What is a Discipleship Partner?

Inspired by AA and other recovery group sponsorship programs, we have adopted the name of  Discipleship Partner for those who have dedicated themselves to being an active part of our residents’ lives. While there is admittedly a level of similarity in what we’re looking for in our Discipleship Partners, we believe this is a very different type of relationship!

We aren’t looking for a professional. You don’t need to be a college-educated psych major, you don’t need to be an experienced mediator, you don’t need to have personally triumphed over a major lifestyle of sin or struggle. You only need to dedicate to living life with one of our residents for a period of time.

What Does this Look Like?

Spending Real Time
– Want to go for coffee?
– Need to run some errands?
– How about going for a hike this weekend?
If you can think about the things you usually do with your friends and family, you’ll have a good idea of what we hope you’ll do with one of our residents! Many of them have not experienced healthy relationships and need experience to help them establish a support base.

Having Real Talk
Small talk is cheap and can be found anywhere. We’re looking for real talk. It starts with “How are you doing?” and builds up to, “What do you want to do in life?” and “What are you struggling with?” Share your own hopes and fears, tell them your testimony and what you have a hard time dealing with in your own life. Be real! It might take some time to get there, but with the labor comes fruit!

Commitment
Many of us as many friends on social media as our favorite novel has pages; but how many of them would you count as a true friend? We can’t expect to establish healthy, long-lasting relationships in brief encounters that lead to increased friend counts on Facebook. We want you to dedicate at least a year, hopefully two or three, to one of these residents. Jesus walked with His disciples for three years, and we want to follow His lead.

Basically we just want our residents to have people in their life that show that they care and committed to helping them live in Christ together! And you won’t be alone; each of our residents will have at least one or two other Discipleship Partners to lean on, in addition to their church family. And while many people in the church are further along in their own discipleship of Jesus, we agree with Scripture that “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” You can expect to learn from each other! Your partner is going to surprise you with insights they’ve received through their own lives and experiences, and we have faith that God will use you both to help one other grow in relationship with Christ!