“I think it’s confusing for students sometimes. Like, one week we are playing spikeball and the next we are reading our Bibles. I think it would be helpful to know how those things connect”. This paraphrase of a comment I heard from a student last spring lingered in my mind all summer. I had asked this student for their feedback on senior high dGroups, which led to these musings. While I chose this student because I knew they would have a thoughtful response, I believe her statement gave words to a tension that a number of students felt.
Why do we play spikeball or other sports in dGroups? And, why do we read our Bibles? That may seem like an easy question to answer at a Christian school, but when Nicole Funk, the Junior High Discipleship Lead, and I sat down this summer, we evaluated questions such as:
- What is the value of dGroups in an institution that requires every student to enroll in Bible class?
- What distinguishes dGroups from other discipleship-oriented activities (i.e., chapel, Bible class, youth group, church attendance, etc.)?
- Why/how do we choose dGroup activities or determine what is valuable during that time?
- How do dGroups contribute toward FRCS’s promise that students will be “discipled towards a vibrant faith in Jesus Christ”?
During Teacher In-Service this August and, coincidentally, today in front of the Senior High, Miss Funk and I presented a framework for Senior High dGroups that we hope begins to answer these questions. We recognize that not every dGroup has aligned with these pillars in the past, and we know that no dGroup this semester will perfectly perform these pillars. What we are moving toward is: (1) greater clarity for students on the purpose and content of dGroups, and (2) greater efficacy of the dGroup program for both students and teachers. The three pillars of senior high dGroup are community, service, and formation. I will cover each pillar in detail below.
Community is not an optional aspect of Christian life, it is a necessity. In scripture, followers of Christ are described as different members of one body with Christ as the head (1 Cor 12:12-14), living stones built upon the Cornerstone (1 Pet 2:4-5), sheep in the flock of the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet 5:1-4), the bride of Christ (Rev 19:7-9), and branches of the vine, who is Jesus (Jn 15:1-5). We are a group of disciples centered around our Lord, who binds us together. dGroups facilitate the opportunity for students to build relationships with other disciples – both fellow students and with teachers/coaches. This means that dGroups will do things that deepen connection, such as playing together, sharing stories, and eating together (which Jesus spent so much time doing with people that he was slandered for it, see Lk 7:33-35). Our hope is that these mini-communities bear spiritual fruit such as mentoring, bearing one another’s burdens, and modeling Christlike conduct.
The second pillar is service. I have found few statements that capture the inextricable connection of faith and conduct (as found in Ja 2:14-26 & 1 John 2:3-11) as well as these words from Tim Keller:
“If a person has grasped the meaning of God’s grace in his heart, he will do justice. If he doesn’t live justly, then he may say with his lips that he is grateful for God’s grace, but in his heart he is far from him. If he doesn’t care about the poor, it reveals that at best he doesn’t understand the grace he has experienced, and at worst he has not really encountered the saving mercy of God. Grace should make you just (Generous Justice).”
If we attempt to “disciple students toward a vibrant faith” but fail to include service as an aspect of our work, we have portrayed, at best, a stilted version of Christianity. Rightly ordered, our love for our neighbors flows out of the love that God has lavished upon us. And so we must tangibly serve and love those around us. Therefore, every senior high dGroup will, at the least, serve our physical neighbors through the GO! program. In recent years, this has looked like volunteering at ThriveCare Homes and the Open Arms Food Bank. This year, some dGroups will be serving in additional ways (like Discipleship Motors has for years) even while we maintain our current GO! partnerships. Our hope is that students find joy through the selflessness of service and grow to even long for more opportunities to tangibly express love to their neighbors.
Finally, formation. Our deep desire is that students will be formed into the image of Christ (Rom 8:28-30, 2 Cor 3:18). One of my favorite stories about discipleship is found in Acts 4, in which the Jewish high priests, after experiencing the bold preaching of Peter and John “realized that they had been with Jesus” (v. 13). This is my prayer: that when people hear, observe, and interact with the graduates of FRCS they may see that they have been with Jesus, and it has changed them to the core. Individual dGroups will vary in the method through which they pursue this formation. Some will do bible studies, others will focus on prayer or testimony, and still more will read Christian books or devotionals. While the tactics will range, the goal remains the same: the pursuit of (1) growth in Christlike character, and (2) the development of a closer walk with God.
These are the pillars of our senior high dGroup program. Please pray for us this year as we pursue these things together.
