Nor Cal / Nev College Ministries

It was the middle of May and another school term was complete. He sat feeling exhausted from the year. His thoughts darted back and forth. "You would think after eight years of campus ministry; I would begin to see the fruit of my labor. All I feel now is fatigue, and frustration. What happened to me this year? I can't remember working harder, especially these past five months. I did more crisis level counseling recently than in probably the previous two to three years. But has anyone really gotten better? In fact, some seem in worse shape. And even my stable students seemed ambivalent at the end of school. Lord, what's going on? Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a campus pastor."

The Lord seemed to lead him to carefully examine his calendar over the last semester. Where had his time gone, and who had he spent it with? Then it began to make sense. He could honestly say that he was a very caring person and the campus ministry was characterized as a loving and safe environment for people with needs. And they came; people with severe needs. He took it upon himself to minster to them all. But they needed much more than what he could provide. Then the next realization. There were several stable and caring students in the campus group, but they were unable to minister to people with deeper needs. At least they felt intimidated by the problems of their brothers and sisters in Christ. He had failed to equip them, making false assumptions that they would be incapable of ministering.

He had repenting to do. Repentence for the arrogance that saw himself as the only one able to respond properly. But, most importantly, repentence for failing to enable students to grow as ministers one to another.

EQUIP THE SAINTS

In the fourth chapter of Ephesians, Paul mentions several leadership gifts in the body of Christ. Throughout chapter four Paul underscores the unity and diversity of the body. Paul's point is that when the unity of the Spirit is maintained and the diversity of the body is liberated, then all members grow into maturity in Christ. However, the way we interpret verse twelve is absolutely crucial to the way we as a body pursue maturity. Some see the role of the servant-leaders mentioned in verse eleven as filling all the responsibilities mentioned in the next two verses. Those being, equipping the saints, doing the works of service, building up the body of Christ, promoting unity, teaching the knowledge of Jesus as the Son of God. They believe that if they do this, then all the members will become mature.

If you view the role of these servant-leaders as having the primary task of equipping the saints, then ministry should become available to all members of the body. This view sees every member a minister. The privilege of ministry is open to all, not just to specially trained pastors and vocational staff. Peter says of all members of the community, "but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into this wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9). The priesthood of all believers is taught here. Priests need to be equipped to fulfill their roles. It is the privilege of campus pastors to prepare students for ministry.

TWO TIMOTHY TWO TWO

Beyond the Great Cornmission, the cardinal passage for discipleship is Paul's words to his disciple and son in the Lord, Timothy. "And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2, NASB). There are at least four different generations of disciples mentioned in this verse.

1. Paul
2. Timothy
3. Faithful people
4. Others

This verse illustrates the transgenerational nature of the discipling process. First Paul asks Timothy to recall everything he taught and did which could be verified by witnesses. There is nothing clandestine or esoteric about Paul's ministry. He taught publicly in synagogues, marketplaces, church gatherings and in homes. He prayed for the sick and saw many healed. He cast out evil spirits. He traveled with companions in ministry. Timothy had been one of those companions. So close had their discipling relationship grown that they even saw each other as father and son. Now Paul tells his disciple to select more faithful disciples from the congregation. He is to select carefully. And in this verse Paul gives a guideline for evaluation of effective ministry. When Timothy was able to see disciples being equipped from the faithful ones he had equipped, then he could presume success.

It is often said that, "We cannot have spiritual grandchildren." What is meant is that the salvation experience of a parent cannot pass on to the child automatically. The child must accept Christ on their own. Of course this is the case. However, when it comes to discipleship, it is the goal to produce spiritual grandchildren. We are to disciple in such a way that our disciples will in turn disciple others also. This goal must be kept foremost in our thinking and equipping. We must equip our disciples in such a way that they will be able to disciple someone else later. You have done a good job of discipling when you see your disciple discipling another.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A FAITHFUL PERSON

Now Paul did not tell Timothy to select any individual to disciple, but to select "faithful" men. Faithful is a key word here. There are at least two characteristics of faithfulness. One is someone who is "full of faith". Someone who is full of faith is a believer who is convinced that God truly makes a difference in our world. Someone who believes that prayer in faith can change things. They are full of faith, not in faith itself, but full of faith in Jesus.

A second aspect of faithfulness refers to reliability. A reliable person is someone you can count on. They exhibit consistency in their walk. This is simple evidence of their full-of-faith thinking.

Now, who can be a "faithful man"? Often, we first consider those who have accepted Christ quite some time ago. That is the case in most situations. But some of the most faith-full ones are those who have just come to Christ. A new believer often is recently convinced that God truly does make a difference in a person's life. They may or may not have natural leadership abilities, depth of character, or ministry skills, at least probably not yet. Where they are in their walk with Christ is not the primary issue, but are they faithful? In fact, the whole purpose of the discipling process is to bring them along in their walk with God. Thus, when choosing a disciple, the first question should be, "Are they faithful?".

DISCIPLE THE FAITHFUL, PASTOR THE UNFAITHFUL

The principle expressed in the above subtitle came out of the experience mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. That campus pastor discovered that he had spent the vast majority of his time, energy, prayer and counsel upon unfaithful students. At the end of the school year the fruit of unfaithfulness was, sadly, more unfaithfulness. While at the same time there were several very faithful students in the campus group who were neglected. Not only is this principle, "Disciple the Faithful, Pastor the Unfaithful," a valuable insight, it is also a statement of prioritizing for the campus pastor. Choose discipling over pastoring. You must never eliminate pastoring, for there will always be those who will need your ability to care for them. But spend the majority of your time, energy, prayer and equipping on those who are faithful. In doing so you set the Great Conunission as a priority in your life.

Some have difficulty with this principle for it seems uncaring to them. However, in fact, it is the most caring thing you can do. To equip the body to minister enables more people to care with effectiveness. Eventually more will find a safe place to heal. At first, you may have to say "no" to some immediate needs facing you. You may disappoint some. But stay true to this principle, not just for a month or two. Make a long term cominitment to disciple. In the case of the campus pastor used in this illustration, several of the unfaithful members no longer came to the campus group (for a variety of reasons and not directly due to a lack of pastoral attention). A new course was set to work with faithful people primarily. In time, new zeal began to emerge in the campus group. Vision bloomed. Involvement increased. And the next five years of campus ministry were encouraging. Steady growth occurred each year. Those who graduated began establishing ministry wherever they moved. They were looked to to provide leadership in the local churches they joined. Many students experienced short4erm missions outreaches. Some were called into vocational ministry, induding campus ministry.

Plato is quoted as having said, "A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in a little thing becomes a great thing." Selecting a few faithful men and women to disciple may at first seem like a little thing, but God builds it into a great thing.
"O lord, you are my God;
I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness
you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago."
Isaiah 25:1