Back to the Basics of Youth Ministry: Part 1

Jodie Blemker   -  

If you have been attending One Life, it does not take long to recognize that things are done differently.  From the outside it may appear that we desire to be the cool trend. When you get into the depth of who we are, there is nothing more that we desire than to make disciples to reach the next generation.
So, in creating our dream for the middle school and high school population at One Life, why would we desire to do things any differently than developing the best approach to making disciples to reach the next generation?
It’s not that we want to do something different just to be different or cool.  Rather, it’s simple.  It’s the Jesus model.  He had a plan for producing disciples in the next generation, and we want to model nothing less than the principles He has given us.
Jesus’ principles:
Selection
Jesus was not trying to impress a crowd but usher in a kingdom.  He knew that for the world to be permanently helped, people would have to be raised up who could lead the multitudes toward the Creator. Thus, the more concentrated the size of the group being taught, the greater the opportunity for effective instruction.  Jesus selected 12 ordinary men that He would devote His life to during His 3 years of ministry.  There was nothing special about them.  They were fisherman, tax collectors, & carpenters.  Yet, they were teachable.
Dedication
Jesus did life with His disciples.  They lived in community together.  Building men and women is not easy.  It requires constant personal attention.  It requires time.  Jesus knew that over time followers will naturally take on the character of their leader.  He did not desire to scatter His time on those who wanted to make their own terms of discipleship, but rather He invested the majority of His time on those who would be faithful to His mission (Luke 9:62).
Reproduction
Jesus invested in these 12 men in such a way that when He had left to go with the Father, they understood His methods in reaching the world.  In Matthew Chapter 10, the disciples are told to go to the towns and concentrate on the most promising individuals who would be able to follow up with their work when they were gone.  They were to give what they had been given.
The leaders of One Life Students want to invest in the next generation like no one has before.  We don’t want to create more programs and events.  They have enough of those.  We want to be leaders who dig deep into the trenches of students’ lives.  We go deep rather than wide so that, in effect, we will help more students far from God experience Jesus.