The spiritual DNA of Christ in a believer: How it directs the way the church should grow disciples

Due to the lack of nurture and growth among new disciples, this project establishes a simple and viable approach to nurturing new disciples in the first months of their spiritual life. Successful evaluation of growth in new disciples comes as a result of identifying and measuring characteristics that all genuine new believers exhibit.;This project defines a disciple as one in whom the spiritual life and DNA of Christ is planted, resulting in the natural outgrowth of six common characteristics: growth, love, submission, management, reproduction, and holiness. All genuine new believers exhibit all six of these characteristics and they arise due to the work Christ is doing in their lives.;This project engages five new disciples for three months after their water baptism in the nurturing environment of a small, familial group. After the initial period, each new disciple completed a self-assessment to measure the presence and growth of the six characteristics. Through the use of a post-assessment Appreciative Inquiry, the project ascertained that all individuals displayed measureable growth in all six characteristics.;This project represents a viable and replicable model for new disciple care and nurture during the first three months after water baptism. The assessment tool can provide any church an objective tool whereby to measure and celebrate growth. Ultimately, the simplicity of the plan and its organic nature makes it a reproducible model for any local church setting.