Repetition is the act of repeating something that has already been said or written. (2 Peter 1:13-15). You & I need repetition…desperately! Remember that we’re sheep…that should say a lot about why we need repetition so badly. Repetition is for the sake of establishing strong communication. It is so that the heart of the hearer can match the heart of the speaker or the writer. You’ll be so surprised at what you didn’t hear that you thought that you’d heard on your first hearing of a particular truth. My discipler says, “if you cant repeat it then it should be heard again” and if there aren’t results pouring from your life in response to what you’ve heard then you didn’t hear the way that you thought you heard when you first heard. (Be careful not to be a parrot of truth. A parrot can repeat the words “I love you” but doesn’t have any intellectual understanding of the phrase or an emotional attachment to the concept of love. Don’t be like that! Don’t be like that! Don’t model the parrot. Don’t utter truth out a dead heart. Have a heart permeated, affected, saturated and penetrated by truth. Warm your heart by the fire of meditation and you’ll find your dwindling flame a raging forest fire). Your productivity determines how well you’ve heard.
Hearing + Understanding = Productivity (Matt. 13:23). First, I want to debunk a myth that assumes that a disciple is a first class Christian. Let me say it this way…there are Christians and there are disciples! That is not a biblical statement. That may be true through our cultural paradigm but it is not true through the lens of Christ in the frame of the Bible. The word Christian is a Greek word with a Hebrew concept with a Latin ending. The concept is that of the (Christ) Messiah, the son of God and militant King, who would reign over Israel on the throne of David to whom God promised that his lineage would never cease to have a King on the throne. The suffix to the word Christian is ian which means- belonging to, coming from, being involved in, or being like something. We belong to, come from, are involved in, and are like Christ who himself was and is a disciple (John 6:19) of God. (Implication being…this thing is as old as ETERNITY Isa 50:4 NASV) Therefore we must agree with God and raise within our hearts the standard of what being Christian is! (Luke 14:25-35) A disciple is what Christian is! He (the disciple) is like Jesus increasingly & practically in his profession, progression, and product.
PROFILE- the biography (DISCIPLE)
A disciple is one who learns by listening and following. He follows as he learns and always learns more as he continues following. A disciple is an apprentice- one who links arms with another who is further along than him so that he may learn a trade. A disciple is an adherent-one who sticks to another like adhesive tape in order to catch their life and vision. Notice the word vision…there is nothing more important in the life of a disciple than seeing things from God’s point of view & having on his heart what God has on HIS. A disciple is a pupil- like a student with a pen, pad, and textbook in hand. A disciple is an understudy- one who trains under another that he may be his substitute. A disciple is a scholar- a scholar is simply a learner but he is also one who learns a particular discipline with mastery as his intent. He is a scriptorian, “increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Col 1:10) We should all be developing scholars in the school of Christ (like Stephen Acts 6:10) which implies radical use of the mind employed for the full advantage of Christ. Implied in the word disciple is the idea of what it truly means to love the Lord your God with all your mind. (Matt. 22:37) If I’m to employ my mind to know anything then I’m to employ it to know God above all things. If I’m to employ my will to perform any action then it should be to perform the greatest and most consistent display of who and what God is! If I’m to employ my emotions to be attached to anything then I’m to employ them to be attached and passionate for God above all things.
A disciple escalates in the knowledge of God! When he has difficulty understanding things he lifts his head and ascends (Prov. 2:1-5 & 2 Tim 2:7). When he feels that these things are too deep for him…he gets in his bulldozer (2 Tim 2:7) and plows them up! A disciple is one who learns with the intent to become and becomes with the intent to reproduce what he has learned and what he has become into the life of another who desires to be as he is! A disciple is a person in training. Matter of fact he is a leader in training and his main question is…”Where do I grow from here?” He is always on the grow!
The Greek word for disciple is Mathetes and within this word we can see God’s strategy (MATH) for Total World Impact. It is a strategy that evolves from addition to multiplication.
