GRIP 2.0

Growth Inventory and Plan

Preamble

As a local church, we understand our mission as “To glorify God by being disciples in a disciple-making community of Jesus Christ.” This means that as a community, we continually seek to establish and equip one another, as well as evangelise others winsomely to be followers of Jesus. But how does a disciple look like? How do we know whether we have hit the mark?

Well, there are at least four integral aspects of a disciple of Jesus

1. Head (knowledge and wisdom);
2. Heart (conviction and character);
3. Hands (life skills); and
4. Feet (relationships).

While these are four different aspects, they are also very much integrated. In this regard, we seek to develop each aspect in a holistic manner. We encourage our believers to be taking personal ownership of their spiritual formation and growth and the church seeks to work alongside the disciple to provide the community and the resources for such nurturing.

Of course, each of us is at different stages of our spiritual formation. Some of us are new disciples, while others are maturing disciples. Although we know we will never become fully mature on this side of heaven, it is still our goal – to be fully mature disciples of Jesus.

How does a maturing disciple look like?

A maturing or growing disciple is someone who is a follower of Jesus Christ and who is keen about his spiritual well-being or spiritual formation. Spiritual formation is a lifelong process of becoming more like Christ, reflecting more and more of his image in every aspect of our lives. Jonathan Edwards, the great eighteenth-century Puritan preacher and leader of the Great Awakening, did a weekly self-check, summing up how he was doing and seeking God’s help in the process of a growing number of personal resolutions. At the age of seventeen he penned twenty-one resolutions by which he would live his life. While it doesn’t take twenty-one resolutions for us to live a spiritually transformed life, it certainly requires that we resolve to daily attend to the state of our souls.

How do we know that we are indeed growing as disciples? Well, growing disciples are fundamentally marked by a deep desire to: i) love God; and ii) love others (believers and pre-believers). In turn these are evidenced by the fruit one produces in one’s life (such as a godly character; God-honouring lifestyles and relationships, winsome demeanour, etc).

In order to produce such fruit, one is totally dependent on the Holy Spirit. Yet at the same time, one needs to cultivate suitable spiritual disciplines and practices so as to allow the Spirit to undertake His transformative work. Some specific characteristics of a disciple include:

1. Surrenders and submits to God in worship
2. Studies and applies God’s Word
3. Relies on God in prayerfulness
4. Grows interdependently in community
5. Serves joyfully within and without the church
6. Relates winsomely to pre-believers
7. Lives out life’s vocation faithfully
8. Seeks to make other disciples intentionally

Incidentally, these characteristics are consistent with the Core Values and Mission of the Church, which expresses our aspirations of commitments to worship; the Word of God; grow spiritually; prayer; build godly families; strengthen biblical community; serve; share the gospel; and make other disciples of Christ.

So am I a maturing disciple?

In order to assist you take stock of your personal spiritual progress and where God wants you to work on next in your life, this self-administered inventory has been designed. Sections 1 - 5 relates to how we grow. Section 6 relates to how we serve and Sections 7 - 8 to how we reach out to pre-believers and reproduce as disciple-makers.

To make use of this GRIP well, please note the following:

1. We encourage a sincere honesty and ‘sober judgement’ before God to “know where I am as a disciple.”
2. In Part II, we encourage you to review the questionnaire and plan simple action steps in order to help you grow.
3. We encourage you to share these action steps with other mature Christian(s), who can pray for you and keep you accountable.
4. GRIP does not measure how spiritual you are. It is not designed to be an exhaustive or conclusive spiritual “thermometer.” It is meant to be used as a tool and guide to ascertain where we have grown or need to grow. It is also a helpful tool for monitoring your own spiritual development and growth when you look back at your previous GRIPs.

We invite you to commit this process to the Lord in prayer. Please begin when you are ready.

Instruction

Go through the questions and rate yourself between the score of 1 to 5. In order to have a true assessment of yourself, try not to take more than 10 seconds to answer each question.

1: Never true of me
2: Seldom true of me (just beginning)
3: Sometimes/ occasionally true of me
4: Often/ usually true of me (getting going)
5: Always true of me (well developed)

The questions you have answered cover eight characteristics of a disciple’s life. The score of these areas will indicate what action(s) you need to take for each area. Besides the absolute scores, you may also want to compare each category with the Scores of the GRIP you have done previously to see how you have grown. You are encouraged to share with or get assistance from any one of the church staff team members, church leaders, CARE Group leaders.

Surrenders and submits to God in worship

The worship and lordship of Christ in your life seems to be weak. Examine your life in this area and start working on one weak aspect in this area. Be sure to keep a regular daily devotional time with God.