| The call of Christian schoolteachers is not only to prepare students academically but also to nurture their growth as disciples. It is imperative that teachers evidence the marks of a true disciple. Despite recent interest in gauging the degree of discipleship of students at Christian schools, not much research is available regarding Christian schoolteachers' discipleship. This exploratory cross-sectional survey study measured the degree of discipleship of existing faculty in preschool-12 Christian schools based on the attributes measured by the Transformational Discipleship Assessment (TDA). Waggoner (2008) defined the degree of discipleship as "the degree to which self-professed Christians think and act in accordance with biblical attributes of a disciple of Jesus Christ" (p. 15). Principals in 160 schools belonging to Association of Christian Schools International's (ACSI's) Rocky Mountain Region were asked to invite their teachers to participate in this study. The TDA, a statistically validated assessment tool, was used to collect data from a convenience sample of teachers in 23 of those Christian schools. Likert-type scales gauged participants' degrees of discipleship; computation of item mean scores indicated that they had a consistent degree of discipleship in seven (Bible engagement, obeying God and denying self, serving God and others, exercising faith, seeking God, unashamed, and right doctrine) of the nine attributes measured by the TDA. Participants were also found to have a moderate degree of discipleship in two of the attributes (sharing Christ and building relationships). Overall, participants' scores are higher on attributes that deal with their inner spiritual lives than they are on attributes that measure how they engage in relationships with people. In particular, participants struggle with serving people in tangible ways, building relationships with people they do not know, sharing Christ with nonbelievers, and helping Christians grow in their faith. This suggests that while participants personally follow Christ consistently, they find it difficult to relate to and disciple people. Implications for Christian schools and ACSI included the importance of assessing teachers' degree of discipleship in other schools and regions not included in this study. Designing and implementing discipleship programs to foster teachers' growth in discipleship was recommended. |
