Chris was our sons’ Bible study leader when they were in middle school. He marked their height on a church wall every year. Those lines are probably still there, twenty years later! That leads me to think about another type of growth. How do you measure spiritual growth? We don’t notch church door jambs with years of attendance or the verses we memorized.

 
Ken Braddy is approaching four decades of discipleship service to churches and denominational groups, training thousands of Bible study leaders during that time. Based on his experience, he has developed a more accurate measuring tool to gauge small group Bible study growth. Numbers represent people, but attendance alone is of limited value in evaluating spiritual growth. Stack your own life next to this spiritual maturity yardstick. Here are Braddy’s four measurements with my summary of his evaluation questions.

 
Learn and obey God’s word – Are the individuals in your small group growing as disciples, engaging in discussion? Is your group identifying and calling up apprentice leaders? As we grow numerically, do we periodically spin off new versions of the group?
Invite people to become disciples – Do our prayers focus on the lost…by name? Do we schedule intentional time among the lost, initiating “next steps” conversations? Are we intentionally inviting both saved and lost people to join the group?
Form deeper relationships – Are we organized to care for each other’s needs? How balanced is our connection and content? What are we doing to strengthen group relationships?
Engage in acts of service – How does our group make a difference in the local community? Do we encourage one another to serve in the church, and within our leadership team? In what ways do we encourage and pray for our pastor?

 
Christians don’t go from “milk to meat” in a day. However, there should be some observable traits, actions, and attitudes that we develop as we age in our faith. So, pull out your measuring tape with me and let’s grow!