Discipleship Pathway

Discipleship Pathway

There are two Discipleship Pathways we have available for increasing Biblical and Practical content area knowledge. We view our home fellowships as “on-the-job-training” where we practice praying, digging into Scripture, obedience based application, sharing how to reach out to neighbors and family, leading Bible discussions, etc.. Everyone is being “trained” whether they realize it or not. For links to additional online classes and digital Bible study resources, look at the “Learning Resources” page, which also includes information about Book Club.

It should be noted that Discipleship is ultimately about what you do and who you are, rather than what you know. For example, you can study about prayer, but are you actually praying and do you have an attitude of constant communication with God? You can learn how to share the gospel, but do you share it and are you making the most of opportunities presented? When studying Scripture, do you apply it in your life or is it only an academic exercise? In addition to the knowing and the doing, there must be a Holy Spirit driven passion and motivation. Without this, a focus on knowing/doing becomes legalism. These three elements can be illustrated as head (knowing), heart (passion/motivation), and hands (doing). All three are necessary to truly live the life of a disciple.

Two Tracks

Since we have a distributed home based model, we cannot gather frequently for teaching and training groups. For this reason our primary discipleship pathway is through use of selected books in specific content areas to establish a well rounded foundation of knowledge. Two tracks are available, the Foundations for Discipleship track and the Mentorship track. We encourage every person that is part of Restoration Fellowship Network to complete the Foundations track. The Mentorship track is more comprehensive and requires a minimum commitment of between one and two years to complete. This pathway also involves meeting with a mentor at least monthly until all the required readings are complete. The purpose of mentoring is to help you move beyond understanding and into implementation. You do not begin this track until you have completed the Foundations track. (request a mentor) (Disciples Path Challenge)

Content Areas

The six content areas and selected books listed below serve as the material for our Discipleship training pathways. The first two books in each content area are marked with an asterisk. These are the required titles to read on your own, or during Book Club, for the Foundations for Discipleship track. 

Once these are completed you may wish to pursue the Mentorship track which involves reading four additional books in each content area as well as a minimum of monthly Mentorship meetings. In addition to the Foundations for Discipleship certificate, you can receive a certificate in each of the focused content areas by completing a total of six books in the category. (Those books followed by a “2” count as two books). Earn additional certificates in:

History of Christianity
Biblical Studies
Evangelism and Discipleship
Spiritual Disciplines
Belief and Theology
Microchurch Development

Once you have completed the Mentorship track, you are eligible to be considered for mentoring others. Books identified for the Content Areas are listed below.