7: Five Thresholds

Have you ever had a really good teacher?

Part of what makes a teacher great is their ability to see where their student's "zone of proximal development" is. What is the next step that this student can take that's going to be challenging, but that they can master with guidance and help?

People also need guidance on taking their next steps in faith.

Don Everts and Doug Schaupp, two leaders from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, found that there are five common steps that people take on the way toward faith in Jesus: The Five Thresholds. They are:

1. Trusting a Christian Friend

2. Becoming Curious

3. Opening Up to Change

4. Seeking After God

5. Entering the Kingdom

When we get to know this framework, it can help us meet people where they’re at and truly serve them in their spiritual journey.

Sources:

Saul McLeod, “Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development,” Child Psychology, Simply Psychology (August 9, 2024).

Don Everts and Doug Schaupp, I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2008). 

Friendship Evangelism: The 5 Thresholds toward Faith, InterVarsity Evangelism, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA.

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