Disciple- approx. 269 times within the first 5 books of the N.T
Christian – only 3 times (Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, 1 Pet 4:16)
Revival- 0
God wears out the word disciple! A disciple is one who pleases the Lord and who will reach the world for Christ. We have tragically reduced the meaning of being a disciple. Now, anyone who avoids the process yet professes faith is called a disciple… but according to what standard! Disciplemaking has been reduced to merely soul winning. Although soul winning is an important and necessary part of the disciplemaking process…it is not disciplemakiing. In disciplemaking we do not merely count people. We build people who count…it is inconsistent to be a disciple and not make disciples. (This is something to think about). Are you proud because you’ve done nothing to be ashamed of…or are you ashamed because you’ve done nothing to be proud of?
We’ll have all of eternity to celebrate REAL victories but we only have until sundown to win them! In the N.T you can see the evolving meaning of a disciple.
1. A Casual listener- all the people who came to hear Jesus at the beginning of his ministry were called disciples. They merely followed him around for the pleasure of hearing him.
2. A Convinced listener- He is one who has figured out that there is no success in arguing with Jesus. He hears the truth, is convinced of it but it has not substantially changed his lifestyle. They are the people who have no power with God in changing the world because they are not deeply changed themselves. In the west we have become professional listeners and amateur doers. (James 1:22) Let that be true of us no longer! Draw a line in front of yourself and cross it yesterday. Lay that before your feet and get OVER it! We have become mere sermon tasters without any intent of personal incarnation, verbal repetition and practical replication of truth in the life of another individual. Eze. 33:31-32
3. A Committed life long learner- (John 6:60-69) He is radically committed, a radical follower and radical learner.
Sam Shoemaker said, “Our minds, our emotions, the hours of our days must be filled with a special group of individuals at all times- individuals we seek to win, individuals we seek to train in taking responsibility, individuals to whom we ourselves look for spiritual fellowship and help.” Lk 6:40
Person (Discipler)
This is one who takes initiative to turn people into disciples. He is a maturing disciple who leads others into maturity. The more aggressive the leader…the more active the follower. He is a pacesetter- determining the depth and the distance! He is a co-learner who learns together with the disciple. He is one who is learning the standard of Jesus, mastering it as he is being consumed… along while leading others into the same all consuming passion. He is a recruiter who is enlisting others in the Phil 4:9, Lk 6:40, Mk 3:14, 1 Cor 11:1, & 2 Tim 2:2 process.
Process (Discipling)
Discipling is spiritual parenting/training. Training- to teach a particular skill or type of behavior through practice and instruction over a period of time. Discipling is building into disciples. Perception- Process- Product. If our product is unacceptable then you can be sure that something is wrong with our perception. Jesus’ product resulted in men who would lay down their lives. What could you do, as concerning impacting the globe, with a man who isn’t afraid to die?
Discipling is as old as Moses & Joshua, Samuel & the sons of the prophets, David & Jonathan, David & his mighty men, Naomi & Ruth, Elijah & Elisha, Elisha & the school of the prophets, Jesus –Peter, James & John, Jesus & the 12, Peter & Mark, Barnabas & Paul, Paul & Barnabas, Paul & Luke, Epaphras & the Colossians. Discipling is done by someone not something, by people not programs, by individuals not institutions! It always involves a transfer of life and truth (1 Thess. 2:8 & Col 1:28 &29). You can’t mass-produce disciples. They are built up close & personal like a sculptor with a hammer & chisel in hand.
Michelangelo who built the 17ft marble statue of “David” said, “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped & perfect in attitude & action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.” You must be able to see in your disciple what no one else will see in him. You must see him with bi-focal vision. See what he is and what he could become (John 1:42)! See the masses through the disciple. Build and equip the disciple to impact the masses to the ends of the earth until the end of time. *Phil 4:9
We’re not talking about disinfecting sinners. We’re talking about discipling saints- people who are disposable at the finger -tips of Christ for any given purpose. We do not want the disciple to emerge from the process as a tamed human being. Jesus wasn’t tamed. We have made him look as wimpy as the zoo lions! What is the standard? We ought to turn our disciples into what Jesus turned his disciples into. World visionary, world impacting, radical, risky, sacrificial, self- denying, Christ-centered, Christ-exalting reproducers of other who would reproduce. (Mark 3:14) There is absolutely no substitute for spending time with people. We must disciple because our compromise becomes the next generations standard! Moses discipled Joshua, Joshua discipled no one and in the book of Judges we see that everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Discipling includes the entire process from convert to trained disciplemaker. When the Eleven heard Jesus say to make disciples they didn’t have to pull out their Greek dictionary! They knew that they were to practice with others the same strategy that was modeled with them.
