DiscipleThen & Now - Why We Still Need Student Ministry Events in the Church
During what many may call the hey-day of youth ministry in Baptist and evangelical churches shared ideas, creative concepts, and calendared camps and events seemingly grew exponentially. The church’s calendar was chock full of events designed to minister to and with teenagers and parents to provide what many defined as full-service family ministry. Looking back, there were some significant things developed during this era.
Many who were part of healthy youth ministries (FYI – back in the day, youth ministry was focused on those in grades 7-12 and student ministry was for those in college) and faithful churches led by godly pastors can look back and see how God was honored and used such events to bring glory to himself while equipping them to live faithfully.
Perhaps we would be well served to look back and thank God for those who sought to impact a younger generation through weekly teachings, Bible studies, worship services, and special events such as youth camp, Super Summer, See You at the Pole, True Love Waits, Super Wow, Youth Evangelism Conferences, Centrifuge, World Changers, DiscipleNow Weekends, and more.
Many former teenagers, now with teenagers of their own, look back with fond nostalgia to such events and see how God was impacting them, even in their youth. Of course, I know there are some whose nostalgic view is less than good. I truly hate that and wish their stories were different.
DiscipleTHEN
When I first encountered the concept of DiscipleNow (long before many shortened it to just D-Now) I was a seminary student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The professors of youth ministry, Drs. Phil Briggs and Wesley Black, were well-known and quite influential in ministry to and with teenagers. Many of my peers enrolled at Southwestern to study under these men as they followed God’s call into student ministry.
Dr. Black was instrumental in creating and defining the DiscipleNow Weekend for thousands of Baptist churches. The large, DiscipleNow Weekend instructional material was sold by The Baptist Sunday School Board (now LifeWay) and youth ministers used this guide to introduce the weekend to their respective churches. I am certain others provided such resources, but Dr. Black’s three-ring binder seemed to be the omnibus collection of all things DiscipleNow. In the age prior to downloadable PDFs, this notebook provided sample schedules, rules, guidelines, forms, clipart, and more.
When I began serving at First Baptist Church of Orange Park in 1994, I ensured our church held an annual DiscipleNow for our teenagers. Each spring we would set aside a weekend on the church calendar. Our pastor and staff were so kind to protect the weekend by keeping other church events from being scheduled. The DiscipleNow became a focal point of the church each spring.
Initially, the concept was unclear to many in our church. Nevertheless, the church family soon realized what was occurring. DiscipleNow was like a mini-youth camp held on our church campus and in local homes. Each year we developed a unique theme and students received curriculum, journals, and t-shirts all centered on the theme.
The weekend began on Friday evening. We brought in student pastors and their spouses from around the state to lead our teenagers in small groups through a specific teaching. Students would arrive at their assigned host homes after dinner. In the homes, the small groups would have Bible study, play games, and students would be challenged to live fully for Christ. Saturday began early with study groups and quiet times. After lunch, our team-building recreation brought everyone together at the church. Then, on Saturday evening we would host renowned speakers and concert artists, inviting other churches from the city to join us. This large group gathering was exciting and challenging.
Following the large group service, our small groups met once more providing opportunities for response and next-step conversations with students. After one more evening in the host homes, students would gather on Sunday morning at the church for breakfast, a special Sunday School gathering and worship together with the church family (wearing matching t-shirts of course because…well, that’s just what you did.)
Scenes from 1998 DiscipleNow Weekend at First Baptist Church of Orange Park
The schedule varied a little each year, but the overall focus was similar. There were large group gatherings, small group gatherings, and individual study times. The discipleship-focus was clear. Learn and worship together as a large group. Learn and share with one another in age-graded small groups. Learn and focus as an individual in private Bible study and prayer. The template was not overly complicated.
I look back fondly at those weekends, graciously forgetting how much stress they caused in the weeks prior and how tired I was on Sunday after we finished. Over time, we stopped doing the weekends annually. This was partly because I did not want us getting in a rut of doing the same thing every year. It was also because I apparently get bored doing the same expected thing over and over. Looking back now, I believe we should have continued each year.
Why? Not because God requires a specific programmed weekend event to impact students. That is certain. I believe we should have continued annually because the weekend, when done well, moved the entire church to focus intently in prayer for the teenagers in our care. The family of First Baptist Church were reminded (and Christians need continual reminding) of the goodness of God and the need as believers to live as fully devoted disciples of Christ.
I even believe that despite many now former teenagers remembering some of the moments of the weekends (the bag of flour thrown at a moving car, Saran-Wrap, WWE in the living room, the broken couch – that was in our house, the “work” shirts, and more) most were impacted for eternity during these days for the glory of God and their eternal good. In fact, many were prayed over by name by older adults in the church family that they had never even met.
While I am not one to look to a bookstore or a website for a “student ministry solution in a box,” I do believe we have some very effective ministry options that were birthed generations prior that can be effective for today’s young generation.
DiscipleNOW
As I write this, we are just a few days from this year’s DiscipleNow Weekend. While we have held a few D-Nows in years past, this one truly feels like a page from our history. The schedule is like the ones we used decades prior. The focus is discipleship. We have some incredible small group leaders praying and preparing for the weekend teachings. The entire church family is praying, and many have signed up to provide food for our students. Unlike in the past, we are not staying in host homes. We are staying overnight in the church buildings (with all the safety and security protocols in place.)
One thing that makes this feel like a DiscipleNow from years prior is that many of the students are the children of those former teenagers I mentioned earlier. We are now fully into second generation DiscipleNowers.
No, we are not trying to go back to what some call the “glory days” of student ministry. In truth, the good old days were never as good as nostalgia likes to say.
We are simply focused on being faithful today as God has called us. In this case, the DiscipleNow (D-Now) Weekend is here, and it is not a retro-church function. As always, I am praying that the students who attend will disconnect from all the busyness of their regularly-scheduled days and have ears to hear and eyes to see what God is saying, doing, and calling them to be.
Not everything we did in the past needs to be done in the present. However, just because something has been done before does not mean it should never be done again. In this case, we continue to seek to make disciples now, just as we did then.
Also…since I will be staying up all night with the students on Friday and Saturday this weekend, I am really looking forward to that Sunday afternoon nap.
