What Is Disciple Now- Preparing For The Real World

When answering the question "What is disciple now?", planning your disciple now, and formulating the vision for your Disciple now, have you ever thought about the real world implications of those decisions?  Because our students have to face the real world every single day and we need to make sure that they are ready for that challenge.  We need to make sure that they are equipped to support one another so they can face temptation. We need to make sure they are ready to step up when the opportunity comes to share your faith. We need to make sure that they are prepared to stand firm for the faith with every challenge and trial that they face.  And with that in mind I believe that there are two things that we must consider as prepare our students to live in the world around them as followers of Christ.

First of all, the lives of our students are not all fun and games. Many of them have been hurt by people who are very close to them, some even experiencing unspeakable abuses. In many of our churches the majority of our students have been through a divorce or maybe even multiple divorces.  Some of them are already battling addictions or seeing close friends and family battle addictions.  I know I have a student who has seen his dad battle through addictions, health issues, divorce, and the student basically runs his household now.  This is a lot for an 18 year old to deal with. But honestly, I am sure that his story is not the worst.  Granted, depending on where you are doing ministry the situations may not be all that bad, but because of sin in our world they are never perfect. We need to keep this in mind and not pretend that somehow we are living in Heaven right now.  Yes we get little tastes of it along the way, but we need to be honest with ourselves and our students about the fact that the world is not perfect and there will be trials.  And we need to make sure that they are not only prepared to face that reality but also that they know that they are not alone and have someone to listen to them and show them love when those trials come.

The other thing that I have been realizing lately is that I firmly believe discipleship is about doing life together.  Because when you look at Jesus this is what He did. He walked through life with His disciples and looked for teachable moments in day to day situations. This reality has many implication for your youth ministry and for mine, but one in particular that we will discuss today.  Our students need the skills to be successful in the world we live in. They need to be prepared to fill them many roles we have in our society so that we can have people who our lights for Christ in all walks of life.  And I am beginning to believe that we need to look for opportunities in our student ministries to help our students learn those skills.  I am not saying you have to open a career center or offer computer classes, although that would be a really cool community outreach in a lot of places.  All I mean is that you need to listen to your students and their needs and desires.  And if they need a job, help them find one.  Not only will you help them in a practical sense but you will be amazed in how it deepens your relationship with them and how many spiritual conversations you are able to have through your time together doing very real world tasks.  It is the same thing if a student is interested in the automotive industry and you have an interest in cars.  Or maybe just if a kid does not know how to change a flat tire.  If you have a knowledge of graphics and a student is interested in that, sit down with them and share some of your knowledge and give them access to some of your software.  Or it could be as simple as helping students and families get prepared for college. I know this year I have seen this play out in two ways. First of all we had representatives from a local college come in and help students and families fill out applications and FASFA forms.  Recently, I realized the senior guys in my small group had a big interest in technology and entrepreneurship so we say down and talked about business as well as web and app development.  It was amazing the doors it opened up for great spiritual conversations and how our relationships were strengthened. 

But this task is not just for you. You need to empower your leaders to share their knowledge, experience and skills as well.  Because as a youth ministry you must be a team working towards the same goals. And that goal is of course having students meet Jesus and experience life change, but we also must prepare them to go out into the world so they can be lights and help others experience life change as well.