Campus ministers, as much as anyone I know, are committed to having effective discipleship appointments. They care about Jesus’ clear command to “make disciples.” But over the years on staff, I’ve noticed our appointments can get a little sloppy.
Ineffective Types of Appointments
Most of the discipleship appointments I’ve seen fall into one of the following categories:
1. The Bible Study
Some one-to-ones just look like a bible study. They read a few Bible verses and discuss them, but there is little to no life investment. Our discipleship meetups should go beyond just diving into the Scriptures.
2. The Counseling Appointment
Other appointments I’ve been on feel like a counseling appointment. The student airs some worries and grievances and the staff person is there as emotional support. It’s not unusual for this to happen some in discipleship, but if every appointment looks like this there is no way you are building reproducing disciples.
3. The Hangout
Some staff members know how to bring the fun. Discipleship looks like 45 minutes of video games, hitting the gym for some pickup basketball, and ending with a Smoothie King run. Discipleship is relational, but that must happen in the context of knowing and living out God’s Word.
So how do you have effective discipleship appointments? You need to SHARPEN them up. S.H.A.R.P. is a template I’ve used to prep one-to-ones and discipleship group meetings.
Put it Into Practice: S.H.A.R.P.E.N. your Appointments
Here is the template I follow. I’ve included it in a PDF format so you can download and use to prep your own.
See how their doing (5 minutes)
- Ask questions to find out how they are doing physically, emotionally and spiritually
Honest accountability (5-10 minutes)
- Are you getting unhurried time with God?
- What has God been teaching you in the Word?
- Scripture Memory (if applicable)
- Purity questions (if applicable)
- Establish other areas in which they would want accountability
- How are these going? Anything to confess? Is your conscience clear? Any changes to make? How can I help?
Activity in Ministry (15 minutes)
- Work through their Ministry Cake sheet — sowing/evangelism/establishing list
- How did they do on last week’s goal?
- Set new goals for this week.
Read & Discuss Word (20 minutes)
- Work through your prepared one to one
- Get into the Word together and discuss it
- Lead with Questions & Relate with Stories
- Always stick to and follow the objective you want to accomplish
Pray (5-10 minutes)
- Pray about pressing things they might have mentioned
- Pray for the people they are sharing the gospel with and ministry goals
- Pray through the objectives and points of your one to one
This template will help you focus on the 4 major ingredients of reproducing a disciple: Accountability, Ministry, God’s Word and Prayer.
The times are just suggestions. Use each section as needed in that particular meet up. The template is designed to provide enough flexibility to keep it relational while maintaining depth.
Sometimes you might go do ministry together and emphasize that category. Other times you might spend an extended period in prayer. It affords time to connect and keep it relational, however, it keeps your discipleship objective-based.
Download the template below. I’ve also included the sheet to help you prep the Scripture portion of the one-to-one.
