L1-08 Discipleship
Develop and lead engaging discipleship groups using tools such as the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) and the Discipleship Tree.
INTRODUCTION
Our mission includes both evangelism, introducing young people to Jesus Christ, and discipleship, helping them grow in their faith. We talk a lot about going out to where young people are and earning the right to be heard. We work hard to make sure our club talks are aimed at the youth who are least-interested in Jesus in the room. We also focus on how to help young people grow in faith so that they continue on as life-long followers of Jesus who actively participate in Jesus’ mission for his church.
Evidence of staff demonstrating this objective looks like:
- Leads a discipleship group for the ministry
- Understands why and how to use the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) Method.
- Is able to lead a DBS and teach others how to use the tool
- Has identified which leaders are discipling which kids in the ministry for the year
- Has an discipleship plan for the year for their ministry
- Includes discipleship in leader development through meetings and the Leadership Tree
How do you define “discipleship?” When you think of discipling the students in your ministry, what do you hope they will take from those conversations and meetings? In this video, Dr. Jim Singleton shares his perspective on discipleship and what long-term changes he’s looking for as he disciples someone. This is a video clip he created for a Young Life course he taught.
Jim speaks about a few key ideas in discipleship. One is that we will fall in love with the Word of God. Another is that something in our lives begins to change. The beautiful thing about discipleship is that it is a life-long journey. Have you fallen deeper in love with Scripture this year? What is feeding you in Scripture right now? How has something in your life been transformed this year as you’ve grown as a disciple of Jesus? As we begin this journey with some of our young friends, or with our leaders, how are we helping them fall in love with Scripture? Learn how to disciple others? Become life-long learners?
One tool we can use is the Discovery Bible Study. The beauty of this tool is that it is something we can use at home in our personal time in the Bible too. Using this tool with students allows us to teach them how to use this on their own as well.
TEXT FOR DBS QUESTIONS
- Share one thing you are thankful for and one thing that is stressing you out in a group prayer process.
- Ask the group to share what God told them through His Word since the last meeting. Ask them to share how they were obedient to the previous week’s Scripture.
- Read Scripture out loud while people follow along in their Bibles.
- Have someone else read the same passage out loud while the group listens.
- Have someone in the group retell the passage in their own words. Allow the group to add to the retelling, if necessary.
- Use discovery questions to encourage the group to engage the passage:
-Did anything in this passage capture your attention?
-What did you like about this passage?
-Did anything bother you? Why?
-What does this passage tell us about God?
-What does this passage tell us about Man? - What does this passage tell us about living to please God?
-Challenge the group to obey God’s Word. Have each person share what they are going to do to obey the passage over the next week. Don’t forget to follow up on this in your next meeting. - Have the group identify people they will share the passage with during the next week.
- Have the group identify people in need and commit to meeting those needs.
- Close in prayer.
As a staff person leading a ministry, we want to help our leaders think about how we do discipleship with all of the interested students for the entire ministry year. This needs to start within 5-7 days after camp. We often have a lot of students make steps of faith at camp, but if we wait until the school year starts to begin some type of discipleship it is often too late. A part of camp-planning for each area includes an after-camp discipleship plan. Which leaders are around right after camp and can lead a DBS with students? How can you create a rotation of leaders for the weeks after camp and before school starts? Can leaders use YouVersion plans with students to encourage Bible reading while students are away with family on vacations? During the school year ministry discipleship groups can be great, or micro-groups with a leader and three students might be better. What is best for your ministry at this point? Once you have a plan set for when and how you’ll do discipleship groups, the question becomes, “what will we study?” For students who are new believers or more deeply investigating faith it is key to keep digging into who Jesus is and working through the Gospels. Mark is a great place to start!
ACCOUNTABILITY:
- Do you HAVE discipleship groups happening with kids at least twice a month?
- Are you and your leaders ACTIVELY inviting students into discipleship groups/meetings as they take steps of faith?
- How are you and your leaders SHARING what you are learning in Scripture and inviting students to SHARE what they are learning about Jesus?
- Are students GROWING in their faith as seen by their love of scripture and life transformation?
ACTION STEPS:
- Spend time praying over all of the students who attend your ministry. Where are they at in their faith journey?
- Pick one gospel and use it to create a plan of 18 scripture passages to use for discipleship group lessons with the Discovery Bible Study. Use one of these passages and prepare a DBS study to lead with your training group at your next meeting.
- Create an after-camp plan for how you and your team will follow up with kids who have taken steps of faith. Be prepared to discuss this with your supervisor/trainer to get their feedback.
