One-to-One Discipling

There are many books and study guides available for basic discipleship of a new Christian, and a good teacher could use any of them and be very successful in helping a new or immature believer learn the basics of walking with Jesus Christ. However, formatting can help in that process, and we have found  One-to-One Discipling from Multiplication Ministries (http://multimin.org/) to be well designed to 1) Establish good spiritual disciplines, 2) Develop a good relationship with the disciple, and 3) Cover the basics needed to understand what it means to be saved from sin and walk with Christ in His church. This can be done in only a few months. We also use it as a basic course in leadership development as a means of training someone to disciple someone else.

Having used One-to-One Discipling  for many decades, we make slight modifications to the content to better fit our congregation and have also added a chapter on church ordinances (Baptism & Communion) and another one on Church Body life to help new people assimilate into church life.  We have also developed some guidelines and suggested answers to the material in  One-to-One Discipling. The links to download them are at the end of this web page.

It is tragic that so many professing Christians are not actively taught the basic spiritual disciplines needed to know God and walk with Him. Too often these skills are picked up passively and developed haphazardly, or worse, never developed at all because of the emphasis within some groups on emotions instead of a quest to know God through His word.  One-to-One Discipling seeks to establish good spiritual disciplines of A) Thoughtful daily Bible reading, B) Memorizing Scripture, C) Prayer, and D) Active listening by taking notes on Sermons in order to consider and apply what was said

A) Daily Bible Reading. Thoughtful daily Bible reading encompasses making notes while reading instead of just reading to get through the text. Reading sets the context by giving an overview of the story being told or teaching being given. It is also the starting point of study.  I suggest reading through the text and then re-reading it and making notes of observations about the text. Keeping a pad of paper with you when reading enables you to easily write observations and questions down for later study. Observations can include the who, what, when, where, why & how questions as well as information or ideas that are new to the reader. Thoughtful consideration enables application of the principles in the text to personal life.  Scripture is to be read to increase understanding of God and His will and apply what is learned to your life. (See Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9-12)

B) Scripture Memorization. The particular scriptures assigned to be memorized correspond with the topic of that lesson. The discipline of memorizing scripture is very helpful in knowing God and His will in order to keep His commandments and walking in righteousness (Psalm 119:9-11). This is fundamental spiritual discipline.

C) Prayer. Talking with God is to be a normal part of the Christian life. Learning to talking with Him properly is extremely important. The lesson on prayer teaches the elements of proper prayer while praying together each week gives a practical model to the disciple while also enabling the disciple to put into practice what is being learned.

D) Active Listening. The skill of active listening is important in most areas of life, and it is critical in spiritual matters. Followers of Christ need to be like the Bereans (Acts 17:11) in examining carefully what is taught to make sure it matches the Scriptures, and then to wholeheartedly follow what is true to God’s word. Taking notes on sermons and discussing them with someone else helps to develop this skill.

One of the best qualities of the  One-to-One Discipling material is its design to promote the development of a good relationship with the disciple. Most discipleship material will require discussing the answers to the questions asked in them as well as pray with the disciple. The discussion of the Bible reading and sermons adds an additional dimension and opportunity to become personal with the disciple. Increasing knowledge will be of limited value if it is not accompanied by an increasing walk in holiness with God (1 Peter 1:15-16). What comes while discussing scripture passages and sermons may slow down the process of working through the study material in  One-to-One Discipling, but the extra time is more than worth it in developing the disciple as a maturing follower of Jesus. The goal is to help the disciple to become like Christ. The personal relationship is critical to that process and becomes the model for the disciple to follow in ministering to others in the future. The material in One to One Discipling is only a tool toward that endeavor.

The  One-to-One Discipling material covers both establishing the basics of Christian spiritual disciplines and teaching the necessary subjects to know and walk with God. These include: Assurance of Salvation, Attributes of God, The Bible, Prayer, The Spirit-Filled Life, Fellowship, Witnessing, Temptation and Obedience. While most basic discipleship material covers most of these subjects, there are few that cover all of them. These lessons enable the disciple to develop basic Christian maturity in a period of months instead of the years it usually takes in normal church life because they are learned haphazardly. In addition, the design is to equip the disciple to use the same process with a new or less mature believer.

The two additional lessons on the two ordinances (Baptism & Communion) and Church Body Life and suggestions on using the material are available in PDF format from the GraceBibleNY.org web page as follows: