In my ministry here at Calvary Wesleyan Church we are about to have an extreme shift when it comes to how we do Student Ministry. We are about to scrap this concept of splitting middle and high school and bring them back together for a United group. Conveniently we are changing the name to United; we are uniting two groups, we are united in Christ, we will be united in worship, service, and growing. I’m flippin’ jacked out of my mind about the journey we are launching in January. Friday nights will be our main night with games, chill time and worship through the Word and music and then Wednesday nights will be our night for discipleship. This is where this post comes in. I wanted to journal some of my thoughts that I have had recently on this topic. So here we go…
My thought is for a discipleship program to work for students, first of all, they have to understand the need. They have to be aware that there is a level of Christianity that is deeper than their current state and also deeper than maybe they have ever seen. Many times students use their parents as a measuring stick of their spirituality. This means students will only go as far/deep as their parents. That is unless they have a mentor/small group/discipleship leader that models discipleship in its truest context.
Second, in our consumeristic mindset students have to realize how and why it benefits them. So not only the need but they need to know ‘whats in it for me?’. I believe our job is to live a life of discipleship that is so attractive that students want to follow us as we follow Christ. I’m not talking about having a Escalade on 26′s attractive, I’m talking about disciplined in reading Scripture, talking to God, and just living a life that is evident of the grace you have received. They will soon understand that this is an attractive life because we are living life to the full, not just waking up and hoping everything goes well.
Lastly, after we have shown students the need and shown them why it benefits them we have to point them outwards. When student’s lives are being changed we need to begin to turn them around and show them a lost and dying world all around them. I firmly believe students are in the greatest mission field they will ever be in, middle and high school. Public or not, doesn’t matter. My experience has shown me people need Christ in public and private schools with the need being nearly equal in both. When they begin to grow in their faith and they have leaders who model discipleship and lifestyle evangelism then it will be natural for students to begin to do the same and begin duplicating students just like them.
Well, these are my thoughts. I want to know what you think. You dont have to write a dissertation, but what do you think about discipleship? Similar thoughts or something completely different? Leave a comment.
