Why Good Churches Still Produce Spiritually Stalled Christians
For leaders · Read together
Team Discussion Guide
For staff, elders or a leadership team reading the book together. Use one session per Part and one for the conclusion. Read the chapters before you meet, and let quieter people answer first.
Part 1
The Problem
Read: Introduction and Chapters 1–3
Spiritual maturity is not primarily measured by activity. It is measured by transformation.
Most believers do not plateau because God has stopped working. They plateau because they stop recognizing how He works.
The goal of discipleship is friendship with God.
- Where do we see people in our church who are active but no longer growing?
- How do we usually tell whether someone is maturing? Is it activity or transformation?
- Which hidden seasons are people in our church misreading as abandonment?
- If friendship with God is the goal, how clearly do we say so?
Part 2
The Three Mistakes
Read: Chapters 4–6
The Pharisees knew the Scriptures. But they did not know the One to whom the Scriptures pointed.
Activity produces participation. Formation produces transformation. Activity creates movement. Formation creates maturity. Activity changes schedules. Formation changes people.
One question produces dependence on systems. The other produces dependence on God.
- Which of the three mistakes is most visible in our church? Which are we most likely to defend?
- Where do we teach about God without helping people walk with Him?
- Which of our programs produce activity, and which produce formation?
- If our church stopped meeting for a month, how would our people walk with God?
Part 3
The Way Forward
Read: Chapters 7–9
God forms people before He entrusts them with greater responsibility.
Spiritual maturity is not random. God forms His people through a recognizable process.
What gets celebrated gets repeated.
- Where are you personally in the Zoé Formation Cycle right now?
- How might our church help people recognize testing as formation rather than failure?
- Which of the six practices in Chapter 9 do we already do well? Which is missing?
- What could we start celebrating that would show people what we value?
Conclusion
A Return to Friendship With God
Read: Conclusion and Reader Reflection
And believers begin maturing in the way God intended. Not merely as church participants. But as friends of God.
- What is one change we believe God may be inviting our church to make because of this book?
- What is God inviting each of us to become as leaders?
- Who will we tell, and when will we look back at what has changed?