Ken Braddy | October 19, 2026

Would Your Church Benefit from a Clear Discipleship Pathway?

In many churches, a discipleship pathway either doesn’t exist, or it remains assumed or unspoken. Church members and guests should be able to identify where they are on a pathway of growth, plus next steps they can take as disciples.

Research conducted by Lifeway reveals a significant discipleship gap in churches today. Only about half of pastors believe their church’s discipleship strategy is effective, and fewer than one-third say their church has clear ways to measure discipleship growth.

Many churches are active but lack a cohesive plan that leads people from initial faith exploration to mature, reproducing discipleship. DisciplesPath was created to address this challenge with clarity, structure, and biblical depth.

Process and Tools

DisciplesPath is both a process and a set of tools (completely free to churches) that guide church leaders through evaluating their current disciple-making efforts and designing a clear, reproducible pathway for spiritual growth. The process emphasizes discipleship as a lifelong, relational journey, rooted in Scripture and lived out through practices, relationships, and mission. It focuses on progress toward Christlikeness rather than simple participation or attendance.

Churches that use DisciplesPath gain:

• A clear and shared definition of discipleship
• A cohesive, church-wide pathway for spiritual growth
• Greater alignment across ministries and age groups
• Tools to measure progress meaningfully
• A culture that moves from participation to multiplication

Ken Braddy is a church practitioner, blogger, author, and trainer of church leaders. He currently serves as the Director of Sunday School for Lifeway. Learn more about Ken at kenbraddy.com.