Stride: Creating a Discipleship Pathway for Your Church

by Mike Schreiner, Mike Schreiner

Churches of all types around the country are struggling. The more programs they try the more evident it becomes that there is no quick fix or secret formula to help them out of their rut. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement, once said, “The way to keep a Methodist alive is to keep him moving.”

It is time to recapture this simple yet profound truth and get back to the basics of making fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. The authors developed and launched a highly successful pathway to discipleship in their church (Morning Star UMC, in St.Louis). Here, they show others how to create a successful discipleship pathway for their own particular contexts, based on the principles developed at Morning Star.

Willard and Schreiner share the process of developing a discipleship pathway that meets individual people where they are. They provide examples of each element and practical instruction on how to plan, implement and sustain the discipleship pathway. The authors are teaching this material in conferences around the UM connection, from New Mexico to Missouri. They also share examples of how the pathway works in other churches.

For small group study participants working through Stride , the Stride Participant Book (ISBN 9781501876257 ), a workbook designed to facilitate individual work on creating a discipleship pathway, is available to purchase separately.

Genres: Discipleship

106 pages, Paperback

Published October 17, 2017

Reviews

[Rev. Val Ohle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is well written, includes good resources and offers numerous recommendations for deeper learning. If you're creative, there are things that can be learned from this book regardless; prioritizing the making of disciples over headcounts, etc.

Unfortunately, the authors give you suggested plans of action that assume you have the resources (people, money, equipment, staff, etc) to pull off those plans. In a church with an active congregation of 50 or less, even if that congregation was fairly spiritually mature, carrying out the plans would be a challenge. If you are in the process of reviving a declining church with a tiny congregation, I don't think this book is the ultimate solution, but you can glean some wisdom and encouragement from it anyway.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting especially for their pathway, how they communicated it, and the suggestions for communicating one once created. Some of the content is Presbyterian or mainline/independent Protestant specific. The least helpful part was the minimal content related specifically to creating a discipleship pathway!

[Everett Lees · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a quick, practical guide to developing a discipleship culture. While we were doing many of the things suggested in the book, the book offers a number of lenses to think about discipleship. It also offers some great suggested reading and resources to turn to.