DISCIPLESHIP within your Student Ministry

Discipleship in the life of a Christian is so valuable, and your students need it more than you may realize. Christians who are new in their walk with Christ need a community of strong believers who will walk beside them and hold them accountable to the Word of God. They need someone who will teach them how to live like Christ with truth and grace. The students who are under your guidance are seeking for someone to show them how to follow after the Lord with their whole life, even if they do not always voice it. God designed us for community with one another in order to disciple one another and ultimately draw closer to Him.

Being a teenager today is not always easy, but being a teenager who loves the Lord and strives to obey His word and become more like His son is quite the challenge. There are so many voices and opinions being thrown in your face, and without wisdom and discernment, it is next to impossible to decipher truth from all the mess. Your students may be hesitant about having a mentor or group of people who can pour into their lives, but slowly implementing it into your student ministry will allow for so much individual and overall spiritual growth. 

Having older students pouring into younger students is a good place to start. A student-led Bible study or prayer group will help students become more comfortable with the idea of having spiritual leaders in their life that are invested in them as an individual. It will allow for closer relationships to be formed and trust to be built. From there, you can allow your older students and mentors to offer to meet with the students in their group for a time of one-on-one conversation and diving deeper into the Word. As friendships are formed, this will feel more natural for students and can make it feel less like a meeting with a person of authority and more like a casual conversation with a friend. Make sure that your student mentors are properly equipped to answer questions and reference scripture, but remember that they are still learning too. Let them know that they can always come to you with questions or concerns as well. 

Having a discipleship program within your student ministry is crucial, and it is how Jesus calls us to live as Christians. The sincere friendships and personal conversations about faith, the Word of God, doubt, sin, and every other thing we may face as Christians allows for so much spiritual growth. The life of a Christian does not have to always be a lonely one!

“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 all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age”  - Matthew 28:19-20