I offered a discipleship challenge to my church this past weekend. The challenge was to start Discipleship groups (D-groups) that operate out of and from within Sunday school classes. To understand how D-groups work, just watch the above message, beginning at the 36 minute mark. The response to my message was good! I believe we will soon have D-groups up and running at the student and adult level.
I have developed curriculum for Student D-groups in the M.A.P.’s Journal. The journal contains one scripture per week that students will need to memorize for their D-group meetings. D-Group Leaders for Student D-Groups will need to purchase Next Generation and Discipleship to obtain the teaching passage used in the M.A.P.’s Journal (what I call the MAP). Adults may use the M.A.P.’s Journal for D-groups as well. My recommendation is that adults read the entire chapter (that their weekly memory verse is located in) before their D-group meeting. Students simply need to read the passage that the memory verse is located in.
For example, the memory verse for Week 1 of the M.A.P.’s Journal is Luke 14:27. Students would need to read Luke 14:25-33 while adults would need to read all of Luke 14. The D-group leader needs to go one step farther than his or her students by reading the online IVP New Testament commentary offered for free at www.biblegateway.com for the week’s selected passage (students) or chapter (adults). This way, the D-group leader will be able to facilitate discussion amongst students. The end goal for D-groups is increased Christ-likeness for all group members!
Having talked about my first two books above, I leave you with a promo for my third: While driving around, I came across two church signs recently. One church sign read “youth group, fun and games, Wed. 7 pm.” The other church sign read “student ministry, Wed. 7 pm.” In my latest book The Student Ministry Time Machine, I talk about where student ministry has been (the first sign), where student ministry is (the second sign), and where student ministry is going (read my book!). For the purpose of this post, I will simply say next generation ministry and discipleship go hand in hand!