IBVN Discipleship Retreat

Vida Nueva held its very first discipleship retreat and it was amazing.  About 300 leaders from Vida Nueva (across each of the four Vida Nueva campuses) were invited to attend the retreat to hear Pastors Julio and Steve share their vision for changing the way IBVN handles discipleship.  

Currently, new Christians and new members to IBVN are encouraged to attend a four-week new members class, after which they are encouraged to begin discipleship.  Like many churches, IBVN paired a discipler(s) with a disciple(s) and the two of them worked through the 12 discipleship lessons.  Rather than moving rapidly through the lessons, disciplers were encouraged to spend whatever time was necessary so that when they finished, the disciple would successfully meet the four discipleship goals:

• be established in the Word of God
• be established in the local church
• be established in a group of believers
• be established in the work of the ministry

Both Steve and Julio indicated that the new vision for discipleship included revising the above goals by broadening their scope.  I think you'll see what they meant as you read the new goals.  By the end of discipleship, disciples will:

1. Character--take on the character of Jesus and seek to be more like Him each day
2. Know--go deeper in his/her understanding of the Bible and spend daily time in God's word
3. Conviction--have the personal conviction that Jesus is God and his/her Lord by submitting to his Lordship 
4. Communion--make spending time with other believers a priority through friendships and ministry.

From this point forward, new believers and new members who complete the new members class will be encouraged to become a part of one of the small groups in the church.  They will not be encouraged (forced) into the discipleship program in an effort to check it off their list so they can begin working in a ministry.  In the small group, leaders will take care of the believers and provide a sense of family, teach the Bible from a practical standpoint with application for their lives, introduce new believers to the discipleship process and connect new believers to the life of the church.  Small group leaders will "pastor" them and when the new believers are ready (seeking more Bible knowledge, ready to make a commitment to the program) they can request to begin discipleship.  There is no set timeline for this process; for some people it could be 2-3 months, for others 2-3 years.

As Julio and Steve shared discipling isn't the same thing as evangelism.  It is, rather, the second step which teaches new believers to know Jesus and surrender to his Lordship.  The problems with the current discipleship program include:

• Lack of interest--some entered the program because they felt pressured, even though they had little interest
• Lack of commitment--some started the program, but after several lessons or several months, stop or gave up for a variety of different reasons
• Challenges were too great--many found that they weren't ready to make the necessary changes in their lives

After presenting these issues, Pastor Julio and Steve issued an apology for "doing discipleship wrong."  Here are their thoughts:

We were wrong about who should be discipled--we were wrong in thinking "everyone" should get discipled.  If the person doesn't want it, we shouldn't force it.  We must stop discipling for the wrong reasons.  We were wrong in thinking that "one size" discipleship fits all.

We were wrong in choosing our disciplers--we've allowed disciplers who are not as mature as they should be (this can't be measured by years in the church), we've asked people who are overloaded and who don't have the time to give and we have used people who are only focused on completing the checklist of lessons and moving on to the next person.

From this point forward, 2 Timothy 3:10-11 . . . . we will be choosing faithful men/women who have the capability to teach others.  We know this means that there will be less people in discipleship and this is okay with us.  We want disciples with a strong desire to learn and disciplers who have the time and who are able to teach.

We are so proud to be part of church that seeks to apply the Bible in all areas and is not afraid or embarrassed to make changes to a program that's "always been done that way."  Praise God for pastors and faithful leaders who are open to hear and then do what God tells them.