UNDERSTANDING DISCIPLESHIP
CBC Youth Ministry // Philosophy of Ministry
MISSION STATEMENT
DEFINING THE TERMS
- On one hand the idea of discipleship for us flows out of our understanding of the Gospel. It is the Good News that saved us and it is the Good News that continues to mature us in the faith. We have become disciples of Jesus and continue to grow as his disciples. This is our personal discipleship as it relates to Jesus.
- Another way of understanding discipleship is to mean the activity of helping others be disciples by learning and growing. The word comes from matheteuo, “to make disciples.” The Great Commission speaks to this when it says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you (Mat 28:19-20 ESV)” The assumption, though, is that they have already been converted and given their life, hope, and authority to Jesus.
HOW IT FITS
Discipleship within the CBC Youth fits perfectly in our 7 core value philosophy of ministry. As someone who is a Christian and a member of our youth group, we expect that person to be involved in the 2-part process of discipleship. We do not believe that discipleship is merely a program that we attach to the youth group that comes and goes but rather it is an expectation for the Christian and then for the member. We believe that in order to truly grow personally one must be in active discipleship with and by someone.
We constantly try to have this thought in our minds – “If I were to leave this place, have I done everything I could to equip the next generation for life and godliness?” We believe that we have a responsibility to shape and disciple the next generation towards the goodness of the Gospel.
THE 2 TIER SYSTEM OF DISCIPLESHIP
Mentor: I always want someone to be teaching me and correcting me. I realize that I don’t know everything and there are people out there who have done life a lot better than I have. There are those out there who have gone through the ups and downs of life and I want to be taught. This is hard because it requires me to actively submit my life under their leadership. But this mentor is someone who I can seek advice from and someone who I can model my life after.
Mentee: This is someone who I can pass on my life to. My responsibility to them is to teach them everything there is to know about life and godliness. I teach them how to study the bible, basic theology, what God says about _____, as well as how to function as a godly person in society, in the church, and at home. Your goal as a mentor is to lead your mentee (disciple) closer and closer to Jesus. Why? Because you are NOT the model of perfection, Jesus is. If Jesus is the source of life and the prime example of the best life, then your goal is to lead your disciple his way.
WHAT DISCIPLESHIP IS NOT
It is NOT a short-term project: what we understand from scripture is that discipleship takes a lifetime to develop and we don’t drop them because we’ve finished our assignment. We are committed to this person for the rest of their lives and vow to equip and train them for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:12).
It is NOT easy: the frustration with discipleship is that we’re dealing with people. It takes a lot of time trying to get to really know another person. Not only that…we’re dealing with sinful people. You’re going to be counseling the heart of the person, not just the symptoms of it. So take your time and realize that YOU cannot ultimately change them and that’s why you need to constantly need the power of the Holy Spirit to do it for you through you.
It is NOT a buddy system: one thing I want to warn you about is that discipleship is not just hanging out…I mean, that is a part (small part) but it must move beyond that. And your ultimate goal is to lead them to Christ (his salvation, his way of doing life, and his truth). You’re going to need to correct them at times, come alongside of them and teach them patiently, and encourage them when they fall.
TEMPLATE
Short-term (1-2 years)
Establish an open, honest relationship. This will require more work and initiative on your behalf as the one who is discipling the other person. Don’t be turned off by their hesitancy, by awkwardness, and the initial struggle. Your goal here is for the two of you to build habits of communication and engagement.
Set goals, directions, and boundaries. As you begin to disciple, figure out some goals for your discipleship time together. What are some things that you want/need to walk through together? There might be things that you could suggest that the person may not be considering also. Set boundaries as far as how often ya’ll communicate and when you’ll meet up.
Address basic topics and needs. You will need to start from the ground up in terms of discipling your mentee. Evaluate where the foundation is for the person (i.e. Are they new convert that doesn’t know much about Jesus and the Bible? Are they skeptical about certain doctrines?). Also consider their lifestage when beginning your discipleship process. Are they just now entering middle school? If they are, what might be some life tips that they would need to know? What would be potential things they are dealing with that you could speak into or at least ask about?
Long-term (3+ years)
The end goal of discipleship is to walk your mentee to a place where they can continue the ultimate mission without you. Disciple with this as the goal. So with whatever time you have with them, train them, coach them, disciple them to get to that place.
We’ve said here for the youth, our expectation upon graduation that our students ought to be at a certain level of growth. We’ve written a separate document for this. Please refer to our MS/HS Rubric for that list.