Is your congregation living up to its mission? After all, making disciples is what churches are supposed to do. So how do churches go about making disciples? What is a disciple, anyway? And how do congregations know whether they are actually helping people to grow in their faith? Charting a Course for Discipleship provides a step-by-step plan that will help any congregation design a disciple formation process that is effective for its particular context. It will help your church to: identify characteristics of a disciple come to see growing in faith as a lifelong journey evaluate the current level of disciple making in your congregation listen to God's calling for your church and develop a vision for the future learn how to involve your congregation in the discipleship formation process plan ways to continue and renew your church's system for making disciples This book replaces Charting the Course, DR507. The revised, retitled edition guides congregations to understand the mission of the church, assess where they are in making disciples, dream what might be possible, and then either build or improve the way they help persons come to and grow in the Christian faith. Bible studies and discovery activities have been added.

Charting a Course is a call to youth who are serious about following Jesus, especially in finances. It is designed to help them develop a Christ-centered focus early in life and find their way through society's confusing swirl of gray. Using illustrations from his experience in flying airplanes, Gary points youth to timeless foundational biblical truth. The many stories capture the reader's attention, and young people will find it engaging reading.

The family is the primary center of faith formation, especially for children. Our affirmation for families asserts that families of all sizes and configurations are communities of commitment whose goal is human growth and faith development. You job is to work with other leaders in the congregation to plan and implement ministry in order to fulfill the church’s mission of helping all persons become disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Also, you address the needs of the families in your church and community so that all may grow in the Christian faith. This Guideline is designed to help equip you in leading this ministry group in your congregation. This is one of the twenty-six Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation 2017-2020 that cover church leadership areas including Church Council and Small Membership Church; the administrative areas of Finance and Trustees; and ministry areas focused on nurture, outreach, and witness including Worship, Evangelism, Stewardship, Christian Education, age-level ministries, Communications, and more.