What barriers keep Christians from being part of a discipleship community?

For the new book Growing Together: A Three-Part Guide for Following Jesus and Bringing Friends on the Journey, Barna partnered with The Navigators to study how Christians can be and make disciples today. While the majority of Christians experiences some form of relational investment in spiritual growth, two in five (39%) aren’t engaged in discipleship at all.

Perhaps this doesn't surprise you; in our increasingly individualized culture, 56 percent of Christians tell Barna that their spiritual life is entirely private. Yet, to encourage or enter these relationships, church leaders must appreciate when and how they occur—and understand why some Christians are not involved in them.

Just 28% of Christians Is Actively Involved in Discipleship Community First, what exactly constitutes a discipleship relationship? It’s not a one-size-fits-all connection, but Barna research looks at a couple key ways discipling occurs.

For this study, researchers identified Christians who were both being discipled and discipling others as those who are fully engaged in discipleship community.