What We're "Teaching" at D-Groups

Backstage passes. VIP lines. Insider trading. Inside jokes. We love to be in the inner circle or to get a private look into the worlds of the famous people we follow. In this week's blog post, I want to give you an inside look into another group of "famous" people: our Wednesday evening Discipleship Groups.

Discipleship Groups (D-Groups as we call them) are not about lectures or preaching. Kids often refer to them as "lessons" but they aren't even supposed to be that. The whole point is to get them talking about their faith, beliefs, struggles and doubts. We want students to have a safe place to ask tough questions or even silly questions that they might be otherwise embarrassed to bring up. Students don't have to have all the right answers at D-Groups. They don't even have to have questions. Many students come on Wednesday night and say very little, and that's ok. The key is that they know they have a safe place for fellowship and open, honest discussion about both the spiritual realities of our world and the day-to-day stuff that often keeps teenagers mystified. Because of this I believe D-Groups are an invaluable resource for anyone ages 11 to 18.

Let me give you an example of how D-Groups are supposed to work. In the high school guys group, which I lead along with Doug Moore, we are currently reading through the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Amidst the many tangents we got off on last week (and tangents are almost always ok in D-Groups) we ended up talking about how we are designed to function best when we are willing to surrender our lives to Jesus and desire the things that he desires. This was a discussion that the students were genuinely engaged in and were participating in. Discussions like this are so rare in any setting these days, but D-Groups provide the right atmosphere for such rare but wonderful things to occur. Through reading Screwtape and talking about real life situations and questions, we ended up discussing the source of new life: Jesus Christ himself, and what it looks like to live for him.

I bring all this up to make one simple point: there is real discipleship going on at these groups. Students are finding out what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Maybe you're a student who hasn't been to D-Groups before because it doesn't sound like fun or you just don't know what to expect. I invite you to come check it out and see that it's a safe place where you are free to be yourself. Or maybe you're a parent and you just don't see the value of having your kids out another night of the week. I invite you to give your teenager the opportunity to come to D-Groups sometime and to see the value of what we're "teaching" there.

If you want to know more about this, anything else Youth Ministry related, or another topic of your choosing, feel free to hmu (hit me up, as the kids say, which means email or call me.)