Men, I challenged you in our August meeting to seriously consider mentoring and discipling young people. It is so typical of many Christian families to relegate that responsibility to the church, vis-a-vis, the youth ministry. Realistically, the contact time of about 2 hours in the ministry is so small compared to other influences in our youth's life that it become urgent and important to ask ourselves whether we are discipling, or the world is discipling our young people. If we as Christian men in our homes, and part of the Body of Christ, do not take on this vital call in our lives to disciple our young people, who will then? Some of us should seriously consider joining the youth ministry and there learn from there how to disciple our young children when they are teenagers!
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. ~ Deuteronomy 6:4
One of you write an email to me after the meeting that you would like to join a MAG (Mentoring and Accountability Group) and this desire:
"Also I am interested
to partner with you to be mentor to young adults. Do let me have more information."
My reply, which I think may be helpful for you as you consider the implication:
Great you are offering to mentor young adults. It will be a journey for all of us. I started 15 years ago to be first part of a MAG, and allowing God to deepen the foundations in my life as a man through my MAG. Then God begin to bring different YAs into my life. So you are on the right path. Just two things like I mentioned you can start doing:
1. Get into a MAG and learn the art of discipling men. - Allow God to build deep into our foundation as ministry is a long haul endeavour. We cannot give what we don't have, especially things of heart and character. You will be surprise that God wants to deal with us first before we can mentor others. But thank God we don’t have to be perfect, just teachable and humble. In fact, our first ministry must always be our family. This is really the testing ground of discipling. One very young father asked me some years back when he should start father-and-son time, like what I do with my sons. He was asking at what age of his son should he do that. He was then carrying his toddler in his arms while asking the question. My answer to him was, “NOW!”.
2. Start praying that God will bring young people into your life. Like I say, start with your family first because the calling to do that is already there! Of course, don’t forget to be in the company of men who desire the same. Unless there is something else, Fathers Club is the most obvious place in DUMC!
