Journaling & Discipleship

First things first: journaling is not for everyone. It's not commanded in Scripture. It's not modeled by Jesus. It's not mentioned in Paul's letters. It wasn't until long after Bible times that people began keeping diaries, commonplace books, and journals. So if journaling is not your thing, that's fine.

But for some people, writing can help with processing faith experiences (a necessary step of spiritual formation), self-awareness, prayer, and memory. This type of journaling should be centered on issues of faith and discipleship rather than on one's feelings and circumstances (like most diaries).

It's worth weaving journaling into your discipling groups or one-on-ones occasionally to see who might enjoy the practice and benefit from it. But don't push it on people for whom it clearly won't be a win.

• Journaling can be a private discipleship experience — something people do at home, on their own time, for their eyes only. Many people write their prayers as a way to slow down, pay attention, and keep a record of their conversations with God. Others journal their questions and responses to Scripture. Still others journal about how they have seen and experienced God each day. This can be with a simple end-of-day examen: "Today God (finish the statement)." ​
• Journaling can be a shared discipleship experience — something that people do with the intent of processing with another person. This can take many forms, but at its simplest it's two people sharing with each other what they've written down about God, prayer, and the Bible during the week. In this case, journaling serves as both a reflective experience in the moments of writing and as a discussion prompt in the moments of sharing.
• Journaling can also be a group experience — something that everyone does at the end of a small group to distill what they've learned into a single question or statement. These journals can stay with the leader so people don't need to remember them each week. Some leaders take time to respond in writing to each person's journal. Then those who arrive early the next week have the opportunity to read their leader's response. Leaders who do this say students stay more engaged (and show up early!).

At some point in life, journaling may not serve the same purposes it does for newer believers. For those who are just meeting Jesus and are learning about spending focused time with him, journaling might be a useful and helpful practice. Buy some notebooks and pens for your students, give them some prompts and direction, and see what happens.

Reflect - Discuss

• Do you journal? Why? How has it helped you?
• If you don't journal, why not?
• What are some ways you could incorporate journaling into your discipling relationships?
• What students do you think might benefit from and enjoy journaling? Why?
• What students do you think might disengage from journaling? Why? Are there ways you could encourage them to at least give it a try?