Discipleship motivation and resources

In the second verse of the second chapter of the second epistle to Timothy, Paul set out a philosophy of discipleship.  He tells Timothy to teach/train/disciple those who will teach/train/disciple others to grow in relationship with Christ, understanding of the Bible and in bringing the Good News to others (see also Matt.23:18-20). 

“Discipleship” is not something we should expect pastors or the church to do in our place.  We all should take responsibility to help other believers grow.  The church provides excellent opportunities for believers to grow in knowledge and understanding of God through the Bible.  All believers should regularly go to church and Sunday School to get good Bible teaching! 

As believers we should look for opportunities where we ourselves are being challenged to grow all the while looking for opportunities where we can help others grow.  It’s like eating food and exercise.    If I eat food and just keep eating more food and more food, I will get fat (it’s happening at this very moment!).  But if I observe a regular exercise program while I eat regularly (and I am very regular in my eating!), then I will work off the calories I’m taking in.  I will have a healthy body.

It’s the same in our Christian life – if we keep taking in good teaching from church, from youth group, from reading Christians books, from going to retreats and conferences, but don’t have a way to give out that knowledge, we will become “fat Christians.”  And if we are just taking in more and more knowledge, then we will actually become “fat-headed Christians” with small hearts and small limbs and small unhealthy bodies.  Not a pretty sight!

Where to start: 

·         if you haven’t already taken initiative to find a group or a discipler who will take personal interest in helping you progress in your walk with God, do it now. Initiate with someone who you can help to grow.  You could start with 1 person or meet with a group of several believers who want to grow together in their relationship with Christ.

What should you go over?  There are lots of good resources, but we recommend these sets of materials:

o   Follow up: written to help establish believers in the foundational truths about their relationship with God  

o   РОСТ:  topical studies designed for discipleship of the whole person [sorry, not available in English]

o   CruComm : similar topics as РОСТ, but they tend to focus on one larger passage of Scripture or book of the Bible.

I can promise that you will find that you will grow faster and deeper in your walk with God because you are helping others to grow in their walk.  It’s such a delight and a blessing to be used by God to help others grow and help to transform the world with Christ while doing your part in helping to fulfill the Great Commission!

Bringing God’s Power into Everything

“When we can do something, we do it; when we can’t do something, we pray.”   I recently heard these words at a gathering of our staff for a worldwide day of prayer.  I was really struck by how true this statement was in my life:  if something needs to be done in ministry (or in life in general) and I can do it in my own ability and in my own power, then I just do it without bringing God into that effort. 

It’s usually only when I have to do something that is beyond my ability that I turn to God to ask Him to give me His power to do that thing.  By doing this I limit what God can do, because His power, ability and wisdom are far greater than what I could ever do on my own.

Do these words ring true in your heart as they did in mine? 

Take a moment to reflect on these verses:

o   Phil.4:6 - be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer…(God reminds us to bring everything to Him in prayer)

o   Phil.4:13 - I can do all things through Him who strengthens me… (He works through me with all His power)

o   John 15:5 - he who abides in Me…bears much fruit… (it’s through my dwelling in Him, being with Him in everything, that I see fruit for my efforts)

o   Jeremiah 32:17 – You have made the heavens and they earth by Your great power…nothing is too difficult for You…(why rely on my own puny efforts when I can call upon the power of the God who called the universe into being?!)

Let’s commit together to turn to the Lord for His power and strength and wisdom in everything we do!

Making a Plan for a Spiritual Movement

A spiritual movement is not just about reaching your campus with the gospel.  To be a real movement which God can use effectively year after year means that you include a few other components.  Let’s look at Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 28:18-20 to find out what those components should be: 

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

The priorities that Jesus laid out in Matthew 28:18-20 is a great plan for your ministry:  submit yourself to His authority and rule over you and the world through Prayer, go out and tell the gospel to all  (Evangelism), Disciple those who become believers and help them to grow in understanding of God’s Word.  (It is important to help them to get connected to a church where they can be obedient to God’s command to be baptized.)  The last part of verse 19 says that we are to teach them to obey all that God has told us.  What has He just told us to do?  Look back to the first part of verse 18 and 19:  go out to tell others about Jesus, disciple others, and Send them out to do the same. 

