Discipleship
3 years ago I was eating really good fruit! Apples, plums, pears, and figs and I thought to myself "if I only had access to the trees that produced these fruit I could eat them yearly". Then it hit me, why don't I just grow trees from the seeds of these fruits? So I started researching how to do it, it was a process. Putting seeds in the fridge for weeks to mimic winter, pulling them out at the right time, letting them grow in the warm spring sun, selecting the right soil to establish the little roots, then transplanting the little seedlings to bigger pots, lots of sun, watering and care. One winter it got so cold I even brought all my trees inside to prevent them from freezing the roots. But look at the trees in the picture attached. These are just three. I have many more, too many! I joke with people that I have a little orchard. I have given some away and planted some in random places in hopes that I can see their fruit one day.
I realized that my time with my now little orchard resembles Discipleship in many ways. Building disciples of Christ have similarities.
First, knowing you have the best thing in a relationship with Christ! being saved by Christ and motivated to see others experience the freedom that comes from a relationship with Him.
Making a concerted effort to personally learn and grow in your relationship with Jesus. Being prayerful and seeking opportunities with people to share life together, model what a life with Jesus looks like, and also grow together in your understanding of the Bible and how we are called to live out the Christian life.
Weathering the storms and cold winters! Go through the ups and down's all close relationships have but be committed to each other through challenging and good times.
Celebrate together when both see fruit growing in each other's lives.
Then continue the process of making disciples.
Our goal as a region this year is 2023 deep conversations with kids about Jesus and faith or meaningful personal life topics. Counted outside of Club, Campaigners, or Camp. Meaning we are supposed to look for opportunities outside of our regular programmed Young Life activities to disciple teens.
So this year for our clubs we started the year with Campaigners. Instead of club each week, we have it biweekly and on the alternating weeks, we have purposeful discipleship time which we call Campaigners. We will be following this rhythm for the year and are praying for it to be fruitful.