Subscribe to the Network3 Key Learnings about Discipleship This Past Year
Kurt and I just finished up a 3 Key Learnings part of the general session on discipleship at PDYM. Here are some of the notes we took into the talk, if there’s something here you can use:
SESSION 6 – DISCIPLESHIP
1. Expect resistance. I love programs – and discipleship at Saddleback is a non-program. Youth pastors are good at launching programs – we use them to defend ourselves from parents and problems. It doesn’t come naturally for everyone, so you might find resistance from parents or volunteers, too. Small group leaders have to see this as an integral part of their role. HABITS are modeled and handed down through the small group ministry – we even had a short HABITS highlight every week in our fall training so leaders could get an idea of what resources we were expecting them to help students go after.
2. Being connected to an adult leader makes all the difference. Someone is Twittering every time we say something about relational volunteers. They are the BIG deal.
3. “Growing On Your Own” (Sprout/H.A.B.I.T.S.) requires continuous vision casting. We say “grow on your own” then hide behind it. We need to walk a little way down the path, then help them take some steps on their own. In the talk, suggest a verse for core students to memorize. At the end of a message, consider a HABIT being an action step from the talk. But because there is no weekly class, or weekly meeting in a house, discipleship can slip under the radar too quickly. You have to keep beating this drum. Discipleship never ends.
JG
Good stuffs.
I also think as youth pastors we have to teach/help/resource parents to disciple their teen. The church for too long said bring us your kids and we will teach them the Bible. The result is parents, my age, don’t know how to disciple their kids because their parents didn’t know how to disciple them.