Come Inside – Your Stepwise Journey

1. Your Stepwise Journey

This is an online session/experience, but it can be formatted as a document that can be printed and used as a session by a facilitator. Stepwise happens through a mix of face-to-face local group sessions and online learning.

2. Icons to guide you

Stepwise Streams feature a variety of icons to help you navigate through each session. 

Every Stepwise stream uses some of the following set of icons to guide you through the different activities contained in the material. 

At your own pace, you prepare for each session with activities including:

is used to illustrate group session work

indicates a journal writing opportunity

indicates that you need to talk about this with your mentor

indicates a Bible study

pay particular attention to this point!

make some notes in your notebook to take to your group session

shows approximately how long an activity or reading will take you.

does what it says!

indicates a Where did I see God? moment or reminder.

3. Two Pathways

This Introduction is one of two pathways into Stepwise

It offers a shorter route to introduce people to the URC’s discipleship development programme which helps discover where God might be leading them and how they can make a difference in their church and the wider world. It uses a similar format to the other Stepwise streams and you work your way through the session, getting more information about the streams and experiencing how to use the URC Learning Hub. 

Stepwise is a flipped and blended learning programme that relies on preparation, facilitation, personal reflection and response, as well as group discussion. As followers of Jesus, we are on a lifelong journey of learning and growing as disciples. Stepwise was developed to nourish, challenge, and encourage us as we walk and grow in faith. 

This Introduction will help you understand more about Stepwise and give you a taste of how it works. If you are keen to grow in your Christian faith, ready to be challenged and inspired, and want to make a difference in your life and the lives of others, then Stepwise is for you. 

Discipleship development is nurturing faith and personal growth, encouraging individuals to deepen their understanding of God and their faith journey. Developing discipleship through Stepwise emphasizes lifelong learning and equipping people to live out their faith in their daily lives. Through engaging in the Stepwise streams you will find opportunities to think, pray, reflect, discuss, write and draw. All these things will help you to learn more about yourself, about your relationship with God, and inspire and enable you as you follow Jesus. Disciples are learners, and doing this learning alongside others, in community, brings a richness and a wider perspective. 

This is the beginning of your Stepwise journey!

4. What does it mean for you

Stepwise will help you to explore and enrich your personal faith, see where God is at work in your life and listen for Gods call moving forward. 

Stepwise will help you develop your discipleship and contribute to wider church and community transformation. This is a programme for all, whatever your age or background. 

Stepwise focuses on what the Church can be and gives individuals and congregations the tools to share God’s love with the world. 

If you are keen to reflect on, and develop, your Christian faith, ready to be stimulated and challenged – and want to make a difference in your own life and the lives of others – then Stepwise is just what you’re looking for. 

Are there areas in your faith and life that you find challenging? Pause for Self-Reflection. Make some notes on how this feel. 

This is for your personal contemplation. This is the sort of open-ended question that you would encounter in a Stepwise stream when doing Stepwise in a group, led by a Facilitator. 

(Sometimes questions may trigger complex responses. At times like this we encourage you to speak with a trusted friend in faith.)

5. How does it work and what is available

Stepwise is shaped around your strengths and needs, in the context of your own community and church. It emphasises the importance of learning from your daily life – wherever and whoever God might be calling you to be. 

Stepwise happens by learning alongside with and from others. Each stream is divided into a number of sessions. 

Six broad learning ‘streams’ include topics for individuals, and groups, to explore:

• Faith-filled Life – personal calling and purpose
• Faith-fuelled Leadership – we all have part to play
• Faith-filled Community – being a church shaped by God’s mission acting for justice in God’s name
• Faith-filled Conversations - encouraging thinking around talking faith
• Faith-filled Worship - exploring the depths and breadth of Christian worship and worship leading
• Faith-filled Environment - exploring the challenges of the environmental crises facing the Earth and all her peoples