Your discipleship group will have three tracks to choose from for your two years together. Whatever you choose, the primary vision and method will be the same!
Our Vision: Every man a maturing disciple of Jesus, every man a disciple maker, to the Glory of God.
Our Method: The Discipleship Journey revolves around personal discipleship relationships. This is our vision for personal discipleship: gospel-driven, life-on-life relationships, in which followers of Jesus invest in a few others so that—by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God—participants become maturing followers of Jesus, able to shepherd others to maturity in Christ.
Here is what will be the same for all three tracks:
Groups of three or four coming to a once-a-week “come as you are” meeting
Sincere life-on-life friendship
Personal time and group discussion that helps apply Jesus’s Good News to everyday life
Confidentiality and life-change accountability
A group covenant, including an emphasis on multiplication
Doing a “Discipleship Journey Guide Week” monthly; the Guides allows us to discuss key aspects of being a disciple and disciple maker and how to take next steps in our daily lives.
A group leader who starts the group, sets an example of vulnerability and “being in it together” (for example, asking good questions and not talking noticeably more than the others) and gives the other participants opportunities to lead
1) Discipleship Essentials Track (full Introduction here)
What: You will go through 24 thematic chapters in the book Discipleship Essentials that incorporate different lesson types: a core truth, memory verse, inductive Bible study, and an article.
Strength: Discipleship Essentials strongly casts the vision of being a disciple and disciple maker. Its variety of lesson types hammer home key aspects of this vision: growing in Christ, understanding the message of Christ, becoming like Christ, and serving Christ. It will help you grow in being a faithful, lifelong disciple and disciple maker.
Weekly “on own” commitment:
1st week of month: do Core Truth page & Memory Verse page
2nd week of month: do Inductive Bible Study page
3rd week of month: do Reading page
4th week of month: do Guide Week in the Discipleship Journey Guidebook
Bookmarks*** are available with a calendar to help you and your group stay on track.
Weekly group discussion: You’ll discuss exactly what you did for the “on own” commitment each week.
2) Behold Track (full Introduction here)
What: You will read and be immersed in God’s Word and, for every passage, see how God is the gracious remedy to a specific aspect of your fallenness, be led to consider how to respond, and be guided into prayer.
Strength: Behold is designed to help you grow in your intimacy with God as you directly experience the beauty and diversity of God’s Word. It will help you strengthen the habit of spending intentional time with God and will also equip you to help others experience him. To be a faithful disciple maker you need to personally and consistently experience God’s Word and behold how Jesus is always with you.
Weekly “on own” commitment:
You will utilize a series of bookmarks*** (available here) that both list small, daily passages of books of the Bible to read, 5 days a week, and have guiding questions that will lead you to meditate on the passage and into prayer.
The 4th week of the month: you will also do the Guide Week in the Discipleship Journey Guidebook.
Weekly group discussion:
For 3 weeks of the month, you will discuss one of the passages that you read that week and your answers to the guiding questions on the bookmark.
The 4th week of the month: you will discuss the Guide Week in the Discipleship Journey Guidebook.
Response page: If you’d like, you can print off a response page for your answers.
3) New Morning Mercies Track (full Introduction here)
What: You will be read one-page daily gospel devotionals in New Morning Mercies and, each day, see how God is the gracious remedy to a specific aspect of your fallenness, be led to consider how to respond, and be guided into prayer.
Strength: New Morning Mercies will help you grow in your intimacy with God as you spend a brief time with God each day. The author readily pinpoints scores of ways that we’re broken and how God meets all of our needs. He also lists an optional Bible passage for each day. New Morning Mercies will help you strengthen the habit of spending time with God and will also equip you to help others experience him. To be a faithful disciple maker you need to meet with the Lord and experience his grace every day.
Weekly “on own” commitment:
Every day of the year, you will read the dated page and you will utilize a bookmark*** that has guiding questions that will lead you to meditate on what God reveals and into prayer.
For 1 day a week, you will also read and reflect on the Bible passage listed at the bottom of the page (obviously, for any day, you may read the listed passage).
The 4th week of the month: you will also do the Guide Week in the Discipleship Journey Guidebook.
Weekly group discussion:
For 3 weeks of the month, you will discuss one of the days that you read that week, the listed Bible passage, and your answers to the guiding questions on the bookmark.
The 4th week of the month: you will discuss the Guide Week in the Discipleship Journey Guidebook.
Response page: If you’d like, you can print off a response page for your answers.
*** If you’re starting your own group at a different time than our standard cycle, you can simply print off the bookmarks for your group, scratch out the incorrect dates, and mark off the weeks as you go. Or, you can contact us (via the “Contact” button on the djourney.org/starting page) and we might be able to update the dates on one of the bookmarks for your group and send them to you.