Adventures In Discipling Chris Adsit, Associate National Director of Discipleship, Military Ministry When we begin to disciple someone, it's futile to address only the issues in their "religious cubby hole." People need to grow and mature in every area of life, so we need to relate to them along a wide front. As Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy, "But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, sufferings... (2 Timothy 3:10,11)" Those two men went through a lot together! And so should we with our disciples. Don't look at them as a "ministry project," be their friend. Do spend time together in prayer and Bible study; but do fun things together, too! Have adventures together. Minister together. Go on overseas projects together. Play together. You cannot develop a deep relationship with a person if you're only meeting for an hour a week over lunch in a restaurant. And without that deep relationship, it's not likely they'll ever open up to you and you'll never know what issues might be slowing down their maturation process. Gerry and I were teammates on Colorado State's track team. He had come out of a rough, drug-related background and was a nominal Christian when we first met. God had given me a burden to help Gerry grown, so I invited him to join a Bible study I was leading, which he did. He was pretty faithful about coming, but I still felt he was holding me at arm's-length. Our once-a-week small-group meetings weren't getting us very far As I prayed about it, the Lord gave me the idea to take Gerry tubing on a nearby river in the Colorado Rockies - just the two of us. As we drove, Gerry began to open up. Because his life had been hard, he wasn't convinced that God really gave a hoot about him personally. Inwardly, I asked God to show Gerry otherwise. The river looked rough, but we jumped into the icy water anyway. About a half-mile downstream the current took a sharp turn to the right. I shot up sideways over a boulder, stayed on top of the tube and made the turn. But as I looked back, I saw Gerry flip over. He then committed the cardinal sin of tubing: he let go of his tube. I pulled to the side, snagged Gerry's tube and watched for him to pop up, so that I could throw it to him. Ten seconds passed. Twenty. Thirty. I began to panic. Finally, up shoots Gerry, his eyes as big as tennis balls! He splashed over to me, exhausted. He said that the current, after it went over and around the boulder, created a tremendous down-wash, and the river must have been 20 feet deep right there. It pushed him all the way to the bottom. Twice he fought almost to the top, and twice it pushed him down. He said, "After that second time, I quit. I saw my life pass before my eyes, and I knew I was going to die. All of a sudden, it was like this giant hand grabbed me and threw me to the surface! Chris, I know that was God! He does care about me!" And just to make sure there was no more doubt about it, as we were walking back up the road and contemplating another run down the river, Gerry's tube exploded! That settled that. I don't recommend near-drowning as a standard discipling technique, but Gerry and I became very close from that day on, and this opened the door for a lot more input over the next several years. God used the context of our friendship to accomplish something that could never be done in the context of a formal Bible study. Only in the context of an intimate, personal relationship will you be able to uncover and deal with the intimate, personal issues in your disciple's life. And if a person doesn't have a place where he can go to deal with those issues, he will be devoured (1 Peter 5:8). Most younger Christians don't bail out of the Christian life because they dislike the pastor's style of preaching, or because they only made it through Book Three of a six-book Bible study series. They bail out because sometimes life gets overwhelming, and when they turn to their fellow Christians for help, no one's there, and no one cares. That must change! As Solomon said, "One standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer; three is even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12 TLB)." You need to be there for your spiritual children! The young Christian, the Lord, and you will be that tough, triple-braided cord. More Articles --> Special thanks to Gospel Communications Network for the use of the Bible Gateway!
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