Doug Nuenke - Five Traits of a Christ-Follower

DAWSON TROTMAN, who began The Navigators ministry among sailors in 1933, had a knack for developing illustrations to make spiritual truths easy to remember and apply. The most well-known of these illustrations is the Wheel.

The hub of the Wheel represents Christthe life and driving force of the Christian lifewhile the rim represents the lived environment of the obedient Christian, especially the people in the Christians life. The two vertical spokes represent the Word of God and prayer, the principal means by which we draw upon the life and power of Christ. The two horizontal spokes represent fellowship among believers (what we now call community) and witnessing (what we now call evangelism). Thus the vertical spokes emphasize our relationship with Christ, and the horizontal spokes represent our relationship with fellow believers and with unbelievers.

The Wheel may seem a bit simplistic to many today. In fact, I have at times been specifically asked to not refer to the illustration when teaching these principles to college students. But the basic truths of the Christian life illustrated by the Wheel are timeless. They are as old as the Word of God itself.

The five areas of Christian growth and competency covered in this devotional are a modern-day restatement of and enlargement on those fundamental principles illustrated in the Wheel. There is, however, one area of competency in the devotional that is not included in the Wheel: reproducing generations, an aspect of discipleship ministry that has been a primary emphasis of The Navigators from its early days. It was known as the 2:2 principle, based on 2 Timothy 2:2: And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also ( ESV ). In fact, Dawson Trotman would often ask young men, Wheres your man? by which he meant, Whom are you discipling for the next generation?

Regardless of what strategies and techniques we develop in our discipleship, we must always keep going back to the basics. There is a famous story about Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach who led the Green Bay Packers to victory in several NFL championships and the first two Super Bowls. Once, standing before a team of disheartened players, he held out an oblong leather object and said, Gentlemen, this is a football. Why would he say such a thing to a group of men who had played football from childhood and were now professional players? This was his way of saying, We are going back to the basics of the game. This is what we believers need to do constantly. We need to keep going back to the basics of the Christian life. This book of devotional readings on the five primary areas of Christian growth is designed to take us all the way back to the fundamentals of Christian growth and competency. It is my prayer that this book will accomplish that objective in each of our lives.

Jerry Bridges

Author, The Pursuit of Holiness

Navigator staff member, 19552015

The Wheel 2000 The Navigators. All rights reserved.