12-Week Study & Discussion Guide

The Spirit of the Disciplines

by Dallas Willard·74 discussion questions

Week 1 — FreeRead the Preface and Introduction of The Spirit of the Disciplines. Key Scripture: Matthew 11:28–30.

Discussion question your group will work through:

1.Willard observes that the Christian church is producing many 'sincere, but failures' — people who believe in Jesus but whose lives are not being transformed. Does that description resonate with your own experience, either personally or in the churches you have been part of? What evidence do you see for or against his diagnosis?

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About This Study Guide

At a glance: this is a 12-week study and discussion guide for The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard, with 74 questions organized by reading assignment. Week 1 is free to read, with no card required.

Dallas Willard's The Spirit of the Disciplines makes a bold and clarifying argument: the Christian life is not a matter of trying harder to be good, but of training to become the kind of person who naturally lives as Jesus lived. Willard insists that salvation is not merely the forgiveness of sins but the total renovation of the human self — body, mind, soul, and will — and that the ancient spiritual disciplines are the God-given means by which that renovation takes place. Drawing on theology, philosophy, church history, and the example of Jesus himself, Willard shows why grace and disciplined effort are not opposites, and why a church that has abandoned the disciplines has, in effect, abandoned the path of transformation.

This guide is designed for individual journaling or small-group discussion, moving through the book one chapter at a time over twelve weeks. Each week, read the assigned chapter before your group meets or before you sit down to journal. As you read, underline passages that surprise, challenge, or move you. Then work through the discussion questions slowly — not as a quiz, but as an invitation to honest reflection. Some questions ask what Willard argues; others ask what you think, feel, or intend to do. Both kinds matter. If you are using this guide in a group, resist the urge to rush: a single question explored honestly is worth more than ten questions answered quickly.

By the end of this guide, you should have a clearer picture of what discipleship actually requires, a deeper understanding of why you struggle spiritually where you do, and a personal plan — however modest — for engaging the disciplines in your own life. More than information, the goal is formation. Willard himself wrote that "grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning." This guide is an invitation to trust that claim and to act on it.

Week 1: Preface & Introduction — The Secret of the Easy Yoke

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Read the Preface and Introduction of The Spirit of the Disciplines. Key Scripture: Matthew 11:28–30.

Willard opens by diagnosing a deep problem in modern Christianity: we believe the right things but are not becoming the right kind of people. Sit with that diagnosis before moving to the questions.

1.Willard observes that the Christian church is producing many 'sincere, but failures' — people who believe in Jesus but whose lives are not being transformed. Does that description resonate with your own experience, either personally or in the churches you have been part of? What evidence do you see for or against his diagnosis?

2.The book's central image comes from Jesus' promise in Matthew 11: 'My yoke is easy and my burden is light.' Willard argues that most Christians find the yoke anything but easy. What does he say is the reason for this gap between Jesus' promise and our experience?

3.Willard introduces the idea that salvation involves not just forgiveness of sins but the total renovation of the human person. How does that framing expand or challenge the way you have previously thought about what it means to be saved?

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12-Week Schedule

  1. Week 1Preface & Introduction — The Secret of the Easy Yoke6 questions
  2. Week 2Chapter 1 — The Secret of the Easy Yoke6 questions
  3. Week 3Chapter 2 — Salvation Is a Life6 questions
  4. Week 4Chapter 3 — Salvation Is a Life (Continued) & The Nature of the Disciplines6 questions
  5. Week 5Chapter 4 — History and the Meaning of the Disciplines6 questions
  6. Week 6Chapter 5 — The Disciplines, the Body, and the Human Person6 questions
  7. Week 7Chapter 6 — The Disciplines of Abstinence6 questions
  8. Week 8Chapter 7 — The Disciplines of Engagement6 questions
  9. Week 9Chapter 8 — The Spiritual Life and the Ethics of Social Action6 questions
  10. Week 10Chapter 9 — A Curriculum for Christlikeness6 questions
  11. Week 11Chapter 10 — The Disciplines and the Power of God6 questions
  12. Week 12Review & Reflection — Looking Back, Looking Forward8 questions

Week 2: Chapter 1 — The Secret of the Easy Yoke

All 6 questions →

Read Chapter 1 of The Spirit of the Disciplines. Key Scripture: Matthew 11:28–30; Luke 4:1–13.

1.Willard argues that the 'gospel of sin management' — a Christianity focused primarily on getting sins forgiven and going to heaven — has produced a church full of people who are not actually becoming like Jesus. Do you think this is a fair critique? Where do you see this tendency in contemporary Christian culture?

+ 5 more questions in the full guide

Week 3: Chapter 2 — Salvation Is a Life

All 6 questions →

Read Chapter 2 of The Spirit of the Disciplines. Key Scripture: John 17:3; Philippians 2:12–13.

