1. Why are some Christians reluctant to make a commitment to mentoring a new believer?
Consider these:

I don’t feel adequate
That’s not my gift
I don’t have enough Biblical understanding
I don’t want to be a hypocrite
I’m too busy, over committed; etc.

These reasons are usually based on one’s appraisal of personal capabilities, rather than faith in God’s capabilities. Many such Christians would greatly benefit from being trained as disciplers.

How many parents would have kids if they had waited until they felt their parenting skills were adequate? Have any of these reasons affected you either in the past or present in regards to spiritually mentoring a new believer?

2. How have you been personally impacted by the modeling of other Christians? Has it had a positive or negative impact on your life?

3. Personal discipleship serves to acquaint the newer believer with the general goals that God has for their life and with the process by which God typically accomplishes spiritual growth.

Because each Christian is unique, only the Holy Spirit can be in charge of the spiritual growth process.

Through personal discipleship, our intent is to shorten the time required for the newer believer to learn how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the process of spiritual growth. What do you believe should be the anticipated spiritual results of healthy discipleship? Why?

4. Ideally every new Christian should be individually mentored in order to help them in the transition from self-reliance to an increasing God-reliance, as clearly contrasted in Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.

Sadly, older Christians, who have not yet acknowledged His Lordship, will often have an increasing measure of resistance to changes, since they typically will have become accustomed to a somewhat manageable Christian lifestyle. (behavior manipulation)

Persecution and crisis are instruments that God uses to accelerate the transition to God-reliance. We need to be alert for Christians who have recently passed through a crisis and are now ready to acknowledge His Lordship over their life.

It is the Holy Spirit’s job to coordinate crisis, and my responsibility to be available to Him when He wants to use me in the life of another who is responding to Him.

5. If someone were to ask you to describe a “biblical disciple”, how would you respond?

6. Do you believe that you know what spiritual gift(s) you have been given by the Holy Spirit? If so, how have you drawn this conclusion?

Is it from observing the Lord’s involvement in your life?
How has He been using you to spiritually benefit others?
Has anyone else commented to you regarding your spiritual engiftedness?

Now that you have the tools in place…who is God leading you to mentor?

For Further Study

Many church leaders would agree that the body of Christ should be having a greater impact on the world. There are a myriad of reasons why the Church is not spiritually healthier.

In our document “Redefining Discipleship”, DTI presents what we believe is the single biggest reason for the prevalent spiritual weakness in the Body of Christ and biblical solutions to reverse that trend.

This resource is located on our web site in the Mentor Training section. Click here to access it.

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2-5 Mentor Training Discussion Topics