principles

Disciple the Faithful

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 17:22:12 -0600

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.

Paul
Timothy
Faithful people
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

Jethro and Moses

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:52:26 -0600

In Exodus 18, Jethro comes to Moses and gives him some counsel that we all need to hear from time to time: what you are doing is not good!

Here's the full story:

13 The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. 14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?" 15 Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws." 17 Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. 21 But select capable men from all the people-men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain-and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied." 24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves. 27 Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country. (Exodus 18:13-27, NIV)

What's the bottom line?

We can't do it alone!

Nothing Succeeds Like Success

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:51:18 -0600

This is true in many areas of life:

Bestsellers are often books which are selling well simply because they are selling well.
Rich people get richer.
Big ministries stay big even when the quality that once drove them to hugeness ebbs. It can take a long time for okay preaching and mediocre music to shrink a massive group.
Small ministries can stay small even when they possess excellent preaching and off-the-charts worship. They feel cozy and they stay that way.

What's the implication for your ministry?

Generate a feeling of success. Momentum is your biggest friend or your greatest nemesis. When you've got it, nothing is a problem. When you lost it, everything is a problem. Always be building towards something. Have a friend night, a cool series, or a retreat, or a mission trip, or a summer project just around the corner.
Don't assume you're doing the right things just because of your size. You could be coasting and not even know it. Count What Matters.
Don't assume you're doing the wrong things just because of your size. You're pushing against a lot of resistance, and the breakthrough may be just around the corner. Count What Matters.

Natural Growth Barriers

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:44:02 -0600

There seem to be some natural stopping points in campus ministry--places that growth stalls out.

The Stopping Points

12: at this point the group has a hard time viewing itself as anything other than a cell group. In fact, it's dangerous to start having a large group meeting at this size. Some people can pull it off, but it would be better to get two or three Bible studies going and then combine them when you launch a worship service. See Launching College Ministry.
30: at this point the group values intimacy and community so much that they begin to sabotage growth (unknowingly). You need to teach that it's okay not to know everybody in the group. In addition, it's at this point that a college minister first begins to feel the strain of meeting everyone's needs. You must build a team of leaders! Remember Jethro And Moses!
70: something usually sticks here - either your worship isn't on par with the preaching, or the fellowship times aren't as fun as the worship is good, or some other critical factor is missing. Find it and fix it.
120: at this point the obstacle to growth will not be how you relate to your students but how you relate to your leaders. Your student leaders need to undergo the same paradigm shifts as regards the leadership as they did regarding the group as a whole. In fact, what has probably happened is that the ones who were there at 30 never really had to give up the community that they treasured so much--they just all became leaders together. Now the intimacy of the leaders is threatened. Go back over the same stuff with the same people... (get used to this theme in ministry, by the way).
200: at this point your group should have an extremely well-developed small group system, a deep leadership pool, awesome worship, and be taking several missions trips a year. So what stalls? Vision. The group is everything people hoped it could be. Also, the group is becoming more and more inwardly focused and less and less outwardly focused. Consciously assign staff and money to outreach even if it means making some of your members unhappy.
400: it's just hard to get past this point. Most campuses don't seem to be able to sustain a group past this point in non-revival periods. Do a bunch a stuff and let us know what works. :)
Beyond?: they probably exist beyond this point, but very few college ministries ever have to worry about them. See Mega College Ministries.

Church Parallels

There are lot of books out there that talk about church growth barriers. Those are not the same as college ministry growth barriers, because when churches talk attendance they're talking about every member of the family (and sometimes I think they count the pets, too).

To get a more useful comparison, take the church numbers and divide them by around 3. That's how many distinct family units the church is dealing with (and how many you would be dealing with if you drew the same crowd 15 years later in their lives).

Closing The Door Behind Them

A theme that you will notice is that everyone idealizes the group as it was when they joined it. If they joined at 30, they yearn for the 30 days. If they joined at 70, they look wistfully at those glory days.

It makes sense--they joined the group then because they liked it then. They didn't necessarily sign up for change. Help them to see that the only reason the group was perfect for them was because other people sacrificed their preferences to accomodate them. Why should they be the ones to close the door behind them and say, "70 and no more"?

Campus Equilibrium

There seems to be a natural equilibrium point at most four-year schools. Usually, about 8-12% of the campus will be involved in campus ministry at any given time, and the groups will tend to sort themselves out sizewise according to a power law (also known as a scaling law: the biggest will be roughly twice as big as the next largest ministry and roughly three times as large as the third largest ministry, etc).

Usually there's one really large ministry, two or three ministries about 1/2 to 2/3 its size, and a whole host of smaller ministries.

There's probably a similar pattern at community colleges, but nobody knows that for sure yet.

This isn't destiny, so don't freak out if you're starting up on a campus that's already got 15 ministries and 15% of the campus involved in ministry. Focus on reaching the other 85%. Until 100% are reached, the campus has room for more.

Disciple the Faithful and Pastor the Unfaithful

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:42:39 -0600

In ministry it's tempting to try to meet everyone's needs. It's just not possible to do that and so we face a choice: on whom will we focus?

As the primary leader of a ministry, there are two groups you should concern yourself with: the inner 20% and the outer 20%.

During the week you should spend most of your relational time ministering to the inner 20% of your ministry--the core.

At your large-group meetings you should spend most of your relational time with the outer 20%--the fringe.

A phrase that may help you remember this concept is that you disciple the faithful and pastor the unfaithful.

You should minimize time with the middle 60%. Train the core to minister to the crowd.

You Get What You Have

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:08:56 -0600

By default, you get more of what you already have. This is as natural as the sun rising in the east. People like being with people like them.

When students walk into a group for the first time, they unconsciously ask themselves two questions:

Is there anyone in this room I would consider dating?
Is there anyone in this room I would like to become friends with?

If the answer to both those questions is no, don't count on seeing that student again. As a rule of thumb they're going to drift somewhere else.

What are some implications of this?

If your group is composed of socially awkward people, you will draw more socially awkward people. This can become a difficult cycle to break. If your core are all non-mainstream people it's probably not time to launch anything formal! See Reach The Heart Of The Campus.
If your group is culturally homogenous (just a bunch of white people, for example), don't expect many people from other cultures to stay. This is especially true of American minority students, but is also true of international students. Until you get a critical mass of Malaysians, for example, you'll have a hard time getting more. Once you get a certain number (say 3-5), you'll quickly jump to the next level (10-15).
If your group is composed of a bunch of frat boys, you'll have to disciple them to care for people less cool in the world's eyes than themselves. Otherwise the socially awkward people will show up and the Fabios will make fun of them and run them off. It's a social norm you have to crush with the gospel.

How can you get around this?

Pray.
Recruit staff who are radically different from yourself.
Become all things to all people. To the geeks be like a geek, to the jocks be like a jock.