12 for '12

Twelve Discipleship Ideas for the 2012-2013 School Year

In my experience, building a disciple involves focusing on at least three areas: View of God , Identity in Christ , and Eternal Perspective . As you choose resources from this list, I recommend choosing some from each of the three sections in order to develop well-rounded, Christ-like disciples who truly follow Jesus.

Under each of the twelve ideas you’ll notice three helpful bullet points:

Summation : The basic content of the material

Duration : How long it will take for you to cover the material

Location : Where to find the material

How do I spend my time with a disciple?

Here’s a brief guideline for how you might effectively use your discipleship time. If you have 2 hours/week to spend together, it could look like this:

A) Word/Content – 30 minutes – Spend time going through the material you’ve chosen.

B) Fellowship – 30 minutes – Spend time talking about life, doing life together, playing racquet ball.

C) Evangelism – 1 hour – Don’t just “sit” during discipleship. Get out and share the gospel with the lost.

If you only have 1 hour each week, don’t sweat it. Do A & B one week, and then do C the next week (Alternating weeks).

Standard Discipleship – Start here

First, let’s start with two “Standards.” These are resources we recommend going through with every disciple you have.

A)    Satisfied – Will help you walk through the Spirit Filled Life - http://crupressgreen.com/satisfied/

B)    My Heart, Christ’s Home - Will help you talk about vulnerability as well as total surrender - http://mckeesportalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/My-Heart-Christs-Home.pdf

Now, let’s move on to 12 ideas you can use in your discipleship this school year.

Section 1 - View of God

1. God: Discover his Character (book by Dr. Bill Bright)

a. Summation: An excellent book summarizing the key attributes of God.

b. Duration: 1 semester

c. Location: New Life Resources http://www.campusCru.com/catalog/God-Discover-His-Character.html

2. First Love (book by Dr. Bill Bright)

a. Summation: Small, short book helping ask the question “Is Jesus your first love?”

b. Duration: 7 weeks (about 1/2 semester)

c. Location: Amazon.com http://amzn.to/U08ovv

3 . Names of God

a. Summation: List of God’s names and their meanings

b. Duration: Could do in 1 discipleship lesson, or could do 1 name per week and stretch it over a semester

c. Location: http://www.gotquestions.org/names-of-God.html

4. Isaiah 40:9-31

a. Summation: This passage is Isaiah’s vision when he saw God (See Is 6:1-7). It describes God’s character with great brilliance. Take time to memorize the entire passage with your disciple. Talk verse by verse about the attributes of God.

b. Duration: Could take anywhere from 4-6 weeks

c. Location: In your Bible

Section 2 - Identity in Christ

5. Identity in Christ (Neil Anderson)

a. Summation: Takes you through scriptural truths relating to who you are in Christ

b. Duration: Could do in 1 discipleship lesson, or could do 1 truth per week and stretch it over a semester. This handout is also needed for the “Reclaiming the past” columns exercise.

c. Location: http://www.ficm.org/index.php?command=textwhoamiinchrist

6. Ephesians

a. Summation: Read through the book of Ephesians with your disciple, maybe doing 1 chapter per week. As you go, keep a journal of all the Identity in Christ statements (look for clues like “in Christ” or “in Him”). Talk with you disciple about what these identity statements mean for their life.

b. Duration: 6 weeks (if you did 1 chapter per week)

c. Location: In your Bible

7. Gospel Diagnostics: Heart Idols

a. Summation: Helping us see our idols, and turn from them so we can have true life.

b. Duration: I would recommend you go slow on this one. Take 2 or 3 weeks to really get to the bottom of idols and the bottom of the gospel with your disciple.

c. Location: http://crupressgreen.com/gospel-diagnostics/

8. Gospel Transformation: Ch 4, 5, 17 (Devotional Workbook)

a. Summation: 3 lessons out of the Gospel Transformation Workbook on Identity in Christ. Read passages and answer questions together with your disciple

b. Duration: 3 weeks

c. Location: Order the entire GT workbook (expensive) through World Harvest Mission at www.whm.org , or you can order each chapter individually ($1 per chapter) by e-mailing bookstore@whm.org

Section 3 - Eternal Perspective

9. Getting Biblical About Evangelism (Devotional Guide)

a. Summation: 15 biblical passages about evangelism. Helps your disciple get the scriptures perspective on evangelism. Also goes through the evangelism model (Master, Masses, Messengers, Message, etc)

b. Duration: 1 semester

c. Location: http://crupressgreen.com/getting-biblical-about-evangelism/

10. Rescue the Dying, Whatever it Takes (MP3, or can be put on a CD)

a. Summation: Listen to this 40 minute talk by Ron Hutchcraft with your disciple to capture their heart for the lost. Have a discussion with them after about what parts of the talk most hit them and how you can apply it to your lives.

b. Duration: 1 week

c. Location: Purchase at www.cccaudio.com for $1.50 (search by key word “rescue”)

11. Caleb Project Info Bytes (CD Rom)

a. Summation – 11 short video clips talking about world missions. Go through topics like 10/40 window, Unreached People groups, Major World religions, and the Biblical Basis for world missions. Play the clip, then discuss with your disciple. Then play another and discuss it. Great for world vision and for sending. These clips were originally designed for kids, so you’ll need to get past a little cheese factor. But if you can, they are great.

b. Duration: Could be 1, 2 or 3 weeks of discipleship meetings, depending on how you did it.

c. Location: CD Rom (you will need to take your laptop to discipleship) that can be ordered for $0.99 at http://www.cartpioneers.org/shaping-eternity-infobytes-cd/

12. Missionary Biographies and Quotes

a. Summation – Choose six short snipets of missionaries' lives, followed by quotes from missionaries. You can’t read this stuff without being stirred by Christ and his love for the lost. Take time to read some or all of the biographies and quotes. Discuss themes you see in them like dying to self, passion for the lost, sacrificing so others might know Christ, giving up American comforts for the glory of Christ, etc.

You could also assign your disciple to read a missionary biography book outside of your discipleship times ( Heavenly Man , William Carey; In the Arena , Isobel Kuhn; Bruchko , Bruce Olson).

b. Duration: Could be 2-4 weeks of discipleship

c. Location: Biographies:  http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/bioindex.html   http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/msquotes.html

Photo courtesy of Kevin McShane