Discussion Assignment Instructions
Post 2 replies of 150 each to 2 of your classmates. Use Turabian Format. You should engage the reading from this course and any outside reading you may have done utilizing citations. Make sure to include citations from your assigned readings.
Student 1 Brandon
As discovered throughout this course, discipleship is commanded not only in the New Testament (Matthew 28:19) but in Old Testament Scripture as well (Deuteronomy 6:1-7). Discipleship is becoming a light for Jesus to “Just Love People.” Our mission: To teach people to become disciples, so that in return they may bear fruit of love by teaching other people to become disciples. When we fill this role within our lives, we bear the love of Jesus in our hearts. To gain a brighter world tomorrow, it becomes the role of parents to spiritually guide and raise their children to become lights. Dr Dan Burrell concluded in the “Closing Thoughts and Summary” lecture that we should read Deuteronomy 6 daily and often to transfer intentionally the message of Jesus to our children; and when we do this, we fulfil a very special part of our mission that gives glory to God.”1 Essentially, this is living out our faith.
Considering the perspectives and knowledge gained from this course, there are three strategic principles that I would like to instil into my family is to model Christ, create personal/collective time for discipleship, and pray regularly with them. I know now more than ever that discipleship begins at home and modelling a life of a disciple for Jesus is what my family needs and must see. Formative instruction is needed to read the Word as a family (to understand discipleship), pray (leaning into other disciples), and lead others to know God (evangelism discipleship).2 We must not be afraid to allow our children to see our failures, as it gives us a chance to show them Whom to go to when they reach failure in their lives.3 Everyday life opportunities give us a chance to model discipleship to our kids.
From modelling to personal/collective time for family discipleship is essential for our children to experience discipleship/devotion regularly, and hopefully, this will help the family grow closer together.4 Teaching children to have personal and collective time as a family for God and discipleship teaches them the importance of developing Godly habits because it reflects a life of truth and establishes boundaries for daily living.5 Finally, prayer is equally essential. We must daily cover each other in prayer because this creates a special place for parent-child relationships. It is only when children know that we love them and are committed to their well-being that they trust us because they know that we understand their strengths and weaknesses, and when they know we are invested in encouraging, correcting, instructing, understanding, teaching, and praying for them that they can trust us.6
For these principles to be effective, there needs to be an intentional strategic plan for implementation. My wife and I try to read books, lean into other parents, and now we can utilize these tools gained from this course for developing our family discipleship plan. For us, modelling and prayer have been our priority and we believe there are many things yet undiscovered that could help us to encourage our children to continually choose to be lights for Jesus. We are grateful for the gained principles in this course to create time for personal/collective discipleship by reading God’s Word together, worshipping, and praying together. Additionally, we need to equip other parents around us with our gained understanding of family discipleship to create healthy families. In this way, we can witness the way other parents model discipleship in action, we can pray collectively with other families, and spend time in God’s Word. As leaders, we have a responsibility to help each family in their spiritual growth.
