Tuesday, November 3, 2009

goals of discipleship :: ministry skills

ministry (n) : the spiritual work or service of any Christian or a group of Christians, especially evangelism
skills (n) : the ability to do something well, expertise (both from Oxford American Dictionary)

The last of our series (which I started oh so long ago... need a refresher? Check out the first 2 on character and biblical understanding).

The third goal of discipleship is to develop a student's ministry skills. This includes a whole range of things, from basic interpersonal interaction, to evangelism, to specific spiritual gifts... and the list goes on. Your disciple should be better equipped for ministry as a result of your time together.

If I'm being honest, I'd say this is the area of discipleship that is most lacking in our churches today. While there is room for improvement in the areas of developing character and biblical understanding, in many places we are at least attempting to address these two. But ministry skills are often completely overlooked. We get together for coffee and talk about how we're struggling, how we're succeeding, and what we're learning in Scripture, but it's not often that we get up, go out, and do a project together, get involved in ministry together.

When it comes to helping develop ministry skills, I think there are some simple, practical things ways to start:
  • take a spiritual gifts inventory together: an inventory isn't foolproof, but it is a good starting place. Especially since many students (and adults, if we're honest) don't really know what their gifts are. The Resurgence has a great series available online about an extensive list of gifts, including descriptions and indicators of each gift.
  • study different evangelism techniques: there are tons out there. From your own testimony, to tracks, to the Way of the Master, to basic verses that lay out the gospel. Why not take some time to learn new ways and talk about your favorite ways to share the gospel. And then go out and do it. Whether you go to an organized outreach, or the mall, or the fair, or a football game -- there are unsaved people everywhere you go. While it may be uncomfortable for your disciple (and for you!) the first time, there is no better way to learn about evangelism than to do it. And it is so beneficial for you to go together, as you can help to guide your disciple, and then debrief afterwards, and share the joy of evangelism (Philemon 6).
  • develop projects based on needs/circumstances: this depends on your disciple and what the Lord is working in them. For example, Leah wants to become more disciplined in quietly waiting on the Lord in her prayer life. So we did an exercise where we each wrote a letter to ourselves from the Lord (based on the model in Revelation 2-3). This provided good quiet time, and gave each of us direction and insight into things the Lord wanted us to do. Katie loves people, but often is so busy at school that she was struggling to know how to love on them. We decided she'd pray for one person in each of her classes every day, and really focus on that one person. It has allowed given her purpose in each class and the Lord is using it to direct her love and passion for people.
  • do things together: anytime you can be involved in any kind of ministry together, do it. You will gain invaluable insight into your disciple's gifts, passions, strengths, and weaknesses when you are working alongside them. Morgan is part of a mentoring program at college, where she works with a couple girls from underprivileged homes. Last month I got to meet those girls and hang out with them and Morgan and just see her in action. It was a blast. So fun to see her initiate with them, love on them, and direct them.
Jesus trained his disciples in ministry. Obviously. They followed him around as he prayed, taught, healed, loved, and died. Our disciples need the same training.

Sometimes it's uncomfortable, because it's outside of our disciple's (and our own) comfort zone. But uncomfortable does not necessarily mean bad. Even Jesus put his disciples in uncomfortable situations. Sometimes it is necessary for our growth.

Character. Biblical understanding. Ministry skills.
How are you challenging your disciple in these areas?

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posted by sarah @ 1:22 PM 0 Comments

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

goals of discipleship

Almost anytime we talk about discipleship, we highlight the practical aspects of it: what should discipleship DO? We believe it should affect 3 different areas:

1. character: how is your student's character becoming more like Christ as a result of your relationship?
2. biblical understanding: what is your student studying in Scripture? what are they learning?
3. ministry skills: how is your student being equipped to live missionally for Christ?

Over the next few days we'll talk through these things: a deeper explanation of each one, biblical support, and resources and ideas. Just wanted to whet your whistle (what does that even mean?)

(Note: posts on Crusade & Youth for Christ are still in the works. I realized it's going to take a little more research than I anticipated. Just didn't want you to think we were making empty promises.)

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posted by sarah @ 12:16 PM 0 Comments

Saturday, September 12, 2009

discipleship in action

This morning Stacie & I went with 6 students (5 Barnabas alum and one of their disciples) to downtown Columbus to pass out food to homeless people.

Actually, the story starts yesterday -- a bunch of us were hanging out last night and went over to Starbucks to grab some coffee (Carolyn had gift cards and wanted to pay for everyone. So obviously we went.) After we all order, the guy behind the counter starts pulling out food -- muffins, bread, scones -- and asks if we want anything. Apparently once they've had food for a certain amount of time they can't sell it anymore. He said that they usually donate the food but right now they 'don't currently have a donation site' so they were just going to toss it if we didn't want it. So a few of us grab some things, and then it hits Stacie and I literally at the exact same moment and we jumped out of our chairs, "WE'RE GOING TO FEED HOMELESS PEOPLE TOMORROW MORNING! Can we take this stuff!?!' The guy got pretty excited and said sure, and that he'd wrap it up for us. At that point there were like 6 things left on these plates. Sweet. We'd add it to the stuff we bought the next day. Then he comes out from the back a few minutes later with 2 HUGE bags full of all kinds of stuff wrapped up. I mean, at least 60 different things. It was an incredible blessing. We were all so pumped.

So this morning we meet up and head downtown to a soup kitchen/homeless shelter that one of the guys with us volunteers at (and that Barnabas team had been to this summer). We saw some volunteers outside, but that was about it. A couple of us talked to the guy who seemed to be in charge and he said that Monday-Friday there are over a hundred homeless people just all over the street. Too bad for us it's Saturday.

We talked it over, made a couple calls, and headed to another area of downtown where we parked & walked the streets with our Starbucks goodies. The Lord brought us across 4 different homeless people -- we had the chance to have spiritual conversations with 3 of them, really get into sharing the gospel with one. None were super responsive (to be honest, a couple were pretty wasted), but we walked away feeling excited. Excited that we had been obedient to feed 'the least of these' (Matt 25.40) and to share the good news of the gospel (Romans 10.13-15)

This is discipleship in action. Giving students the chance to stretch outside of their comfort zone and be involved in ACTIVE MINISTRY.

Discipleship should develop character, biblical understanding, and ministry skills.

What are you doing with your students? How are you developing their ministry skills?

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posted by sarah @ 4:18 PM 0 Comments