Practical Discipleship

We are disciples of Jesus, but we are to follow Jesus together. We are baptized into the body of Christ. We are personally responsible to God, but our life and growth is to take place in community. So, we can, and should, work together as we follow Jesus. We do this through teaching, encouragement, exhortation, love and service. If we take this seriously, then we are responsible to create a discipleship structure for students. It should be flexible, changing over time, but it should be planned.

During their grade school years, my kids were involved in a Follower's program at our church. The program was created by the education pastors. It involved one afternoon a week where the youth that wanted to be involved met together. They were assigned small groups with a college student or adult who led the group. They worshiped together, had a short teaching together, and then worked it out personally in the small group.

My kids loved it. The personal time and the answered questions were important (never underestimate the questions of a fourth grader). They built positive bonds with their small group leaders. They began to carry their Bibles around with them, read their assignments for the following week (yes, assignments), and eagerly looked forward to the next meeting.

Was it for everyone? No, and that's the point. There was a rather traditional youth group, but this was an option for families who were willing to invest a bit more in their children's growth. While it wasn't for everyone, the first cycle brought in about thirty kids. That's significant. It will be these students that will later have an impact on their peers.

There is plenty of material available for high school students and twenty-somethings. Much of it can be made applicable to middle school students with just a little work. We will have material coming out the ministry here a Boston in the near future, but for the present Intervarsity, Campus Crusade for Christ, and Navigators puts out a lot of quality material for small groups, classes, and one-to-ones. They all offer topical and inductive series that include both member and leader material.

Students who are ready need the opportunity to move forward in their faith. If we build all our programs for the lowest common denominator or with the goal of 100% involvement, then you are going to lose those with the greatest interest. Again, pastor the many, disciple the willing, the eager, and the faithful. If you do this, you will find that you have trained the next generation of leaders who will stand beside you and take the work of the gospel forward. That sure beats a generation of students who drop out because they are bored, never got their questions answered, and have come to believe that the church is just a moral, political action group trying to run the lives of others. I'll work to create disciples any day to stave off the alternative.