Family Centered Discipleship

Can family and home facilitate discipleship?

In college, I was part of a campus ministry that was discipleship oriented. The primary setting for discipleship was a 1-on-1 meeting or study.

One of the individuals was more mature and was helping to lead and teach the less mature individual.

This format works, I’m a product of it working. But as a father to 3 young kids, my ability to carve out consistent time for something like that is limited.

Do I have flexibility in my schedule to meet up with people? Not so much.

But can I have people over to my house for dinner? Yes.

Is there a way for me to use what I do have (time with family), and bring discipleship into that?

I don’t quite know what that would look like. I’ve listened to some podcasts with people discussing this. This type of format and integration has sparked my curiosity.

Would there be times where I need to meet up 1-on-1 with people? Yes, of course. But does every meetup need to be in that format?

The Power of a Joyful Home

I grew up in a pretty dysfunctional and isolated home. Through my teen years I didn’t spend time with other people’s families in their home.

But in late high school and early college, I started spending time with a classmate’s family.

Something stood out to me, they enjoyed spending time together.

Family members were excited to see each other. They had fun with each other.

They weren’t individuals that lived in the same home and shared the same last name. They were a family.

That impacted me. Experiencing an joyful home was healing for me.

Our church has an axiom that “Character is caught not taught.” A joyful home embodies that axiom.

Potential Model

This is what I think this could look like.

Make a commitment for time duration (4-6 months).

Every two weeks they’d join our family for dinner. They’d help with dinner, interact with our kids, see the things we’re doing and teaching.

We’d put the kids to bed, and then we’d have some time for more specific ministry. Going through a lesson, bible study, deeper life sharing, etc.

Maybe it’s my wife and I discipling one or two young couples.

Or it’s just me discipling a couple young guys.

But can that overlap between family and ministry multiply the output? Like 1 + 1 = 3.

Secondary Effects for My Kids

One aspect about something like this is my kids are able to be a part of it.

They spend time and build relationships with growing disciples of Christ. As a father, those are the types of people I want my kids to be close to.

Ideally that sort of thing becomes second nature to them as they grow. If this type of environment and discipleship was modeled to me my whole childhood, my life could have been radically different.

Motivation

I’ll be honest, I’ve been on the discipleship sideline for a while. I’m looking to get back in the game.

But I want to try to prioritize integration. If there are ways to include my family, I want to explore that.