Our Blog

Student Ministry October 2018

Dear Church Family,
What is discipleship? Another good question is, why should we care? Well, all Christians should be concerned with what it means to be a disciple and how disciples are to live. The reason for this is that God makes it clear in His Word that anyone who aligns himself with Jesus Christ is one of His disciples. To be a Christian is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. And it follows that if you do not know what discipleship means, then you will not truly know how to follow Jesus. You may be a Christian who loves God, but you might always feel like something is  missing. Or, even worse, you might be missing out on all sorts of blessings that God wants to give you, and you don’t even know it.

So what is discipleship? Simply put, being a disciple means being a learner of someone else. Based on that definition, you can be a disciple of almost anything. You are a disciple of teachers in school, disciples of YouTube channels, disciples of friends. While this might be true to an extent, when we talk about discipleship, we are talking about something a little deeper than that. We’re talking about discipleship as God’s Word describes it. The biblical picture of discipleship is that of full devotion of one’s life to a teacher’s doctrine and way of life. When Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, it wasn’t to follow Him over to a table to talk for a few minutes and then see each other the following week. It was a call to become apart of Jesus’ life. They were leaving their lives behind and becoming a part of His life. They were not only to listen to Him and learn, but also to watch Him and    imitate. That is exactly the task of every disciple today as well; to learn from and imitate Christ.

The point I am making is that many of us forget this from time to time. Some of us may have never even thought about being a Christian this way. Many of us thought that being a Christian was simply asking Jesus into our hearts so that we can be forgiven and go to heaven with Him forever. And that is true! But it is actually much more than that. When we ask Jesus into our hearts, we are really repenting of our sin, asking for forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and claiming Him as our Lord, the One to whom we devote our entire lives. He becomes our Lord and Savior, and we become His devoted disciples. We are given the Holy Spirit, and our desires start to change right away. Instead of loving self, we love God and others. Instead of following our hearts’ desires, we follow Jesus. Our desire, actions, our entire lives becomes Jesus centered. We want to grow more and more to live like Jesus, and we want others to have that same experience. That is what Christian discipleship is all about.

That is what the Student Ministry is all about; Making disciples of Students, and equipping them to grow and make more disciples. DNow weekend is one way we do that. We spend an entire weekend together learning, applying, and living out God’s Word so that we can better live like Christ and for Christ. This year is about Jesus’ idea of Christian community. We want to grow in how we live in Christlike community with one another… even in the midst of drama. If you are a parent or grandparent of a student, I want to highly encourage you to sign them up for DNow so they can be encouraged to live more like Christ and receive all the blessing of abundant life that He gives. It is one of the best investments you can make in the life of a student. 

Sincerely,
Brian Van Doren

Student Ministry September 2018

Dear Church Family,
For this month’s article I want to share a list I made on August 6^th this year. I titled it, The Blessings of a Broken Ankle. These are some of the things that I can see God’s grace abundantly given to me, even in a time of suffering. Here they are:

1. A thankfulness for God’s sovereign plan to bring me into the world during this time in history with advanced medical technology, through which He mightily works to heal.
2. A deeper understanding of what people are going through when prayer requests for things of this nature are mentioned.
3. The privilege of experiencing the body of Christ care for its members. So many people have reached out and cared for my wife and me through meals, movies, money, mowing grass, and much more.
4. The joy of seeing people step up to take charge and lead. Many people who faithfully follow my lead immediately sprung into action to make sure ministry kept going. It is such a joy to have devoted people who are there looking for ways to serve and lead. Nothing could be done without them!
5. The sanctifying process of forced growth in my abilities to delegate. I strongly believe that ministry is a group effort. But theory and practice can be hard to put together at times. Thankfully the Lord will do anything to grow those whom He loves. This is a blessing.
6. The wonder of different people uniting together to support. I have seen people come together, who had no reason to before, to supply help and service. It is amazing how God creates community!
7. The pleasure of feeling like we fully belong to this family. We have been overwhelmingly blessed with this church family, who has treated us as your own and cared for us as such. We couldn’t ask for anything better than to belong in such a family.
8. The delight in seeing the other pastors invest in the students. Some churches do not have a ministry staff that participate together in the church’s ministries. That is not the case here. All of our ministry staff are invested in the intertwining ministries of our church, whether covering for one with a broken ankle or not. That is a mark of a healthy church.
9. The awe in God teaching that His goals are not dependent on my abilities, nor thwarted by a lack thereof. God does not need me. So, when I am sidelined He still gets things done. But it is inspiring to know that God chooses to use me whether I have many abilities or few. His work is not limited by us.
10. The ability to read and spend time with the Lord unhurriedly. I have been forced to be on a couch much longer than I usually desire. But with this time, I have been able to look to God’s word and be comforted and challenged by Him. He has been shaping me while I have been broken.
11. The honor of watching my wife be and grow as the strong supportive woman that God has blessed me with. This is my most    valued blessing.  “An excellent wife, who can find?  For her worth is far above jewels.”  I have found the treasure of Erebor!  The Lord is far too good to me.
12. The challenge of learning to humbly and happily accept acts of kindness and grace. The gospel can be hard to accept.  It means that you need help.  The faster and better that we can learn to need help, the better and happier we will be.  God is still growing me in this, and He is making me a happier man.  This is all a blessing.

 Sincerely,

Brian Van Doren