Cassie Medina, BA, is a sixth-grade language arts teacher. She graduated from both a Christian high school and a Christian university. She resides in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with her husband, Jesse.
A survey by LifeWay Research in April and May of 2007 reported that “70 percent of young adults ages 23–30 stopped attending church regularly for at least a year between ages 18–22.” This survey indicates that only 30 percent of the students in your school will probably remain faithful to their relationship with Jesus as well as to the church once they graduate from high school. The statistics are astounding, and they are the same across the board, whether the student is in a Christian school or in a public school. It is heartbreaking to look at the students I am in contact with regularly and think that statistically speaking, 3 out of every 10 will leave the church for at least a time.
When I read these statistics, it makes me think that there must be something we are missing both in the church and in the Christian school. Matthew 28:19 tells us to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (NIV). Is it possible that we have marginalized discipleship? Have we placed more significance on myriad other “Christian” activities such as memorizing the Bible, learning Christian history, doing service, performing good deeds, and giving—while placing discipleship on the back burner? Or have we forgotten what true discipleship is?
In the book The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes the response of the disciples as “an act of obedience, not a confession of faith in Jesus” (1959, 15). Discipleship is more than just confessing Jesus as Lord. It requires a life of active obedience.
Jesus had a purpose in mind when He called the 12 disciples. He carefully and purposefully sought out 12 men with whom He could share life. He modeled for them what a relationship with the Father could look like. He provided for them a perfect example of discipleship, and then He charged them with carrying on the mission of the Father through discipling others. Somewhere along the line, we have marginalized discipleship. Somewhere along the line, we have decided that discipleship should be the job of the senior pastor or the youth pastor; but when Jesus spoke the words of Matthew 28:19, He spoke them for all Christians. As teachers and administrators in Christian schools, we must place a focus back on discipleship. We must prepare our students to enter the world after high school as disciples of Jesus Christ—not merely followers, but disciples. We must teach them to live a life of active obedience, one that goes beyond a confession of faith.
Jesus provided a model of a discipling relationship. In order to change the statistics for the good, we must be willing to take a look at the way Jesus did discipleship and form our own understanding and expectations of discipleship from His model. We need to focus on four key ideas in order to make disciples on the basis of the model that Jesus provided.
First, we must be disciples ourselves. We must look at our own lives and decide whether we are disciples or merely followers. Disciples dedicate their lives to following and spreading the teachings of Jesus. It is a lifelong adventure.
Second, discipleship in Jesus’ model was a mutual relationship. Jesus took the initiative and invited 12 young men into a relationship in which He could then model a relationship with the Father. In addition, the 12 men had to make the choice to follow Jesus. Out of the 12 chosen men, only one walked away from his faith. The others held tightly to their cause, and most of them were martyred for their faith. In contrast with the above statistics, only 8 percent of the men discipled by Jesus walked away from the faith. In Christian schools, we need teachers and administrators who will seek out a few students and invite them into a discipling relationship. Jesus had many followers, but only 12 disciples. We must look at His model and realize that we are not capable of discipling every person who crosses our path. We disciple a few, and those few will disciple a few, and the pattern will continue. That is how the Great Commission is
accomplished.
The third example that Jesus gave in His model of discipleship was that He embraced the questions His disciples had instead of resisting those questions. He was never angry when the disciples questioned the things He was telling them. He allowed them to be unsure. No matter what the issue was, if the disciples had a question, they asked it. Jesus never responded in anger or frustration; He simply allowed them to ask questions. Many times when students have theological questions, we avoid the topic, or skirt around the issue, to get to something a little more comfortable. We give the easy answer, perhaps even the less controversial one, and move on. Students learn through questioning. We may not have all the answers to their questions, but students still need to know that it is OK to question things, that it is OK to be unsure. Students need us to give them a safe place to question what they have always been told. When we fail to provide that place for them, we paralyze them because they have no justifiable reason for their beliefs. Students learn to think critically through asking questions. Once they have wrestled with some of their questions, their faith moves from the faith of their parents, teachers, siblings, and the other people in their lives into something they own. Their faith becomes part of who they are and not just part of their upbringing.
A final point to make in the model presented by Jesus is that He spent time with His disciples. He allowed His disciples to see Him go through everything. He spent time with them and showed them proper responses in many different situations. He allowed them to see Him angry, frustrated, excited, and happy. They saw a whole range of emotions. They knew Him. Jesus was transparent with His disciples. He did not hide His feelings from them. It is so easy when we are discipling students to forget that they need to see us live life. They learn behaviors and responses by seeing us go through life. A lot of discipleship occurs in the unplanned times. It is taking place in the times when students get to just be with us and experience lives lived in constant relationship with the Father. They need to see us in all seasons of life. Whether it is a good day or a bad day, they need to see how we respond in different situations.
I can tell you from personal experience and from the experience of many of my friends, discipleship needs to be taking place in our Christian schools. I attended a Christian school for most of my education, and the discipleship was misguided. The focus was on knowing about Jesus instead of intimately knowing Him. As I look back and I think about the students I attended high school with, I realize that the above statistics hit awfully close to home. Many of the people I attended high school with later walked away from their faith, even if it was for a short while. It is time that we place a strong emphasis on discipleship. It cannot be marginalized any longer. We who are in Christian schools must be willing to disciple this generation and to change the statistics.
Take this article as a challenge, a challenge to reevaluate the way your school does discipleship. Take it as a plea, a plea from someone who received a Christian education but who was never shown what it looked like to be a disciple. Take it as a charge, a charge to truly make disciples of all nations by seeking out and inviting students to live life with you as you model for them what a life of discipleship looks like. Be encouraged that it is not too late. The students sitting in your classrooms right now are desperate for someone to invite them into relationship. Do not wait any longer. Go. Invite them. Train them. Teach them. Show them. Disciple them.
References
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1959. The cost of discipleship. New York:Touchstone.
LifeWay Research. 2007. LifeWay Research uncovers reasons 18 to 22-year-olds drop out of church. http://www.lifewayresearch.com.
Dangers 12.3