If you’ve been in ministry long enough, you’ve felt this tension: You launch a new discipleship program with excitement, roll out the curriculum, and see strong attendance for a while. But somewhere along the way, the spark fades and growth starts to stall. The group becomes more social than spiritual. People stop coming prepared. Conversations drift from life change to logistics or even gossip.
It’s not that people don’t care about growing in Christ, they do! But discipleship that relies on linear curriculum often loses people along the way. Life doesn’t unfold in tidy lesson plans, and spiritual growth rarely follows a straight line. When discipleship is mostly information transfer, it can’t keep pace with the messy, beautiful, real-time process of becoming more like Jesus.
You don’t need a new workbook. You need a new way of guiding growth.
When Growth Starts to Stall
When discipleship begins to lose momentum, most leaders respond by adding more content or structure. Maybe another book, another video series, or another study will bring back excitement and raise commitment. But information alone rarely produces transformation. People don’t grow because they’ve completed all the lessons. People grow because someone walks alongside them, listens deeply, and helps them discern how truth intersects with their actual life.
Most discipleship materials end with a question like, “How will you apply this?” It’s a soild question but too often it functions more like a conclusion than a catalyst. The group nods, the meeting ends, and life moves on. Real transformation happens when that question becomes a conversation. When you pause, stay curious, and help people wrestle with what obedience might look like, you help them connect ideas to their lives. The shift from teaching at people to engaging with them creates space for genuine growth.
A Simple Shift that Sparks Growth
Coaching within discipleship moves the focus from content to transformation. It’s not about finishing the study, it’s about forming a life. One small way to implement coaching into any discipleship program is this:
Shift every conversation from “What did you learn?” to “How will you live this out?”
In other words, ask for application, not just information.
5 Conversational Ways to Motivate Application
1. Begin with Life, Not Lesson
Start each meeting by asking how people are doing, not as small talk, but as a spiritual check-in. Grounding the conversation in real life connects truth to practice and opens space for genuine growth. Always start with the good as it provides the hopeful perspective people need to tackle the harder stuff. Here are two great starter questions:
- “Where have you sensed God’s presence this week?”
- “What’s felt challenging in following Jesus lately?”
2. Draw Out Personal Insight
After exploring Scripture or content, invite discovery instead of giving commentary. People are more likely to act on truth they’ve uncovered themselves than truth they’ve been handed. Try asking:
- “What stands out to you in this passage?”
- “What parts make you uncomfortable and why?”
- “What might God be showing you personally?
3. Ask for Next Steps
Information without action leads to stagnation. Practical commitments keep growth moving forward. Before closing, guide each person toward one concrete response. Try asking:
“What’s one step you feel prompted to take this week?”
“Who might you need to talk to or serve as a result?”
4. Follow Up with Care
Transformation takes time. Following up communicates that spiritual growth matters and that no one walks alone. At the following meeting revisit last week’s commitments. Be careful to avoid accountability policing, instead focus on providing safe spiritual partnership. Try asking:
- “How did that step go?”
- “What did you notice as you tried to live that out?”
5. Celebrate Progress, Not Perfection
Coaching celebrates movement, not mastery. As people take steps, call out evidence of God’s work in them. Encouragement reinforces momentum and keeps discipleship environments hopeful and grace-filled.
You Will See Growth
A coach approach to discipleship not only works, it is biblical. It brings discipleship back to what it was meant to be: walking with people as they become more like Jesus. It personalizes growth, honors the Holy Spirit’s timing, and transforms groups from classes into communities of change. When you disciple through coaching, you move from teaching lessons to transforming lives.
An Opportunity for You
This “ask for application, not just information” strategy is just one of many coaching approaches that can renew your discipleship process. Pastors trained in a full range of coaching strategies unlock a powerful multiplication tool for helping people live into who God made them to be.
We’re currently forming new coach training groups for pastors and ministry leaders who want to grow in these skills. If you’d like to learn more about how coaching can strengthen your discipleship and leadership development, email admin@loganleadership.com and let us know you’re interested in coach training.