A Discipleship Pathway Designed for You
As Christians, we are all called to be disciples of Jesus, to follow him, become like him, and to do the things that he did on earth. While the goal is the same for everyone, the starting point for each individual is different based on their background and beliefs. Just as a route plan to a destination changes based on the starting location, so does our walk in faith. The next steps for someone else, might not be right for you. So we've provided a tool to help YOU take the next right steps in your discipleship pathway.
Becoming Like Jesus
Jesus exampled 8 different principles throughout his life and ministry. In our journey as disciples, we seek to grow in each of these principles. While certain areas may come more naturally to us, others may prove to be more challenging and require us to study, learn, and grow.
Click the buttons below to learn more on how you can grow in each area..
Click the buttons below to learn more on how you can grow in each area..
Healing & Forgiveness
Actively seeking God's healing in your life and helping guide others to do the same as you walk unoffendable in God's forgiveness.
- BEGINNER– You greatly desire to experience healing but have spent much of your spiritual journey attempting to heal yourself. Your next steps in this area will be to seek God’s healing.
- INTERMEDIATE– You have experienced trauma in your life that you believed you have “moved on” from but have yet to feel free from, still finding it painful to even think about. Guided focus on the root cause and beliefs that resulted from that pain will help greatly with your healing.
- ADVANCED– You recognize your need to focus on healing and are committed to going deeper, sharing, and growing with others as you each seek to not just know about, but experience the love and comfort of Jesus. Joining in community with other dedicated individuals will help you.
- EXPERT– You regularly find yourself taking every thought captive and experience actual healing and forgiveness toward yourself and others. You instinctually connect with and guide others toward the healing work of Christ.
Dialogue with God
Listening to God's voice as you walk in companionship with his Holy Spirit in your daily life.
- BEGINNER– Prayer to God, let alone dialogue with Him, has been a confusing practice for you. You desire to talk with and hear from God, but simply don’t know where to start. Some beginning guidance will be a great start for you.
- INTERMEDIATE– You have experience praying to God but feel like your prayers might need some maturing. You read Scripture but feel like you may not be getting as much out of it as you should. Understanding how to engage in God’s written word will impact your dialogue with Him.
- ADVANCED– You have an active prayer-life and regularly spend time engaging in Scripture. Though you have no struggles in speaking to God, listening to him and hearing from him are both a desire and focus for your best next steps.
- EXPERT– Practicing quality prayer time and dialogue with God is a priority and driving force for you in your discipleship journey. Seeking new ways to engage and expand your prayer-life and help others along the way will be a blessing for you.
Self-Awareness
Knowing who you are, who God is, and who you are to Him grounds you in your communication with others around you.
- BEGINNER– You are fresh on this journey of self-awareness. Being aware of your emotions or expressing them to others may be a new territory for you or one that you have more time avoiding than dealing with. Better understanding how God has uniquely designed you and created you will be a great next step on your journey.
- INTERMEDIATE– You have a pretty good idea that the way you currently express your emotions and/or the behaviors that result from them, probably aren’t the best options. Getting to the core issues of your emotions, triggers, and behaviors will benefit you greatly.
- ADVANCED– You’re aware of your emotions but still seek guidance on how and where to continue to grow in your personal spiritual development. Sharing and growing with others in this area will continue to strengthen you in this area.
- EXPERT– You have solid self-awareness and exhibit a healthy balance of self-control and openness with those around you. Diving deeper and leading others in this area will benefit both your journey and theirs.
Trust & Surrender
Obedience means joy as you surrender the results to God and trust in his will, walking daily in faith of our Lord.
- BEGINNER– Trusting someone (especially one you cannot see) might be new, and possibly scary, territory for you. Understanding God’s faithfulness and working throughout your life will be a helpful tool on your journey.
- INTERMEDIATE– You’re familiar with the need to trust God but may not be sure what exactly what that looks like in your daily life and walk as a disciple. Coming alongside others and sharing both your struggles and surrenders will help you grow and discover the freedom of trusting God.
- ADVANCED– You’ve experienced the blessing of trusting God and practice surrendering much of your life, your time, talents, and resources to His will. Get ready to go deeper and begin trusting every aspect of your life to God.
