Discipleship and Formation

Life in Christ.
Formation in community.

Discipleship and formation are directed toward union with Christ in the Spirit of God. The church’s leaders, relationships, practices, and systems help sustain a shared life of growth in Christ.

01 / Our shared language

Discipleship and Formation

Union with Christ. Life in the Spirit.

The purpose of discipleship and formation is union with Christ in the Spirit of God. Discipleship is lifelong participation in Christ through the practices, relationships, and shared life in which the Spirit makes us a new creation and forms us into Christlikeness. Rooted in grace, this life takes shape through repentance, worship, spiritual disciplines, faithful obedience, and love of God and neighbor.

To be a disciple is to engage in the practices, relationships, and shared life through which the Spirit forms us in Christ. Formation is intrinsic to discipleship: it describes the transforming work of the Spirit within this life of following and participating in Christ.

Grounded in grace, this life involves learning to live from our identity in Christ through Scripture, prayer, confession, Sabbath, worship, relationships, service, and everyday responsibility. We accompany one another, learn faithful obedience, and participate in God’s redemptive work through love of God and neighbor.

Through this shared life, the Spirit shapes our identity, desires, understanding, character, and capacities. Repentance and sanctification belong within discipleship as we turn toward God and learn to embody Christ’s life in our relationships, decisions, and responsibilities.

A discipleship framework connects this purpose with opportunities for challenge, reflection, support, and practice. It helps the church give people room to examine assumptions, take responsibility, and live their faith with others.

The church’s shared life

People are shaped by how a community handles questions, relationships, authority, responsibility, conflict, and belonging—as well as by its formal teaching. The church must therefore be intentional about how it develops leaders, the culture it inculcates, the systems it creates, and the programming it uses to support this life of discipleship and the Spirit’s forming work within it.

Where vertical development fits

Vertical development concerns changes in the capacities through which people understand themselves, relate to others, and exercise judgment. Those capacities can support deeper reflection, responsible agency, and mature interdependence. These growing capacities serve the purpose of discipleship when they deepen our participation in Christ’s life and find expression in love, faithful discernment, service, and communion with God and one another.

For a fuller exploration of how Christian life may be expressed across developmental stages, read Mapping Theosis.

These connections give discipleship a place in everyday decisions, relationships, and responsibilities. The church becomes a community in which people can keep learning, practice faithful discernment, and give and receive care.

Explore the supporting foundations

02 / The church as a holding environment

Belonging, challenge,
reflection, and support.

A holding environment is the pattern of relationships, practices, and structures that sustains people as they encounter questions and experiences that unsettle their existing understanding. It brings together enduring belonging, meaningful challenge, reflective accompaniment, and room to exercise judgment. In a church, these conditions take shape through the connected facets of congregational life, with participation in Christ as their shared purpose.

A discipleship framework helps a church connect these parts of its shared life. Explore What Is a Discipleship Framework?

03 / Formation in everyday life

How the whole church
might support growth

Illustrative example

When familiar answers no longer seem enough

Imagine a longtime church member who becomes the primary caregiver for an aging parent. As illness continues despite prayer, they struggle to reconcile what they believe about God’s care with what they are experiencing. They wonder whether their frustration reveals a lack of faith—and whether they can speak honestly about it at church.

During a conversation with a trusted leader, they begin to tentatively share these questions. The leader listens without rushing to explain the suffering or supply an answer. As they talk, the leader notices an expectation beneath their disappointment and gently names it: “It sounds as though you were expecting that faithful prayer would lead to recovery. Is that a fair assessment?” The gentle and empathetic pushback helps the member recognize an assumption they had probably held, but never really interrogated. Together, they explore it through Scripture, including the Psalms of lament and Christ’s prayer in Gethsemane. Within a relationship of trust, the member begins to reconsider what it means to pray, to trust God, and to be faithful.

That pattern of reflection becomes part of their everyday life. They bring grief and frustration into prayer, return to passages of Scripture, and continue worshiping with others. Their small group stays in touch and welcomes the questions that arise. Members of the congregation arrange meals, visits, and respite, making it possible for them to rest. With support, they begin to develop a perspective on faith and suffering for themselves. They begin to take responsibility for their understanding.

Over time, their understanding of faithfulness begins to deepen. They learn to pray without knowing how things will turn out, to acknowledge their limits, and to receive care as well as give it. As they make difficult decisions about their parent’s needs, they draw on Scripture, the wisdom of their community, and their growing capacity for faithful discernment. Questions remain, but they are learning to live through them in relationship with Christ and others.

What would someone in this situation experience in your church—and what would your leaders, relationships, and shared practices need to provide to support their growth in Christ?

Begin with the questions you already have.

Explore how 7Mile helps your church develop the leaders, culture, and practices that support this life of discipleship.

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