Monday, September 18, 2006

FAQ: What is Seeker, Learner, Influencer, and Investor?

Seeker, Learner, Influencer, and Investor provides the framework for our discipleship strategy. The first step of designing any discipleship strategy is to define what a fully devoted follower of Christ looks like. Acts 2 gives us a glimpse of the early church and profiles of fully devoted followers of Christ:

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Everyday they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

This passage highlights 4 dimensions of discipleship. They were “filled with awe” and "many miraculous signs and wonders were done"—that's the spiritual or Seeker dimension. They were “devoted to the apostle’s teaching”—that's the intellectual or Learner dimension. They “had everything in common” and “enjoy[ed] the favor of all the people” and "the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved" — that's the relational or Influencer dimension. And “they gave to anyone as he had need” —that's the stewardship or Investor dimension.

So that's our discipleship goal: to produce seekers, learners, influencers, and investors.

Seeking is the spiritual dimension of discipleship. We want to produce disciples who practice spiritual disciplines, discover and implement their spiritual gifts, develop the fruit of the Spirit, understand and participate in the work of the Holy Spirit, and engage in spiritual warfare.

Learning is the intellectual dimension of discipleship. We want to produce disciples who endeavor to have the “mind of Christ” and long to know more about Him. We want to produce people who are actively reading, memorizing, meditating upon, and studying the Word of God. We want to produce people who understand the core doctrines of their faith.

Influencing is the relational dimension of discipleship. We want to produce disciples who share their faith with those inside the church through discipleship and share their faith with those outside the church through evangelism. We want to influence neighborhoods and nations for the Kingdom of God.

Investing is the stewardship dimension of discipleship. We believe want to produce disciples who are investing their finances, talents, time, energy, and resources into Kingdom work. We want to produce disciples whose calendars and checkbooks reflect Kingdom priorities.

Seeking, Learning, Influencing, and Investing provide the framework for our discipleship strategies. It is not a linear process. Rather, it is a life-long process of discovery and growth.

Read more here:

Seeking

Learning

Influencing

Investing



0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home