Youth Ministry Forum

May 17-18, 2010

Choosing the Right Stuff to Build

a
Sustainable Discipleship Direction
Facilitator- Dale Tadlock
Associate Pastor, Minister to Young Adults and Students
First Baptist Church, Waynesboro, VA
dtadlock@fbcwboro.org

I. The Emperor Has No Clothes (and few

disciples)!

A. Youth Ministry’s best-kept secret is that we aren’t systematically

producing disciples!

B. Our current methods and programs for “discipleship” are seldom

effective.

C. We are doing a GREAT job in building youth ministries, but are not
doing so great a job in building disciples!

D. MY CONVICTION: We must find ways to disciple the current

generation of teenagers in a way that builds true disciples, yet is
sustainable for our churches and youth ministries!

I. Jesus has NO Plan B! (from Building a Discipling Culture, Mike

Breen and Steve Cockran)

A. We are not called to build a ministry or a church; we are called to make

disciples!

“It is far more likely that you will create consumers who depend on the
spiritual services that professionals like yourself provide for them.”
(Building a Discipling Culture, p. 7)

B. Effective discipleship builds the church/kingdom/ministry, not the other

way around!

1
 Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God
authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train
everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by
baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then
instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll
be with you as you do this, day after day, right up to the end of the
age.

Matthew 28:18-20 (The Message)

(Emphasis mine)

I. We must define what a discipled person is

and what that looks like to us (and Jesus).

A. What are we producing now?

When most teenagers think of God, they think of someone who

looks a lot like a “Divine Butler.” So says Dr. Christian Smith,
lead researcher for the National Study of Youth and Religion.
Smith says today’s teenagers treat their Christian faith as
“instrumental,” meaning that God exists to help us do what we
want because he fundamentally wants us to be happy. Smith
gives this mind-set a name- “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.”

It’s an umbrella term used to describe a parasite that embedded

itself in every major religion, not just Christianity. If Moralistic
(life is all about making right and wrong choices; the goal is to
be a good person who exhibits good morals) Therapeutic (God
exists for our pleasure, not the other way around; faith in God is
important because God helps us get what we want) Deism
(although God exists, he is an essentially unknowable lawgiver;
we can’t have a relationship with him because he’s distant,
although “on call” to fix problems) is broken down to its core, it
basically means our teenagers don’t understand the basics of
the gospel, the person of Jesus, or the role God really wants to
play in their lives.

This means we’re privileged to be leaders who get to

reintroduce “the greatest story ever told” to a generation of
young people who’ve forgotten it.

From Youth Ministry in the 21st Century, p. 15

With Rick Lawrence, GROUP Publishing

Based on Soul Searching: The Religious and

Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Christian
Smith. Oxford University Press.

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 B. A disciple listens to the voice of God.

1. Fish or fishing?

2. Dependency vs. Independence

A. A disciple practically and daily responds to the voice of God.

1. Does the Educational Model still work?

a. Modern- Fact→Faith→Feelings

b. Post-Modern- Experience→Faith→Facts

1. I propose a Spiritual Formation Model!

It is not enough for the priests and ministers of the future to be

moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and
able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time. All of
that is very valuable and important, but it is not the heart of
Christian leadership. The central question is, Are the leaders of the
future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire
to dwell in God’s presence, to listen to God’s voice, to look at God’s
beauty, to touch God’s Incarnate Word, and to taste fully God’s
infinite goodness?

– Henri Nouwen (quote found on a slip of paper in my

Bible)

A. A disciple leads others to discipleship.

1. Our goal? More disciples!

2. To be sustainable, we must allow others to lead!

I. Qualities of a Sustainable Discipleship

Direction
(as best as I can tell!)

A. Discipleship should focus on relationships, not mass appeal!

3
Smallness is both a value and a practice, though the value has to
precede and continue on through the practice. Smallness values
community in which teenagers can be truly known and know
others, rather than being one of the crowd (even if it’s a really fun
crowd). Smallness champions clusters of relationships rather than
a carpet-bombing approach. Smallness waits on the still, small
voice of God rather than assuming what God wants to say and
broadcasting it through the best sound system money can buy.
Smallness prioritizes relationships over numbers, social networks
over programs, uniqueness over homogeneity, and listening to God
over speaking for God.

From Youth Ministry 3.0, Mark Oestreicher.

Youth Specialties.

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 Youth workers as spiritual guides will resist being so consumed with
planning and executing programs that they can’t guide youth. The
way of the kingdom is through relationships, not events. Youth
workers who serve as spiritual guides for youth nurture a presence-
centered youth ministry by engaging in the hard work of creating
an environment of authentic community. Successful youth
ministries highly value having a deeply caring, safe community.

From Presence-Centered Youth Ministry.

Mike King. IVP Books.

B. Discipleship should be Biblically-based (not just “what does this

mean to you?”)

C. Discipleship should lead students toward experience, not just facts!

D. Discipleship should offer High Support and High Challenge (from

Building a Discipling Culture)

1. Discipling Quadrant

2. Chaplaincy Quadrant

3. Boring Quadrant

4. Stressful Quadrant

A. Discipleship needs a sustainable vehicle to happen!

Of course no one can personally relate to a hundred teenagers

in this way; the whole congregation needs to be involved in the
lives of the youth. One of the most important responsibilities
youth workers have is to cast the vision for others in their
congregation to join in the Christian formation of youth.

From Presence-Centered Youth Ministry. Mike

King. IVP Books.