 is important for us to address, because it is possible for people to grasp the
concepts of the gospel but fail to apply them in the home. Putman makes reference to Paul and
that Paul wasn’t just interested in talking about an individual’s personal relationship with God or
about the relationships among believers in the church; he moved right into the home and gave
clear instructions in this area. Put says that Paul understood that we cannot compartmentalize our
relationships, that the Holy Spirit wants to influence every aspect of a believer’s life, and that the
best place to make disciples is in our own families. Putman also stated that not every Christian
16 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church to
Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 79-84.
17 Ibid., 84.
18 Ibid., 85.
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has the gift of leadership, but every believer is supposed to make disciples while placing an
important focus in our homes.19
The final and last sphere is 4 that deals the world. Putman refers us to Paul and tells us
that Paul would speak of what it means to be a slave and a slaveholder. For example, Putman
says that some say that 90 percent of the Roman world in Paul’s time would have been
considered a slave.20 This still holds true today. Many people are slaves to their job. For
example, you take an athlete or singer that is newly discovered. They get offers and all kinds of
contracts. They think that it is awesome because of the big house, the fancy cars, and wealth that
comes with it. Money is nice to have, but people should bear in mind that once they sign these
contracts what they want in life and the essence of who they are is pushed aside because now
they have to perform for these people that they signed those contracts me. The real person or
child of God is pushed outside of the body. What is left is a spiritual dead person or a person
that is not fulfilling the purpose that God placed them here on earth to do. I believe that this
exactly why Jesus in Matthew 19:21 told the rich man to give away all that he owned and then
you come follow me.
Submission to Christ
Submission to Christ must encompass both of Bonhoeffer’s concerns – the attachments
to the world (idolatry) and the suffering that necessarily occurs when taking up the cross and
denying self.21 The word submission means to “subject oneself, be subjected or subordinated,
obey.”22 A commandment of this can be seen in Ephesians 5:24, 1 Corinthians 15:28, Hebrews
19 Jim Putman, Bobby Harrington, and Robert E. Coleman, DiscipleShift: Five Steps That Help Your Church
to Make Disciples Who Make Disciples (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 87.
20 Ibid. 88.
21 “Spheres and Stages of Discipleship,” Lives Transforming, accessed November 12,
2020, https://www.livestransforming.com/spheres-and-stages-of-discipleship/.
22 Walter Bauer and Frederick W. Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early
Christian Literature: Based on Walter Bauer's "Griechisch-Deutsches W6rterbuch Zu Den Schriften Des Neuen
Testaments Und Der fr9hchristlichen Literatur", Sixth Edition ... (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2000),
1042.
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12:9, and James 4:7. In all scriptural scenarios, the underlying motif of submission is an absence
of idolatry and an acceptance of suffering.23
The bible and Jesus already told us that suffering, and persecution comes with submission
to him. Two examples are 2 Timothy 2:3,12 and Acts 9:16. N.T. Wright in regard to Jesus Christ
stated: “Suffering was the means of the victory. Suffering is also the means of its
implementation,” and it “is still the means by which the work goes forward.”24
Putman in his textbook as already stated that God and the Holy Spirit wants to dominate
all areas of our lives. What is required of disciples is sacrifice of everything worldly and
submission to Christ in all four areas of the sphere.
Conclusion
This assignment has displayed the process and application of discipleship as told by
Putman regarding the importance of worldly detachment and suffering in submitting to Christ.
Also, the paper’s analysis lends evidence to these assertions in three ways. First, the process of
discipleship moves on a progression from spiritually dead to spiritual parenthood. Second comes
the application of discipleship that must encompass four things: God, the church, the home, and
the world. The third submission to Christ manifests itself by detaching from the world in an
existence of necessary suffering. From this perspective, any disciple can analyze the present
stage of discipleship and analyze the comprehensiveness of its application. In doing so, it
provides that disciple a future path for growth in Christ.25
23 “Spheres and Stages of Discipleship,” Lives Transforming, accessed November 12,
2020, https://www.livestransforming.com/spheres-and-stages-of-discipleship/.
24 N. T. Wright, The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion (San
Francisco: HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2016), 372-373.
25 “Spheres and Stages of Discipleship,” Lives Transforming, accessed November 12,
2020, https://www.livestransforming.com/spheres-and-stages-of-discipleship/.
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Bibliography
Bauer, Walter, and Frederick W. Danker. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and
Other Early Christian Literature: Based on Walter Bauer's "Griechisch-Deutsches
W6rterbuch Zu Den Schriften Des Neuen Testaments Und Der fr9hchristlichen Literatur",
Sixth Edition ... Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2000.
Jmreich. “The Five Stages of Discipleship.” JoshuaReich.org. Last modified July 12,
2013. Accessed November 12, 2020. https://joshuareich.org/2013/07/12/the-five-
stages-of- discipleship/.
King James Bible (Place of publication not identified: Thomas Nelson, 1991).
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.
says, Steve, and Steve. “The 5 Stages of Growth of a Disciple (Free Resource Download).” Jim
Putman. Accessed November 12, 2020. https://jimputman.com/2018/06/04/the-5-stages-of-
growth-for-a-disciple-free-resource-download/.
“Spheres and Stages of Discipleship.” Lives Transforming. Accessed November 12,
2020. https://www.livestransforming.com/spheres-and-stages-of-discipleship/.
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Wright, N. T. The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion.
San Francisco: Harper One, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2016.
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