checkpoints

i ate lunch with j.t. today (in our never ending conversation to start something new around baton rouge) and he mentioned student life bible study's six year plan. the plan is what they want a student to know by by six years within their studies. here's what it looks like:

CHRIST

• the life of CHIRST
  
• the basis of faith

covenant

• law and grace
  
• the foundations of ethical living

character

• old testament people
  
• the development of character

consecration

• the theology of paul
  
• discipline of a biblical worldview

community

• the new testament church
  
• essence of fellowship

commission

• wisdom & prophetic literature
  
• the frameworks for a passionate life

of course, you can also use andy stanley's seven checkpoints of youth ministry as an example. again this is what their student ministry wants it's teens to have experienced by the time they leave the student ministry. stanley's seven checkpoints are:

• authentic faith
  
• spiritual disciplines
  
• moral boundaries
  
• healthy friendships
  
• wise choices
  
• ultimate authority
  
• others first
  

j.t.'s statement got me thinking about a study i had done four years ago. i went through the gospels looking at every time the word "disciple" occurred. what i discovered was that discipleship isn't so much a step by step plan as it is walking along side someone else who has been walking with CHRIST longer and deeper than you have yet experienced. during that study i mapped out the basics of what i think a disciple of CHRIST would ideally look like (i.e. nobody actually looks like this because none of us are "ideal" disciples). here's what i wrote out:

if i were to do this today i would word things a little and focus more on the "walk." yet i guess it is still close to what i use as a guide directing my goals for what i hope our students learn concerning being a disciple of CHRIST.