Connection · Module 7 of 9
M7 — Maturity
Establish a visible discipleship and spiritual-formation pathway that helps people understand their next step and demonstrates growth without reducing spiritual maturity to attendance alone.
Nine M curriculum version 1.0 · Nine M methodology, content, exercises and deliverables by Pastor Lee Jenkins.
Official outcome
Discipleship and Maturity Pathway
- A drafted, church-specific maturity definition prepared for Pastor Lee Jenkins' review
- A Maturity Profile listing observable indicators appropriate to each pathway stage
- A Formation Environment Inventory listing every current class, group, mentoring relationship, and care practice
- A Pathway Map showing how those environments connect into a visible progression from newcomer to maturing disciple to developing leader
- A milestone framework naming the markers that indicate someone has taken a meaningful next step
- A Quarterly Maturity Dashboard with balanced participation and pastoral indicators and stated interpretation limits
- Explicit care connections showing where pastoral care intersects each pathway stage
- A leader-development bridge describing how the pathway feeds into future leadership pipelines
- A named list of the pathway's current gaps and duplications
- A 90-day action plan assigning owners and dates to the highest-priority pathway improvements
Suggested duration: 4 weeks · about 6 hours of leadership time · Owner: Discipleship Pastor · Coach: Pastor Lee Jenkins · Approval: Not submitted
Module health
At riskBaseline 50 · no follow-up yet
Module purpose
Suggested leadership time: About 6 hours of leadership time
M7 Maturity exists to help a congregation move beyond counting heads in a room toward describing, in plain and biblically grounded language, what a maturing disciple at this church actually looks like, and then building a pathway that helps real people find their next step. Many churches have a stack of classes, a handful of small groups, a mentoring relationship here and there, and a care ministry that operates almost entirely apart from any of it. None of these pieces are wrong, but without a shared definition of maturity and a visible map connecting them, people cannot tell whether they are growing or simply attending. This module asks leadership to name what maturity means in their context, draft that description for Pastor Lee Jenkins' review, and then trace every existing formation environment against it so gaps and duplications become obvious instead of assumed.
The module also insists on a hard boundary that protects both integrity and pastoral care: participation data such as attendance, class completion or group involvement is a signal worth watching, not a verdict on anyone's spiritual condition. A person can be present every week and privately stuck, and a person can be scarce on the calendar while walking closely with the Lord through a hard season. The Discipleship and Maturity Pathway this module produces is meant to give leaders a way to notice patterns, ask better pastoral questions, and connect people to what is next, never a scorecard to rank souls. Because Personal Nsites and Stewardship Nsites Connect can surface participation patterns, this module also trains leaders to read those numbers as pastoral signals with clearly stated interpretation limits, not as spiritual grades.
Official outcome — Discipleship and Maturity Pathway
Leadership will have completed and be ready to bring before Pastor Lee Jenkins a Discipleship and Maturity Pathway containing a draft maturity definition, a mapped pathway of stages, an inventory of formation practices, a classes-and-groups map, a milestone framework, explicit care connections, a bridge into leader development, a named list of gaps, and a 90-day action plan to close the highest-priority ones.
Deliverable component checklist
- 1. A drafted, church-specific maturity definition prepared for Pastor Lee Jenkins' review
- 2. A Maturity Profile listing observable indicators appropriate to each pathway stage
- 3. A Formation Environment Inventory listing every current class, group, mentoring relationship, and care practice
- 4. A Pathway Map showing how those environments connect into a visible progression from newcomer to maturing disciple to developing leader
- 5. A milestone framework naming the markers that indicate someone has taken a meaningful next step
- 6. A Quarterly Maturity Dashboard with balanced participation and pastoral indicators and stated interpretation limits
- 7. Explicit care connections showing where pastoral care intersects each pathway stage
- 8. A leader-development bridge describing how the pathway feeds into future leadership pipelines
- 9. A named list of the pathway's current gaps and duplications
- 10. A 90-day action plan assigning owners and dates to the highest-priority pathway improvements
Learning objectives and completion requirements
Learning objectives
- • Establish a church-specific description of maturity
- • Connect formation environments into a pathway
- • Measure participation without overclaiming
- • Integrate formation across church life
Completion requirements
- • All four lessons marked complete
- • All four exercises submitted
- • Required evidence uploaded
- • Named principal deliverable generated and approved
- • 90-day action plan created with owners and dates
- • Coach review recorded
Lessons
Four complete lessons. Each produces one named artifact for the official outcome.
Lesson 1 — Defining a Maturing Disciple
Draft a church-specific, biblically grounded description of what a maturing disciple looks like at this congregation, for Pastor Lee Jenkins' review. · 75 minutes · produces Maturity Profile
CompleteOpen full lessonLesson 2 — Mapping the Discipleship Pathway
Connect existing courses, groups, mentoring relationships, and care practices into a single, understandable progression. · 75 minutes · produces Formation Environment Inventory and Pathway Map
Not completeOpen full lessonLesson 3 — Measuring Participation and Meaningful Progress
Build a balanced measurement approach that reads participation as a pastoral signal with clearly stated interpretation limits, never as a spiritual grade. · 75 minutes · produces Quarterly Maturity Dashboard
Not completeOpen full lessonLesson 4 — Building a Culture of Ongoing Formation
Integrate formation practices into preaching, groups, households, care, leadership, and service so growth becomes a rhythm rather than a program. · 60 minutes · produces Twelve-Month Formation Rhythm
Not completeOpen full lesson