How to Set Goals in Discipleship: A Framework for Growth

When Paul wrote to the Philippians about his spiritual pursuit, he didn't mince words: "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own" (Philippians 3:12). Even the apostle—church planter, theologian, miracle worker—saw himself as a work in progress with clear direction.

That's the heart of discipleship goals. Not self-improvement projects to earn God's favor, but purposeful steps to grow into the person Christ is making you. Without intentional goals, discipleship meetings can drift into comfortable conversations that never challenge anyone. With the right goals, you create a framework for genuine transformation.

This article gives you a biblical approach to setting discipleship goals that actually drive growth—for both mentors and disciples.

Why Discipleship Needs Goals

"Let's just meet and see what happens" sounds spiritual. It's also a recipe for stagnation.

Here's what happens without goals in discipleship:

Aimless conversations. You cover the same topics repeatedly because there's no roadmap. One week it's prayer struggles, next week it's prayer struggles again, with no movement toward change.

No accountability. When nothing specific is being pursued, there's nothing specific to check on. "How's your walk with God?" becomes a ritual question with a ritual answer: "Pretty good."

Discouragement over time. Both people eventually wonder if the meetings matter. You're investing time but can't point to growth. That questioning leads to sporadic meetings, then eventual drift.

Missed opportunities for celebration. Without milestones, you miss moments to recognize God's work. Growth happens, but you don't see it because you weren't looking for anything specific.

Goals change all of this. They give your discipleship relationship direction, create natural accountability, and let you celebrate progress together.

The key is setting the right kind of goals—ones rooted in Scripture rather than achievement culture.

The SMART Framework for Spiritual Goals

SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) get a bad rap in spiritual circles because they sound corporate. But the framework itself is just wisdom about clarity and follow-through—things the Bible consistently values.

The difference is *what* you're targeting. Corporate SMART goals aim at performance metrics. Spiritual SMART goals aim at heart transformation and obedience.

Here's how to adapt the framework:

Specific: Name the Growth You're After

Vague goal: "Grow in prayer."

Specific goal: "Establish a consistent morning prayer time where I pray through Scripture and my concerns before starting work."

The specific version identifies the habit (morning prayer), the method (praying through Scripture), and the context (before work starts). This creates clarity for both accountability and encouragement.

Jesus was specific when he called disciples: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). Not "become better people generally." Specific transformation for a specific purpose.

Measurable: Create Observable Markers

Measurable doesn't mean reducing faith to numbers. It means identifying evidence that growth is happening.

Non-measurable: "Become more like Christ."

Measurable: "Respond to my spouse with patience rather than irritation when interrupted during work—checking in weekly on specific instances."

The measurable version gives you something concrete to discuss: "This week there were three times I was interrupted. Twice I responded well, once I snapped. Let's talk about what made the difference."

Measurability creates honesty. It's harder to hide behind spiritual-sounding generalities when you're tracking actual behavior.

Achievable: Set Challenging but Realistic Steps

Achievable goals stretch you without setting you up for failure and guilt.

Unrealistic: "Read through the entire Bible in one month while memorizing a chapter per week."

Achievable: "Read through one Gospel this quarter (about three chapters per week) and memorize one verse per month that connects to our current study."

Paul pressed toward the goal, but he also acknowledged he hadn't obtained it yet (Philippians 3:12-14). Growth goals should challenge your current patterns without demanding overnight transformation that only discourages.

Relevant: Align with Your Discipleship Season

Relevant goals connect to where you actually are spiritually and what God is doing in your life right now.

Irrelevant: Setting evangelism goals when you're in a season of grief and barely holding onto faith yourself.

Relevant: Setting lament and worship goals—learning to bring honest pain before God through the Psalms while that grief is real.

The discipleship relationship should help identify what's relevant. Your mentor sees patterns you might miss. Your disciple shares struggles that point to growth areas.

Time-Bound: Create Natural Review Points

Time-bound goals prevent indefinite drift and create moments to assess and adjust.

Open-ended: "Work on anger issues."

Time-bound: "For the next six weeks, journal daily about anger triggers and responses, then review the patterns together to identify root issues and next steps."

The six-week window creates urgency without pressure. You know there's a check-in coming where you'll evaluate together and decide what's next.

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Five Categories of Discipleship Goals

Effective discipleship addresses the whole person—not just Bible knowledge, but character, relationships, ministry, and worship. Here are five categories to balance in your goal-setting:

1. Scripture Engagement Goals

These focus on getting God's Word into your heart and mind in ways that change you.

Examples:

• Read through Romans slowly over three months, writing one observation and one application per chapter
• Memorize Philippians 2:1-11 by the end of the quarter, reciting it together weekly
• Study one Psalm per week, praying it back to God and journaling insights

The goal isn't checking off chapters. It's encountering the living God through his Word in ways that stick.

2. Character Formation Goals

These target specific areas where Christ is reshaping you—usually tied to ongoing struggles or growth edges.

Examples:

• Practice gratitude by writing three things you're thankful for each day, reviewing weekly for perspective shifts
• Address anxiety by replacing worry spirals with specific prayers (Philippians 4:6-7), tracking when you catch yourself and redirect
• Grow in generosity by setting aside 15% of income for giving and discussing monthly how that challenges your view of money

Character goals are long-term by nature. Don't expect overnight transformation. Expect slow, steady movement as the Spirit works.

3. Relational Health Goals

Discipleship isn't just about your private spiritual life. It's about loving others well as Christ loved you.

Examples:

• Initiate one intentional conversation per week with your spouse about something deeper than logistics
• Reconcile a broken relationship by reaching out this month for a conversation, whether or not they respond positively
• Serve your roommates by doing an unasked household task weekly without mentioning it, learning to give without recognition

These goals directly reflect the second greatest commandment (Matthew 22:39). They're also often the hardest because they involve other people's responses.