1.Willard defines eternal life using Jesus' own words in John 17:3: 'This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.' How does this definition differ from the way 'eternal life' is commonly understood in popular Christianity?

+ 5 more questions in the full guide

Week 4: Chapter 3 — Salvation Is a Life (Continued) & The Nature of the Disciplines

All 6 questions →

Read Chapter 3 of The Spirit of the Disciplines. Key Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:7–8; Romans 12:1–2.

1.Willard defines a spiritual discipline as 'any activity I can do by direct effort which will enable me to do what I cannot now do by direct effort.' Unpack that definition. Why is the phrase 'by direct effort' so important to understanding what the disciplines are and what they are not?

+ 5 more questions in the full guide

Week 5: Chapter 4 — History and the Meaning of the Disciplines

All 6 questions →

Read Chapter 4 of The Spirit of the Disciplines. Key Scripture: Hebrews 12:1–2; 1 Corinthians 9:24–27.

1.Willard surveys the history of the disciplines from the early church through the desert fathers, the monastic tradition, the Reformers, and the Puritans. What surprised you most about this historical survey? Did any figures or movements stand out?

+ 5 more questions in the full guide

Week 6: Chapter 5 — The Disciplines, the Body, and the Human Person

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Read Chapter 5 of The Spirit of the Disciplines. Key Scripture: Romans 8:1–13; 1 Corinthians 6:19–20.

1.Willard insists that the human person is not a soul trapped in a body, but an integrated whole in which body, mind, soul, will, and social relationships all interact. Why does this holistic anthropology matter for how we approach the disciplines?

+ 5 more questions in the full guide

Week 7: Chapter 6 — The Disciplines of Abstinence

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Read Chapter 6 of The Spirit of the Disciplines. Key Scripture: Matthew 4:1–11; Isaiah 58:1–7.

1.Willard defines the disciplines of abstinence as practices of purposeful withdrawal — from food, from noise, from social contact, from comfort — not because these things are bad, but because detachment from them trains us in freedom and deepens our dependence on God. What is your immediate, gut-level reaction to this category of discipline?

+ 5 more questions in the full guide

Week 8: Chapter 7 — The Disciplines of Engagement

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Read Chapter 7 of The Spirit of the Disciplines. Key Scripture: Colossians 3:16; Acts 2:42–47.

1.Willard describes study as the primary discipline of engagement — not Bible study narrowly construed, but the sustained, attentive engagement of the mind with truth. Why does he give study such priority? What does undisciplined thinking cost us spiritually?

+ 5 more questions in the full guide

Week 9: Chapter 8 — The Spiritual Life and the Ethics of Social Action

All 6 questions →

Read Chapter 8 of The Spirit of the Disciplines. Key Scripture: Micah 6:8; Luke 4:18–19.

1.Willard argues that there is a deep and necessary connection between inner transformation and outward social action — that a Christianity reduced to personal piety without social concern is just as deformed as a social gospel without inner renewal. Do you tend to lean more toward one side of this tension? Which one, and why?

+ 5 more questions in the full guide

Week 10: Chapter 9 — A Curriculum for Christlikeness

All 6 questions →

Read Chapter 9 of The Spirit of the Disciplines. Key Scripture: Colossians 1:28–29; Ephesians 4:11–16.

1.Willard's phrase 'curriculum for Christlikeness' is provocative — it implies that becoming like Jesus is something that can be taught, structured, and progressively developed, not just hoped for or prayed about. Does this idea excite you or make you uneasy? Why?

+ 5 more questions in the full guide

Week 11: Chapter 10 — The Disciplines and the Power of God

All 6 questions →

Read Chapter 10 of The Spirit of the Disciplines. Key Scripture: Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 12:9–10.

1.Willard argues that the power of the Holy Spirit is not a substitute for human discipline, nor is discipline a substitute for the Spirit's power. How does he understand the relationship between the two? In your own tradition, which has been emphasized more, and at what cost?

+ 5 more questions in the full guide

Week 12: Review & Reflection — Looking Back, Looking Forward

All 8 questions →

Review your notes, underlined passages, and journal entries from the entire book. Key Scripture: Philippians 3:12–14.

1.Looking back across the entire book, which chapter or argument had the greatest impact on you — the one that most surprised, challenged, or moved you? What was it about that chapter that landed so deeply?

+ 7 more questions in the full guide
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About the The Spirit of the Disciplines guide

How many weeks is the The Spirit of the Disciplines study guide?

This study guide covers The Spirit of the Disciplines in 12 weeks, with week-by-week discussion questions, reading references, and closing prayers for each session.

How many discussion questions are included?

The complete guide includes 74 discussion questions across 12 weeks — an average of 6 questions per week, designed for group conversation.

Can I use this guide for a book club?

Yes — the questions are written for group discussion and work well for small groups, book clubs, church studies, and couples reading together.

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