Cultivating a Culture of Discipleship

I am a K-12 Chaplain and 6-12^th grade Bible Teacher. On any given day, I might be singing Jesus Loves Me with Kindergarteners, and minutes later, discussing the nuances of the Sunni/Shia divide with seniors in high school. Cultivating a culture of discipleship looks different across the grade levels, but there are also some timeless truths that tend to be effective.

Discipleship Across the Years

Bill Mitchell, an elder at my home church in the US, describes child-raising as a hurricane with three phases. The key to the first part of the storm, discipling the youngest children, is authority. These children need consistent, black/white instruction. At some point in Elementary school though, the second phase arrives, the eye of the storm. In the eye of the storm, children have gained some independence, and it can be tempting to let them be busy, happy, and good and to lean back and watch. My eight-year-old is in this stage. If we do not intervene, she is content to sit in front of the stove and read all day. That may seem like a good problem, but one cannot stay in the eye of a hurricane forever. The teenage years are coming. Teenagers have a keen eye for inconsistency and hypocrisy, and the key is to give every effort to disciple from a place of humility and integrity.

A Culture of Discipleship for Younger Students

To disciple younger students is to help them take their first steps in the Faith. In the last three years at my school, ten students have asked Jesus to be their Savior, and all ten of them were in third through fifth grade! This does not happen in a vacuum though. In Kindergarten to second grade, it is our sacred duty to tell stories. In the spirit of keeping things black/white, you should leave out some of the PG-13 details of the book of Judges, but all Bible stories are God-breathed and are profitable (2 Timothy 3:16) for helping children frame a context for the story of redemption.  I was once teaching a chapel about the bronze snake, and a fourth grader raised her hand and asked, “But how do we turn our eyes to Jesus?” This is every teacher’s dream question! This was not the first time she had heard the story, but it was a moment God used to open her spiritual eyes to a powerful truth.

A Culture of Discipleship for Older Students

Stephen Covey’s “inside-out” approach[1] is highly effective in many scenarios, but especially in discipling older students. The character of the teacher/leader is foundational to any message he might wish to communicate. The more he is like Jesus, the better chance of reproducing young Christ-followers. When a student is fully taught, he will be like his teacher (Luke 6:40).

I was recently in a large seminar with a few of my high school students, and Matt Coe was delivering an excellent leadership training. Matt is a dignified, experienced communicator and the attendees were quiet and engaged. Matt was sharing William McRaven’s principle[2] that if you want to change the world, you should make your bed, when to my horror, one of my 9^th grade students raised her hand and asked, “Do you make your bed?” Never in a million years would any adult in the room have asked that question, but to a ninth grader, it was of top importance. Thankfully for Matt, he was able to report that he does make his bed!

We should make it our goal to be holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:16), and since that process will not be complete before the students arrive, we should also be humble. We can hold and share our beliefs passionately, but we better be just as passionate about practicing what we preach. We need to be ready in and out of season to teach, but just as ready to learn.

Timeless Truths for Discipleship

The way we relate to students may change with the seasons, but there are also some timeless truths for discipleship that always apply. My top two are to hold tightly to Jesus and to pray without ceasing.

Programs and people come and go, but Jesus will still be there. We may find great success with a program one year only to see it dry up the next. We might really “click” with a student and think we are making ground and then they move away or stop showing up. I once asked a mentor how my time/effort should be distributed between the students who want to the discipled and the students who need it most. He advised 60/40 in favor of those who want to be discipled. There are layers to this, but in the average school setting, with the average student, I would recommend inviting them into discipleship opportunities, not chasing them down the hall. In the fruitful seasons and in the barren seasons, hold tightly to Jesus and hold the rest with open hands.

Second, pray without ceasing. If you decide today, “I am going to cultivate a culture of discipleship in my classroom,” that would be wonderful. The problem is that tomorrow, actual students with actual problems are going to walk through your door. I, for one, regularly find myself in situations requiring more wisdom than I currently possess and must pause to pray. Closing a gathering in prayer is good, but it may be a better practice to stop in the middle of your average meeting to be still a minute and pray. “If any of you lacks wisdom [which we do!], you should ask God [day by day, hour by hour], who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to you.” (James 1:5 NIV, italics added). Jesus is for you. One of the last things He told His disciples was to cultivate a culture of discipleship, so we know we are praying in His will, and He will be with us always, even to the end of the age.

Peter Sargent is the Chaplain at GDQ School in Albania. He grew up in New York, went to Liberty University, and has taught at three Christian schools on three continents. He has a wife and four kids, and his favorite hobbies include washing dishes and helping the kids with homework.