LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Analysis of the Spheres and Stages of Discipleship
Submitted to Dr. Donald Hicks
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 500 – C01
Discipleship Ministries
by
Luke Lethco
1
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Contents
Introduction
Stages of Discipleship
Stage 1: Spiritually Dead
Stage 2: Spiritual Infancy
Stage 3: Spiritual Child
Stage 4: Spiritually Young
Stage 5: Spiritual Parent hood
Personal Examination
Spheres of Life
Sphere 1: Relationship with God
Sphere 2: Relationship with the Community
Sphere 3: Relationship with Family
Sphere 4: Relationship with the World
Personal Examination
Conclusion
2
Introduction
When considering the spiritual Growth of a person there are several things that are vital
to remember. First one must remember that “spiritual formation is the
process
1
of being changed
to be more like Jesus.”
2
With the understanding that the formation of a person is a process one
must remember that “people are complex; growth is multifaceted, even as it shows itself in
traceable patters.”
3
What the author here is implying is that the growth of a person should be seen
often as “cyclical,”
4
and not necessarily linear. Secondly one must recognize that Christian
growth takes the entirety of the person’s life there can be no half Christian. For the Christian this
means that for the Christian, “living on mission is not the career of a select few. It is the calling
of
all
disciples, commission to
all
disciples, and command for
all
disciples. We are all called as
missionaries.”
5
Christian growth should therefore infect every sphere in which the person
operates. “Any disciple-making strategy that merely adds Jesus to already busy lives is doomed
for failure.”
6
Finally, it is important to recognize the stage of spiritual growth in which a person is
operating, in order to disciple them appropriately. The ability for one to acknowledge the stages
of a person’s faith journey is worked pioneered by James Fowler. “By situating faith
development squarely within the domain of human development process, he has ‘dispelled the
1
Emphasis added
2
Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey,
Spiritual Formation is…: How to Grow in Jesus with
Passion and Confidence (
Nashville: B&H Academics, 20181), 4.
3
Jim Putman & Bobby Harrington,
Disciple Shift: Five steps that help your church to
make Disciples who Make Disciples,
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 73.
4
Ibid.
5
Dave Earley and Rod Dempsey,
Disciple Making are…: How to live the Great
Commission with Passion and Confidence (
Nashville: B&H Academics, 2013), 78.
6
Ibid.,86.
3
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notion that faith is above nature and therefore inaccessible to scientific investigation.”
7
Plotting
the stages of spiritual development is therefore, not only possible but productive in
understanding spiritual growth. This reality is made clear through the writer of Hebrews stating,
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the
basic principles of the oracles of God. You need mild, not solid food” (Hebrews 5:12 ESV).
- Fall '13
