What Does a Disciple Look Like?

Have you ever attempted to define a “disciple of Jesus”? If our goal in children’s ministry is to produce disciples, what does one look like? Or rather, if only God truly produces disciples and we are to provide an environment where disciples can be formed, how do we know if we have succeeded? Take any business that produces something. Ask them what they produce, and they can show it to you. We are supposedly about producing disciples. But can we show you one? Can we point to a kid who is a disciple of Jesus?

Of course, all children are in process, just like adults. But let’s imagine the ideal Kid Disciples. We’ll name them Luke and Leah, the ideal Kid Disciples of Jesus. You have six years with them in your teaching ministry. I know you want them to accept Jesus as their Savior, but is that all? What do you want them to learn under your care? What skills do you want them to acquire? What habits do you want them to form? What kind of kids do you want them to be, spiritually speaking, when they leave the kids ministry and head into the youth ministry? Have you ever asked these questions? You probably haven’t if you are just a Chef of God’s Word, teaching lessons week to week. But a Master Chef lays awake at night thinking about these things. Anytime they look at a new curriculum or resource, they look at it next to a grid they have already created that answers these questions, and they see where it fits in. Because they have a MASTER PLAN for their children. No, it isn’t perfect. It has holes, and it is constantly in flux. In fact, often the new resources and ideas they hear at conferences or read in a new book or find on the Internet are just what they were looking for in order to fit into a gap they had in their Master Plan – but at least they had a Master Plan, an Advance Menu, in the first place.

Scope and Seekwhat?