Let’s talk about discipleship training material and methods. Done wrong, you can create a discipleship training school full of pupils who depend on you to be God for them. Don’t do it.
Can you imagine being in the third grade again and having a teacher who sat down and did all your homework for you? Imagine if she also filled in all your quizzes and tests with the correct answers, too. You would probably have loved a teacher like that—and then hated her later.
Yes, it would have been nice to have someone do all the hard schoolwork for you, but later in life, you would have been upset that you did not know how to read, spell, or crunch numbers. You might end up like those kids who recently sued their school for graduating them without their knowing how to read.
Yet, this is what most ministers and outreach workers are doing today–a lot of discipleship training material is written this way. We think it is our job to give people the answers. We begin to think their salvation and understanding of spiritual things totally depends on our coming to the rescue. Wrong. In fact, we are hurting more than helping if we are filling in all the answers for them.
Discipleship training school
When a child asks, “How do you pronounce this word?” A bad teacher reads the word and lets the child repeat him. On the other hand, a good teacher says, “Sound it out.”
The child who is told what to say instead of how to say it will struggle with each new word she faces. The child who learns to sound out the words develops the skill of being able to tackle new words. This is a skill she will use throughout life.
The student might ask, “What is 748 minus 116?” A true teacher does not show that child how much she knows by answering the question. She will write it on the board and say, “What is 8 minus 6? Good. What is 40 minus 10? Good. And what is 700 minus 100? Excellent. So what is the complete answer?”
Have your followers find the answers. “So is Jesus God or just a special man?” “Is it okay to live together before marriage?” “What does the Bible say about racism?” I would imagine you can answer each of those questions immediately. Stop yourself.
Discipleship training methods
Learn to answer questions with questions and you will make disciples who think for themselves. If not, they will need you for every little thing. They will ask you questions about every problem rather than knowing how to solve them.
If you had a teacher who filled in all the answers for you, she might be your hero, but you would need her to solve every math problem or read every new word for you. Eventually she will not be around and then you would feel frustrated and probably just give up on learning.
Doing the learning for your learners will cripple them. Because you sought the Lord and dug into the Scriptures, He opened your understanding—that is how you have answers to so many questions now.
Do not play God and get in the middle of their development. Let them struggle over their “homework” as they search out the Bible and pray and fast until they hear from the Lord themselves.
Discipleship training material
While there are essentials you will want to teach a person, don’t get stuck doing a program. Life is fluid and complex. No church program or discipleship training materials will have all the answers for the complexity of each individual’s challenges.
This is why the DiscipleMaker teaching series is about helping people meet Jesus and learn His ways. You do not want to create a discipleship training school that gives all the answers without disciples having to do the work. They have to know the Lord for themselves. They have to know how to find the answers and fill in the blanks of their own lives.
What will you do next time someone asks you a spiritual question: fill in their blanks for them or help them learn how to learn?
Share how someone helped you learn early in your walk with the Lord.