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The question I keep asking myself: "How did we lose sight of the goal?"
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Because of the confusion caused by the complexities of the world, of the church, and of our own personal lives, we must continually REfocus on what Jesus regarded as most important for clarity. To fix our "eyes on the prize" we must keep resetting our sights on Jesus' two simple goals for all believers: 1) Love God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself. 2) Go and make disciples (Matthew 22:37-38, 28:19).
Love Jesus > Love People > Make Disciples -- a bracelet I wear bears those words. My friend and one of Reach Out's leaders, Kevin Miles, had these bracelets made for his youth group. They bring Jesus' goals into focus: Zoom! Boom! That's it.
If you would like your own Love Jesus > Love People > Make Disciples bracelet, e-mail [email protected].
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Reach Out has created REfocus on Disciple Making, a video to guide churches in general, and youth leaders in particular, to regain that focus. We hope it will help move youth ministries back to Jesus, back to the reason He gave Himself for us -- Christ formed in you (Galatians 4:19), and back to discipling teenagers to experience life-change and to become life-changers!
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 Jesus said, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). Reflecting on His words, all of us can REfocus on becoming disciples and making disciples.
Our purpose as followers of Jesus is to become like Jesus and to disciple others to do the same! The diagram shows how that happens. Whether an adult or teen, becoming a follower of Jesus involves transformation that leads to Christlikeness -- that propels the mission to disciple others.
At Reach Out we experience the
REfocus theme every day!
In the last month, Reach Out...
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>> Conducted a Jesus-Focused Youth Ministry Forum at Howard Payne University in Texas.
>> Hosted Doug Landro, our Ukraine Director, to strategize about future plans for Ukraine.
>> Engaged in video conference calls with Charles Juma, our Africa Director, and Elio Martiz, our Cuba Director, hearing reports on exceedingly fruitful training results, and planning ahead.
>> Collaborated with the Global Youth Coalition for three days to move forward on plans with initiatives in India, Uganda, China, and Nepal. |
There is a discipleship crisis in the Western church. Many Christians may come to a worship service, join a small group or even tithe, but few have the kind of transformed lives we read about in Scripture. If we made disciples like Jesus made them, we wouldn't have a problem finding leaders or seeing new people come to faith.
- Mike Breen, Building a Discipling Culture
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Thank you for helping us help others to REfocus!
Jesus is Lord, |
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