Discipling Youth by reaching children.
The idea seems too simplistic but it is a powerful transferable concept. As part of my Master’s Program of studies, I had to design an urban ministry. My concept was to run programs in a local park during the summer to reach disciple teens by reaching and discipling children, and then move the program to a school gym in the colder months.
I began with a few youth who helped put up posters in the neighbourhood on telephone poles. Kids were invited to a neighbourhood water fight. The first day 60 kids showed up. We had them all register to participate. The girl doing the registration was only 10 years old!!
All the kids were told to stick around after the fight to receive a prize. At the end I spoke for five minutes about Jesus, announced next Wednesday’s event and then gave out prizes. (on the first day a ten year old boy named John stuck around to pray the sinners prayer with me and volunteered to be a helper!)
In a few months we had twenty teens who wanted to volunteer and a dozen kids who wanted to be part of our discipleship program called DC (direct current)
The really 1derful thing about the Program was the way teens boldly took leadership and shared their faith. Over 6 years 2000 kids in that Toronto neighbourhood accepted Christ. Over 600 of these kids also graduated from our discipleship program that met on the same day half an hour before the event.
Today some of the teens who ran those programs are pastoring, leading Christian organizations, and being effective leaders in their churches.
Originally I asked teens in my youth group to devote one summer to Christ. Over time they came to devote their whole lives. If you want to hear more about this or would like some tips on getting started please email me at rpowell@vanguardcollege.com -Ron.
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