Perhaps one of the most difficult things to do is to take people out of a comfort zone. People find Jesus and get saved… and they are comfortable with that. They participate in a small group… and they are comfortable with that. They help in a childrens ministry…

How does one encourage/enable others to experience a deeper faith, increase their dedication in discipleship, use their gifts and talents, develop a hunger and thirst for the Lord.

They need an example to follow. They need to see these things lived out. They need to rub shoulders with more mature believers who have been there (where they are now, and who have progressed and grown). They need a mentor.

If you want to produce the fruit of growing deeper, you need to take the most mature believers in your organization, and develop a ministry, so that others can see how someone at the next level or subsequent levels is. How they handle trials. How they approach their relationship with God. How they spend their time. What they struggle with.

Then if you want the fruit to multiply, you need to construct the ministry so that as each one matures, he or she also becomes an example to others who are not there yet.

Every believer should have be Timothy to some Paul, and every believer should be Paul to some Timothy.

This is why the Christian Life is not to be lived alone. This is why believers are commanded to not stop meeting together. This is why pastors need to be accountable either to a local board, or to a denomination. Because none of us are fully mature, all of us continue to grow – either deeper in our relationship with God, or apart from God. It is our connections to other believers that help us stay on track, as the world and the enemy try to derail our faith.