UPDATE:  Each month we will highlight one (of eight) key markers of a healthy, growing believer, and use Sunday nights to challenge and encourage you and your family in some new and different ways. This month we are highlighting “Obeying God & Denying Self”.  (Check out the latest Family Devo Here.)

1st Sunday: Introduction of Topic (CHURCH)
2nd Sunday: Family Devotion (HOMES)
3rd Sunday: Small Group Fellowships (Each class plans their own)
4th Sunday: Celebration and Testimony Night (CHURCH)
5th Sunday: Leadership Training (CHURCH, if there is a 5th Sunday)


We want to be intentional in every ministry and every program that we do here at Vansickle Baptist Church.  Part of being intentional requires that we have a grasp on where our membership is spiritually.  Utilizing some great tools from Lifway Resources, we’ve encouraged our members to take an assesment (HERE) to see which areas of their lives need more focus and work.  Regardless of where they find themselves, there are 8 common areas that we want to focus on.   We are changing up our Sunday night programming to specifically target these different areas.  You can read more about it HERE.

8 biblical signposts:

  1. Engaging the Bible
  2. Obeying God and Denying Self
  3. Serving God and Others
  4. Sharing Christ
  5. Exercising Faith
  6. Seeking God
  7. Building Relationships
  8. Living Unashamed

How did we find these eight markers?

The quick answer is that the assessment started with biblical descriptors of a disciple shaped into question form and tested repeatedly.

  1. Biblical characteristics of a disciple
  2. Theologian reviews
  3. Small sample testing, analysis, use in resources in 1990
  4. National testing and analysis in 2007
  5. Discipleship expert interviews
  6. National testing and analysis in 2011 and 2019

Flashy new assessments may come and go, but these consistent patterns within a disciple have stood the test of time. Where this tool came from and the rigor that has gone into the revisions provide a reliable measurement of the spiritual maturity of an individual.