For all those who feel stuck in their spiritual life, you don’t have to accept stagnation as the norm any longer. In this 8-week Bible study, I want to walk you through a model called Distinctive Discipleship. It attempts to encourage individual people with particular needs to develop a unique plan for a given season.
- You can use this model within the church house, coffee house, or your house.
- It can be implemented by a mentor, a leader of a small group, or by a parent.
- The process is not contingent upon a particular context, and any believer in any nation in the world can apply its simple principles.
- This model will be good for an individual, better with a partner, but best with a mentor.
The guide within these pages will help you create a plan for discipleship in your individual context. If every Christian is in a unique place surrounded by specific challenges, why do we think that a broad approach will work for every single one of us? We don’t need ministry templates; we need distinctive discipleship.
Each person is too complex for generalized approaches to meet all of our needs.
The desperate need for discipleship seems to be a cyclical point of conversation within our churches. Every so often, we begin to notice the warning signs concerning the overarching lack of spiritual maturity among the majority of believers, and we seem emphatically determined to address it. Upon these alarming realizations, we speak very poignantly regarding the need for discipleship by criticizing those before us who apparently did an insufficient job.
Instead of belaboring points of why specific ministries failed to prioritize discipleship in the past, I think it is a wiser use of our time to activate the church around us for discipleship in the present. Let’s return to the simple paths of discipleship encouraged and exemplified within the pages of Scripture and make a valiant effort to imitate it. Instead of providing a plan that might be overwhelming to implement, let’s simplify it to a process that is easily memorizable, adaptable, and repeatable. I want to make it simple, engaging, and distinctive. Let’s make disciples.
IF YOU ARE STUDYING SOLO
You can finish this study on your own. This resource was designed so that it doesn’t require a leader book to unlock extra content. I do recommend that you consider the need to allow someone into this process alongside you. If your spiritual life has lacked a specific direction for growth, any plan is better than no plan. Developing a particular strategy on your own is far better than accepting spiritual apathy as the normative experience. My experience reveals that this process is good for an individual, better with a partner, but best with a mentor. Even if you go through the study solo, please consider either an accountability partner or a personal mentor to help you during and after the process.
IF YOU ARE LEADING A GROUP
This study was designed to provide you with enough content to study and discuss, but it also was crafted in such a way as to bring your unique perspective to your specific group. As you prepare to teach the sections, provide your distinct illustrations and unique examples. Depending upon the size of your group, decide which activities are done as a whole group, within smaller groups, or on an individual basis. Note that this study might differ from other studies in the fact that once the eight weeks are complete, the work really begins. While your group might start right into another study, the whole premise of this one focuses on a 6-12 month implementation time after the study concludes. Consider how to establish opportunities for accountability once the sessions are complete.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
In addition to this Bible study workbook, I did write a standalone book on this concept. I believe in this process so much that I wanted to provide it in multiple formats. You do not need to read the book to do this study, but if you decide to do so, each session has chapters that naturally connect and are provided within the week’s lesson. I also have a collection of sermons, podcast episodes, articles, and downloads of further resources at travisagnew.org/distinctive.
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
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