The great promise is that you aren’t alone even if you are the only one who is faithfully sharing the gospel and believing God to reach your campus – Jesus promises to be with you every step of the way.  Mt.28:20 promises: “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age!”  He gives us His power in the presence of the Holy Spirit working in our lives! 

A simple way to follow God’s plan for the mission He has given you is something we call a “strategic plan”.  It is simple and it is visual.  It will help you to keep focused on the important things God has entrusted you to do.  It basically looks like this:

If you focus on these 4 areas (prayer, evangelism, discipleship and sending out), you can bring great glory to God on your campus when you work through His power.  Why not take some time to pray right now and ask God to help you work through a simple plan like this for your campus?   Here is an idea of what a sample Strategic Plan could look like.  Print out a Strategic Plan Template to use as a guide to plan for your campus. 

IMPORTANT ADVICE:  Writing out a plan for reaching your campus should always be done in prayer, seeking God for His plans for your campus.

• Start by asking God to show you what He envisions your campus looking like as you are engaged in making Him known there.  Ask Him to give you “snapshots” of what it could look like if you really saw God work thru your mission & our plans.  This will be part of your “Vision” section.
• Then, brainstorm some ideas under each category of “Prayer,” “Evangelism,” “Discipleship” and “Send.” 
• Think about the lost students on your campus and try to figure out what might interest them to cause them to think about their relationship with God.  It may be different for each campus.
• Now, think about the students who are committed to helping you.  What talents or skills or interests or abilities do they have? 
• What other resources are available to you?  Some ideas could be:

§  people you know who are gifted in speaking to non-believers,

§  writers who have an ability to communicate challenging thoughts about God to others,

§  perhaps you know of someone who has a big dacha/home outside of town that they would offer for retreats,

§  a meeting place you could use,

§  someone who has a VPU and a large collection of movies,

§  access to a gym,

§  good hiking places,

§  etc. 

Think through how you might be able to use these resources that God has already provided for you.

• Ask God to direct your thinking and help you to pick a few of these events or ideas based  on the interests of non-believers on  your campus and on the abilities of those involved with you and on the availability of other resources around you.

In general it is best to write down just a couple of things you can do in each category (especially if there is a small group of you).  That way you can focus on doing a few things well and not burn yourself out by trying to do too many things which are not done well.  Why not start with writing down 2 things to start with under each category? 

• Write down 1 thing under prayer that is something you can do to pray as an individual (such as pray 10 minutes daily for your university), and then write down another thing you can do in the theme of prayer that involves someone else (such as ask for prayer in your church or ask someone else to come on campus to pray with you each week).  

• Do the same with evangelism:  write down one thing you can do in evangelism by yourself (such as share the gospel with each of your group-mates before the end of the semester) and one thing you can do with someone else (you could host a Focus Group together and then afterward, in the next few days, go together to continue to talk with each student who attended the Focus Group). 

• Discipleship:  decide to do one thing you can do to help you grow in Christ (such as work through some of the materials in the “going deeper” sections of this web site) and one thing you can do to help someone else grow (such as help someone else understand the foundational truths of the Christian faith or start a Г3). 

• Send:  here you could go to a new part of your campus to share the gospel, try to find out about unreached people groups around you and start to pray for them or try to share the gospel with different nationalities on your campus, or go on a summer project with New Life, or summer mission trips through your church or other groups.

• (If you know of no other believers on your campus right now, your plan will focus mostly on prayer and talking to people about Christ.  Your plan might be as simple as the students’ plan in Indonesia from the first page of this site:  they decided to meet one new person everyday – if that person was not a believer, then they shared the gospel with him or her; if the new person was a believer, then they invited him or her to join their movement.)

Action point: take some time in the next few days with other believers who want to join with you to glorify God on your campus.  Prayerfully plan your next steps together for what you can do this month or this semester or this year to help to reach your campus for Christ.