4. Ministry and Mission Goals

These move you from consumer to contributor in God's kingdom work.

Examples:

• Serve consistently in children's ministry once per month, building relationships with three specific kids
• Pray daily for one non-Christian friend by name, looking for one conversation opportunity per week to discuss faith naturally
• Use a specific skill (design, writing, administration) to serve your church in a defined role for the next six months

Ministry goals combat the navel-gazing tendency in Western discipleship. They turn growth outward toward others.

5. Spiritual Disciplines Goals

These build the practices that sustain long-term faithfulness—prayer, fasting, solitude, worship, community.

Examples:

• Establish a 20-minute morning prayer time five days per week, using a simple structure (praise, confession, thanksgiving, intercession)
• Practice a 24-hour fast once per month, using hunger as a reminder to pray for a specific burden
• Attend corporate worship consistently and stay for fellowship time afterward, initiating conversation with someone new monthly

Discipline goals create the infrastructure for growth in all other areas. They're often the first to slip when life gets busy—which is why accountability matters.

How to Track Discipleship Goals Effectively

Setting goals is easy. Following through is the challenge. Here's how to build tracking into your discipleship relationship:

Weekly Check-Ins

Start each meeting with a simple question: "How did the goal go this week?"

Don't just ask for a success/failure report. Ask:

• What helped you make progress?
• What got in the way?
• What did you learn about yourself or God?
• What needs to adjust for next week?

This turns goal review into discipleship conversation, not performance evaluation.

Written Records

Keep a simple log—digital or paper—where you record:

• The goal itself (specific wording)
• Weekly progress notes (brief)
• Obstacles encountered
• Insights gained
• Adjustments made

Writing creates accountability to yourself and provides material for reflection later. Six months from now, you'll see patterns you can't see week to week.

Monthly Assessments

Once a month, zoom out and ask bigger questions:

• Is this goal still relevant to where I am spiritually?
• Is the pace sustainable or do we need to adjust?
• What unexpected growth has happened alongside this goal?
• What new goal is emerging as the next step?

Monthly check-ins prevent you from rigidly pursuing goals that have become irrelevant or adjusting them so much they lose meaning.

Celebrate Progress

When you hit milestones, pause and thank God together. Discipleship isn't just about identifying what's broken—it's about recognizing where the Spirit is working.

Finished memorizing that chapter? Recite it together and talk about how it shaped you.

Made it through a month of consistent prayer times? Acknowledge the discipline that took and ask how prayer itself is changing.

Celebration reinforces growth and builds motivation for the next challenge.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Even with good intentions, goal-setting in discipleship can go sideways. Watch for these traps:

Pitfall 1: Too Many Goals at Once

Trying to overhaul your entire spiritual life simultaneously guarantees discouragement. Focus on one or two significant goals per category at most—often just one.

Depth beats breadth. Better to actually establish a prayer habit than to half-attempt prayer, Bible reading, journaling, fasting, and service all at once.

Pitfall 2: Goals Driven by Guilt

If your goals come primarily from shame about what you're not doing, they won't sustain you. Guilt-driven goals burn hot at first, then fizzle when the guilt fades or when you fail.

Root goals in who God is calling you to become, not in condemnation over who you've been.

Pitfall 3: Confusing Activity with Transformation

Reading five chapters of Scripture daily sounds impressive. But if you're racing through without comprehension or application, you're not growing—you're just checking boxes.

Always ask: Is this goal actually forming me into Christlikeness, or just making me feel productive?

Pitfall 4: No Room for Grace

You will miss the mark on your goals. Repeatedly. If your discipleship relationship doesn't have space for failure without condemnation, your goals become a new law you can't keep.

Grace means: "You didn't follow through this week. What got in the way? How can we support you differently?" Not: "You failed again. Try harder."

Pitfall 5: Ignoring the Spirit's Leading

Sometimes God redirects mid-course. A goal that made sense three months ago might be irrelevant now because God is doing something unexpected in your life.

Stay flexible. Goals serve growth; they don't replace discernment.

Building a Culture of Growth

The best discipleship goals emerge from a relationship already marked by honesty, encouragement, and mutual pursuit of Christ.

If you're mentoring someone, model goal-setting yourself. Share your own growth areas and the goals you're pursuing. Let your disciple see that lifelong discipleship means lifelong intentionality.

If you're being discipled, bring initiative. Don't wait for your mentor to assign goals. Come with ideas based on where you sense God working, then refine them together.

Goal-setting works best when both people own the process—when the disciple is driving their own growth with the mentor's wisdom and accountability.

And remember: the goal behind all goals is Christ himself. Not a better version of you, but deeper union with him. Paul's singular goal was knowing Christ (Philippians 3:10)—everything else flowed from that.

Your discipleship goals should do the same. They're not a ladder to earn God's approval. They're a trellis on which the Spirit grows the fruit of Christlikeness in you.

Start Setting Goals This Week

Don't let this article just be interesting reading. Put it into practice.

If you're meeting with someone for discipleship, spend your next session setting one goal together in one of the five categories above. Write it down using the SMART framework. Decide how you'll track it weekly.

Then actually track it. Review it. Adjust it. Celebrate progress. Extend grace when you miss. Pray through obstacles. Let the goal become a conversation starter about what God is doing.

Growth in Christ doesn't happen by accident. It happens when you press on toward the goal with intentionality, accountability, and dependence on the Spirit.

Ready to bring structure to your discipleship? Create a free DisciplePair account and start tracking goals, logging meetings, and celebrating growth together. Simple tools that keep your discipleship moving forward.