Introducing The Stages  -  Basics of the Faith

The 3rd stage of the 6 Stages of Spiritual Development is Basics of the Faith. With a personal relationship with Jesus central in their spiritual development as well as having an understanding that we need to and why we can put our trust in the Lord, our young believer is now ready to learn and understand the Basics of the Faith. Teaching students the knowledge points of Christianity, like biblical history, events, and rules and regulations, before this crucial foundation is established can lead them to incorrect thinking, like believing intellectual acknowledgement of Jesus is what saves or that salvation requires some kind of works rather than resting on the sufficiency of Jesus’ death on the Cross.

Stage Objective:

Because of our young believer’s spiritual instability, it is time to address the depth of his grounding. It is now time for the believer to become well-established in the Faith. The disciple needs to:

1. Learn the Basics/Fundamentals of the Faith,
2. Gain a working knowledge of the Bible.

Mentor Focus:

Like the Trusting in the Lord Stage, the new believer’s faith is still wrapped up in the people that surround them. The difference is that now our disciple is being more selective. Unlike before when the new Christian didn’t have a lot of spiritual experience from which to draw from and was therefore less discriminating, now our young believer is making up his own mind.  He is determining for himself who he will continue to affiliate with - and as his affiliation goes, so goes his faith.

Mentors need to be downloading the basics of the Faith into their young believer. But there isn’t going to be any great connection between a present day disciple and a bible character living thousands of years ago in a land and culture so different that it might as well be on a different planet. The connection for the disciple is with their mentor.  Therefore, the mentor needs to be sharing not just Bible facts, but tesimonials of how the principles of God have been personalized in their own lives. The disciple will want to emulate the character and lessons learned by the mentor much more so than some ancient story of people far, far away.

Mentors also need to ensure that the student gain and practice a working knowledge of the Bible. This is very important if the young believer is going to be able to continue to grow independently in the future. Therefore, mentors need to:

1. Be transparent as they share how they have personalized Biblical principles in their own life,
2. Teach, demonstrate, and practice good personal Bible study, journaling, and Quiet Time habits.

The student’s relationship with the Lord needs to begin to be grounded in something other than the people around them. The disciple needs to be establishing for themselves a love of and commitment to the Father that is grounded in the Word, not a particular preacher, teacher, or mentor.