Ages of Disciples

As a school teacher I needed to know the ages of the children I taught and coached in sports. This knowledge is the most basic thing any educator needs to understand. In Counseling and Education it is called "Developmental Growth"

By ages I mean several things.

Biological Age: (Date of Birth)

Emotional Age: (Ability for Self Control)

Physical Age: (Physical Agility)

Intellectual Age: (Ability to learn):

Academic Age: (IQ-Knowledge Known)

Creative Age: (Music, Art, etc)

Relational Age: (Ability to Relate to Others)

Ministry Age: (Mature and Equipped for Ministry)

Practical Age: (Managing and Leading Others)

As a Christian teacher I need to also understand Spiritual Age: (Faith, Hope and Love)

As Ministers we tend to get these ages confused. I worked with men who were leaders in business and industry who were selected as Elders or Trustees but whose Spiritual Ages were very low. They were selected ebcause of their financial or practical wisdom but were quite immature when it came to matters of Ministry.

Write down the top ten Lay People in your Ministry. Think about their Ages in different categories.

Baby
Child
Adolescent
Young Adult
Mature Adult
Ministry Adult
Wise Adult
Servant Adult

Gary Sweeten