6 Elements of Student Discipleship and Heart Transformation
In his letter to the Philippian church the Apostle Paul reveals that his consistent prayer for them is, “that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11). This prayer makes clear that Paul clearly understood the vital role of the affections in the spiritual growth and maturity of believers.
For a long time in my ministry to students I operated from the false assumption that if I simply taught them the right things they would do the right things. But, especially as I have spent a good amount of time focusing on Paul’s objectives for spiritual growth found in his prayers for believers, I have realized the truth of what James K. A. Smith articulates when he asks his reader, “Do you ever experience a gap between what you know and what you do?”(1) We simply cannot neglect the affections while majoring exclusively on the cognitive and behavioral and expect to see the spiritual fruit of maturity fully blossom within the lives of students.
Due to the Scriptural truth that, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick” (Jeremiah 17:9), intentional heart formation must include consistent reflection for the purpose of assessment. Because “our thought life is shaped and manipulated by the state of the whole heart and its wider and deeper agenda,”(2) student ministry leaders should lead students in consistent introspection that seeks to evaluate the state of their hearts and the aim of their love. This is a crucial aspect of “weighing our love,” as Smith writes, or evaluating how in tune a believer’s heart is with the heart and love of God. Students will not come to attain the ability to approve what is excellent by the teaching they encounter in student ministry alone; they will only be able to approve what is excellent as their hearts become more attuned with the person and character of God.
In thinking about the need for such assessment, I have developed a tool that includes six elements of evaluation for students to use in introspection for the purpose of heart assessment. Student pastors can aid students in utilizing this tool formally on a consistent basis. They can also produce such a tool in a form that students may use on their own. We have created bookmarks with these six elements for them to keep in their Bibles. Leaders can also encourage parents (as the primary faith influencers of their kids) to use this tool in evaluating their own hearts and as a tool for family discipleship.
The six elements, along with corresponding questions and passages of Scripture, as proposed include:
Element 1: Communion
The Key Question: How would you describe your current personal relationship and walk with Jesus? (John 15:4-5)
Element 2: Sin
The Key Question: Are you currently struggling with any specific sins of omission or commission for which you need to confess or repent? (1 John 1:7-10)
Element 3: Affection
The Key Question: What does your life reveal about the aim and direction of your heart, or affections? (Colossians 3:1; Matthew 6:21)
Element 4: Consumption
The Key Question: Are the things you are consuming promoting health and life, or corruption and death? (1 John 2:15-17)
Element 5: Impact
The Key Question: What is the current impact of your life on others within your scope of influence? (Philippians 3:17; Proverbs 27:17)
Element 6: Expression
The Key Question: Is there anything you can point to in the outward expression of your life that reveals the reality of ongoing inward transformation? (Galatians 5:22-23)
This is a tool that student ministry leaders might consider using in small groups, offering students an opportunity to discuss it together. Leaders may also consider using it during a spiritual retreat, offering students extended opportunities for self-reflection. Parents can also use this list in a variety of ways. They might consider using the various elements as deliberate discussion starters, both with individual children and in family worship. This tool offers a wonderful opportunity for parents to model honest assessment, confession, and repentance. They might also use this as a framework for setting objectives for the family to pursue together, or for clarifying family boundaries.
Smith refers to discipleship as “more a matter of reformation than of acquiring information.”(3) Because of this he urges his readers to view it as “a way to curate your heart, to be attentive to and intentional about what you love.”(4) This tool for evaluation offers the opportunity for heart calibration to everyone who uses it consistently. Smith urges his reader to “think of the heart as the fulcrum of your most fundamental longings—a visceral, subconscious orientation to the world.”(5) Consistent assessment using this sort of tool allows us to bring what may exist on the level of subconscious to the surface so that we may consciously evaluate the aim of such an orientation of our hearts. It causes us to work backwards, in a sense. And in a world that works so intentionally to (de)form our hearts and shape this orientation, this tool allows the light of the truth to illuminate what we may not naturally perceive for ourselves each day.
James K. A. Smith. You Are What You Love. (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2016), p. 5.
A. Craig Troxel. With All Your Heart. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), p. 34.
Smith, p. 19.
Smith, p. 2.
Smith, p. 8.