Yesterday I began a little conversation known as Table Talk Tuesday @ 12:22 ( or just T3).  The freshmen liked this idea and others have joined in as well.  We find a table in the student union (University Memorial Center or UMC) and have a discussion over a certain topic.  Yesterday’s question was “Is man born evil?” which we modified to “Is man born with a sin nature?”

Its sort of a come and go thing and everyone is welcome.  I hope this can become an encouraging time to help people move closer to Jesus and to teach them to think critically about difficult and challenging issues and understand  what the Bible says about it even if they don’t agree with it.  We had a great time and everyone is looking forward to next week.

We had a good discussion yesterday at our staff meeting.  We were talking about one of our values which is example.  This principle can be found in 1 Corinthians 4:16 where Paul tells them to “be imitators of me”.  It is also found in 1 Cor. 11:1, Philippians 4:9, and 1 Thess. 1:6.

The principle here is that, as we invest our lives in people and their growth and maturity, we ask them to imitate us.  But imitate what?  Doesn’t this smack of arrogance - I have it all together so just copy me.  Or doesn’t it put the pressure on us to always measure up to some high standard?  Imitate every outward thing we do?  Imitate the intentional spiritual practices I do in the same way?  Are we trying to make little carbon copies of ourselves?

Well, we don’t think so.  We are asking people to imitate our faith and the heart attitudes we try and often fail to live out.  Imitate the way I am striving to live a life that glorifies God, that seeks to help others move closer to Jesus, that pursues intimacy with Jesus, that displays a desire to keep relationships clear and to serve others and to be transparent so that I can be fully known and fully loved, that asks forgiveness when selfishness reigns.

So that means we are not trying to make little carbon copies, but laboring to help others display growth in spiritual maturity in a loving community.   So we, like Paul, seek to be an example and ask others to imitate us.

Discipleship is a passing-on of what we have learned as Jesus’ apprentices.

As I have thought about one of the primary tasks of our ministry, I think that it is connecting people to Jesus. Not just passing on information, teaching some skill or other, playing, running people through a set of ministry programs so they have been discipled, rather setting an atmosphere where students can hear, see, meet with Jesus.

We might like to think ( certainly only in moments of pride) we can transform individuals with our vast ministry skill, but O how wrong we are. Jesus transforms people from the inside out and our ministry is only truly successful when students are connected with Jesus so that He is changing them from the inside out. Discipleship is helping people become apprenticed to Jesus in His school (to borrow from Dallas Willard).

So when we say that we are discipling students, first we mean that we are doing all we can to introduce them to close, intimate relationship with Jesus.