Price-what does it cost (Disciplines)
“Practice is not what you do once you’re good. Practice is what makes you good.” The disciplines reveal the cost of discipleship. Hudson Taylor said that a man is of little value if he’s not disciplined. (1 Cor. 9:24-27-train like an athlete, Mk 1:35-strong devotional lives like Jesus, Jos. 1:8- meditating in the word of God, 2 Tim 2:15- studying the word of God, Ps 119:11- memorizing the word, Mt 9:15- Fasting for Jesus, Heb 10:25- corporate worship) We can’t call others to be & do the things that we aren’t being and doing! We must be what we wish to behold in others. You will be what you see but what you do not see you cannot be. You’ll become what you behold but what you do not behold you cannot become. “You will be what you are now becoming.” Dawson Trotman
Product -(Disciplemaking that produces and ministry of multiplication)
Multiplication is when disciplers start producing other world visionary, world impacting disciplers. If my spiritual education does not result in someone elses spiritual education, their edification, their exultation in Christ, their exaltation of Christ and their expedition for the cause of Christ then all of my spiritual education will result as a testimony against me in the Day of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). This not about mere profession of faith but it is about profession, progression and production…indefinitely. Is your life like a purse or a pipeline? Is your house a house of mirrors or windows?
God’s spiritual strategy to reach the world is the same as his biological strategy! Gen. 1:28 “be fruitful and multiply.” This is the only command given by God that man has faithfully obeyed. Gen 9:1 & Gen 11/ Acts 1:8 & Acts 8:1
*Why do men fail to multiply biologically?
1. Never marry or no intercourse with the opposite sex
2. Impairment to the reproductive organs
3. Immaturity- babies just don’t reproduce
*Spiritual failure to multiply
1. A person doesn’t become a Christian or has no consistent union with Christ so there is little or no multiplication.
2. The active sin in the life of a believer could hinder multiplication.
3. Immaturity- spiritually. 1 Cor. 3:1-2 Paul said “I wrote unto you as babes in Christ.”
Disciplemaking is the process that will necessarily catalyze growth! Sooner than later…metamorphosis occurs. He can’t remain in the process very long without radical change occurring. Spiritual multiplication is God’s strategy for reaching the world through those we win and train now! The true test of a church is not what it’s doing when it’s gathered but what is it doing when it’s scattered! When truth reaches you does it terminate or germinate? If Jesus were to ask you, “where are the riches resulted from the treasure that he has invested within you?” To whom will you point? To whom will they point? Among many Paul will point to the Thessalonians as the interest from the deposit of the gospel of the grace of God. May you join him, may you have spiritual children, grandchildren and great- grandchildren. May you join John and say “ I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth.” 3 Jn.4
Why does the Bible use fruit as a substitutional word for children? Because fruit has seed within it that carries potential for indefinite reproduction and you are God’s seed (children of the kingdom) Matt 13:38!
I pray that you would have multi-generations of disciples to boast about in the day of Christ. (1 Thess. 2:19) But not merely for the sake of boasting but for the glory of God so that “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God and the waters cover the sea.” (Hab. 2:14). So, where is your man? Women, where are your women?
Abraham had Isaac & Isaac had Jacob, Jacob had 12 sons and those 12 sons had 12 tribes and those 12 tribes became the ever MULTIPLYING nation of Israel.
ONE MAN AWAKE
CAN AWAKEN ANOTHER
THE SECOND CAN AWAKEN HIS NEXT DOOR BROTHER
THREE AWAKE CAN AROUSE A TOWN BY TURNING THE WHOLE PLACE UPSIDE DOWN.
THE MANY AWAKE CAN MAKE SUCH A FUSS THAT IT FINALLY AWAKENS THE REST OF US. ONE MAN UP WITH DAWN IN HIS EYES…MULTIPLIES!
“When all is said and done there is usually more said than done!” Please, don’t let this be true of you!