- EXPERT– Trusting God with the life and resources he has entrusted to you is a top priority in your life. You persistently seek out God’s will and how you can join in his work. Sharing your journey with others and leading them in this area will strengthen your surrender to Him.
Humility & Openness
Fearlessly sharing your heart with others, serving them with humility and living out God’s grace.
- BEGINNER– You aren’t very open with most others and fear what others might think of you if they knew the “real” you. You find that many of your conversations and relationships are shallow, avoiding anything that could be unpleasant. Take some small steps toward being vulnerable with others.
- INTERMEDIATE– You’ve been told that “protecting” yourself has made you strong, but you still find yourself being offended and upset over things that don’t seem to bother others. You find yourself defending your mistakes more than owning them, but you desire a different life without offense.
- ADVANCED– You are pretty good about living out of your unoffendable identity in Christ, however you know there are a few specific areas you need and want to grow in. Building on what you’ve learned so far and going deeper will help you.
- EXPERT– You fearlessly share your heart with others, own your mistakes, and move forward with humility and understanding of God’s grace. It takes great effort for you to be offended by others which makes you a perfect guide for others growing in this area.
Healthy Boundaries
Utilizing the discernment of Christ's Spirit, you enjoy margin in your life so that you can love and serve from a fresh heart and rested soul.
- BEGINNER– Saying “no” to other’s requests is completely foreign to you. You find yourself doing more than you have time to and are exhausted by the stress and burden of feeling like you have to say “yes” to everything.
- INTERMEDIATE– You know that your calendar shouldn’t be as full as it is but feel a unique responsibility to take care of or be involved with several “good” things going on around you in family, work, and church. Setting right boundaries will help.
- ADVANCED– You have healthy boundaries in many areas and enjoy having margin in your life. You are moving forward from saying “no” to good things but are now looking for direction on how to say “yes” to great things from God.
- EXPERT– You experience a healthy balance of obeying God’s will and allowing his Spirit to fill and refresh you. You are honed in on pursuing God’s kingdom above all else and have witnessed blessings and miracles in and around your life as a result. Others would greatly benefit from your testimony.
Loving Well
Sharing others burdens, cares, joy, and tears comes natural to you as you seek to share the love you've received from God with everyone around you.
- BEGINNER– Judging others and making assumptions feels like second nature to you, while empathy and understanding seem like something you really have to work for. You have a basic understanding of the example of “loving well” that Christ lived out, but you struggle to live it out yourself.
- INTERMEDIATE– You’ve felt that familiar tug that you should be more involved in the life of your church. You’ve attended a study or two or served once or twice, but your soul desires to connect with people more deeply and to serve them in the needs they have with the gifts and calling God has given you.
- ADVANCED– You enjoy connecting with others and seeing how God has equipped and gifted you to help guide them and walk alongside them in their journey. You sacrifice for others without resentment or entitlement, and you are looking to discover more specifically what God has called you to.
- EXPERT– “Loving others as yourself” is your DNA and it shows to everyone around you. You are people’s natural pick to come to for advice, comfort, assistance, or simply a listening ear. Being an example for others will help extend the love you have.
Biblical Worldview
Grounded in biblical perspective, you stand firm in the Truth of Jesus and share it in your everyday life.
- BEGINNER– Understanding the Bible might be intimidating for you. You might have tried a reading plan in the past but didn’t get anything out of it. You rely more on what your heart is telling you than try to discern the “ancient message” in God’s written word… however your heart hasn’t always been the best leader.
- INTERMEDIATE– You have a basic understanding of the Bible but still have a lot of questions and aren’t sure exactly where to go or who to speak to for answers. Intense Bible studies overwhelm you and you would benefit more from having someone come alongside you and guide through God’s written word.
- ADVANCED– You’re familiar with Scripture and know where each book of the Bible is and even have some key verses memorized. You desire to go deeper in your understanding of the context and purpose of Scripture and how to better apply it to your daily walk and worldview as a disciple of Jesus.
- EXPERT– You feel you have a strong Biblical worldview and turn to God’s written word for perspective more than you do the news or social media. You have God’s word written on your heart and those around you seek you out for answers.
GET CONNECTED
Matt Olin
Discipleship Pastor
matt@ouracc.org
