10 Ways Student Pastors Can Kick-Start Disciple Making in Their Student Ministry (Part 3)

I played high school sports at Tuscaloosa Christian School in Tuscaloosa, AL. We were told that our rival posted their top five goals on a sign in their locker room. Their top three goals were all the same: “Beat Tuscaloosa, Beat Tuscaloosa, Beat Tuscaloosa.” Their fourth goal was “Win the State Championship.” Their fifth goal was “Go Undefeated.” Despite the sign in their locker room, they did not win the state championship, go undefeated, or beat us. Their goal was too short-sighted. #3 Work Toward The WIN in Disciple Making Student Ministry Goals Many student ministries have no goal at all. Zig Ziglar accurately said, “ If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” It is easy in student ministry to get caught up in the group, the services, the events, and the trips, but have no win that you’re working toward. Some student ministries, on the other hand, have the wrong goal. There may be many good things that a student ministry can do, but only the right goal will work towards making a difference in the students’ lives. Only a few student ministries have the right goal. I’ve been convicted lately about my own short-sighted goal in my student ministry. For years my goal has been to raise up Gospel-centered, relational students who make disciples that are on mission with Jesus. I’m changing my goal from “raise up” to “send out.” “Raise up” is a vague term that is, frankly, hard to measure. Furthermore, I’m afraid if we focus only on “raising up,” won’t always “send out.” If we focus on sending students out, though, we will most definitely raise them up in the process. We will get our “win” in student ministry when we are sending out students with the Gospel to make disciples and live on mission with Jesus. Ministries vs. Movements Short-sighted wins and lifelong goals are the differences between ministries and movements. A ministry is when students come in, sit down, listen up, learn, and leave. Our win in that situation is the number of people we can put in seats. If we have a movement , though, we focus not on growing students wide in numbers, but growing the students we do have deep. We want students to come into our ministry so that they can continue God’s movement! The win in a movement mindset is disciple making. The question that we must ask ourselves is this: What are we doing so that our students are encouraged, equipped, and empowered to make disciples wherever they go for the rest of their lives? We must make the win in our student worship services, small groups, D-groups, and student events Jesus’ disciple-making movement. Worship services affect the hearts of our students; small groups inspire them to engage in deeper conversations; D-groups teach them to make disciples; events and trips encourage them to go to the world! Work Toward the WIN in Disciple-Making When the win in disciple-making is replicating the disciple-making movement, it changes the way you disciple students. Yes, discipleship is for the student’s spiritual walk, but that win alone is short-sighted. The ultimate win in student D-groups is to send the students out after 12-18 months to make more disciples who will then make more disciples. Disciple your students and leaders to work toward that win. Disciple your students and leaders to make more disciples! Watch disciple-making transform your student ministry into the world changing movement Jesus called for. Check back next week for the third step in growing a disciple-making movement right where you are. All Posts in this Series Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Can you do me a favor? If these ideas resonate with you, would you:   • REACT. Do something.   • RESPOND. Leave a comment on this post.   • REPOST. Repost this link on Twitter, Facebook or your blog.