Chap Clark
Training Volunteers for Middle School Ministry
Uniqueness of the Middle School Student
1. Where they are developementally-1st of 3 stages of adolescence
Definition: individuation-the process of becoming a unique individual
- Identification-who am I uniquely
- autonomy-taking responsibility for their life
- belonging-where do I fit
How to take a student dependant on mommy and transition into independence
Stages
Dependent-13 yrs old
- -Cognitively-They are concrete inn how they see life. Things are very black or white, good or bad.
- -Intuitively-Incredibly relationally intuitive.
2. What they encounter experientially-
- sex-sexuality is not about intimacy (see the movie “13”)
-playing with the dark side of life
-mtv movie-middle school confessions
- drinking-
- drugs-
- pop-culture-
- Friendships-all through the eyes of self. Intimacy to Enemy in two weeks.
(This seems to be a bunch of psychobabble)
3. What they are able to deal with relationally-
- Emotionally-everything that comes along is a huge deal but it’s over quickly.
- Cumulative messages- of emotional pain will have a devastating effect on kids.
- Depression-They will tend to fall back into childhood behaviors.
4. What they need environmentally-
(OK this seminar is getting better))
- Warmth-a climate that they sense is OK for them to enter
-if the students come in and all the adults are in the kitchen, then the students are entering a cold environment.
- Proactive support-they need someone pursuing them (Luke 15)
- Family-like atmosphere- make the youth area their place. Do they KNOW we CARE
5. Who they are going to be theologically-
- Close to God’s heart- Jesus was indignant (being ticked for a very good reason because something has defiled dignity and you are angry about it)
- They need the feel of Christian community far more than they need the cognitive aspects of the faith.
- Affective part of the faith more impacting.
- Witness is best through experience
- Illustration-Chuck Swindoll-The kid went home from Sunday school and told her mom that she had a substitute. Oh really, who was it? I think it was Jesus’ grandma because all they talked about was how awesome Jesus was.
- They are not just the body of Christ on Sunday
- They need to know that the church community are their biggest fans. Middle School volunteers
RABBIT CHASE (Internet in the family room, software to download instant messages)
Building and Nurturing a Leadership Team for Middle School Ministry
- Building a team-
- Carl Larson and Frank Lefaso wrote a book on TEAMWORK
- 8 Characteristics of an Effective Team
i. A clear elevated goal-everyone must know WHY they do what they do
ii. Have a results driven structure-everything you do in your ministry must point too your goal (t have middle school students feel like church is a safe place for them)
iii. Principle leadership-head leaders must be trustworthy
iv. Unified commitment-this doesn’t mean that every volunteer works the same hours. Those that give what they give need to be equally committed to the goal
v. Confident Team Members-that doesn’t mean we have all TYPE A personalities. It means you are confident where you serve.
vi. Collaborative climate-have warm leadership meetings
vii. Standards of Excellence-
viii. External support and recognition-leadership must affirm your volunteers
- Creating a healthy team
- It’s important to BE the people of God before you DO the work of God. If students think our leaders don’t like each other then we are toast.
- Contact and work with each other (John 15:1-15) - Love the vine individually and corporately.
- Serve each other-
- Play together-
- Training a middle school team
- 6 specific truths in understanding the key tasks of middle school ministry
i. developmental issues- bad discipline, yelling at a kid,
ii. specific culture
iii. content of the gospel (having a love for God and a love for kids doesn’t mean the leaders are theologically sound or confident) The best ministry often happens in tragedy and if the van breaks down and you have an hour to spend with a kid, you better know what to share
iv. Appropriate legal issues- What if a kid says, “My dad beat up my mom last night.”
v. To provide kids hope- Jesus Christ (real, present, safe)
vi. Connect to the larger body- We need to change the definition of Youth Ministry- The body of Christ- New Definition- By the time a kid graduates from High School the church has fully assimilated them into the life of the church.
- Instilling the key ingredient: Consistency
- Each student matters- I’m here and I’m your fan
- Each individual diverse student matters despite their appearance or morality, body piercing, home life, what their parents do for you
- The value of small acts of investment.-take them shopping
- The inner MS leader.
- The power of what we have to offer kids is the love we have for Jesus Christ ourselves.
