I’ve always been better at blogging things that I don’t have to think about. When I sit down to blog my thoughts, I tend to get halfway through a rambling rant and decide that, at that point, anyone who actually took the time to get that far will have started to regret it. I tend to get carried away.
Fear not.
What I will attempt to do in this space is ingest a lot of information, ruminate on it, and then try to deliver a concise account of my thoughts. Since this blog relates to a class that I am currently taking regarding reaching, connecting, and discipling collegiate students, there will probably be many references to class meetings or readings. Bear with me. I’ll try to relate the basics to you without having to give you much homework.
So. Let me begin at the beginning. With a pretty wonderful illustration of what discipleship looks like.
During the first class meeting, after going through the preliminary prerequisites, my professor introduced us to a full-scale replica of the classic childhood game “Chutes and Ladders.”
As we began to play, two things became readily apparent: that none of us had played “Chutes and Ladders” in quite a while, and that the confined quarters of the game board meant that we’d all get to know each other just a little be more than we might have wanted.
To relate the game back to the central topic of the class, each chute or ladder was accompanied by a card that, depending on the direction you were headed, explained a situation that a typical collegiate might face. These situations ranged from “connected with a local church” to “I think I met ‘The One’” (and summarily, “Saw ‘The One’ out with somebody else”) to “experimented with drugs/alcohol/homosexuality.”
As the game went on, a pattern started to emerge. Someone would find a ladder forward and seem to make progress, only to run into the same chute that sent them back over and over again. Some got stuck in this rut early on and were stranded at the start of the board, others were so close to the finish, but kept getting tripped up by that chute.
The lesson should be making itself clear: college can be a time of great personal growth, but it can also be fraught with obstacles. In our game, no one made it to the end of the board without running up against an obstacle, and different people encountered different obstacles.
As we attempt to come along side collegians and disciple them, it is important to understand that people have obstacles that they will have to overcome in their journey. For many, the roadblocks in their path will not be new to them. It could be that incredibly painful experience from their past that still haunts them or the addiction that, try as they might, they just can’t seem to shake.
As we try to disciple collegians, we can’t be scared off by these issues. We can’t give up on someone who’s been trying to get over the same hurdle for years. Instead, we should be guiding people to a ladder and illuminating the chutes that might lie in the shadows. Some people need a push to get over the edge, others just need someone to confide in. We need to be open and available, whatever the need and whenever that need arises.
That’s discipleship.
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