Reading: Chapter 5: Transformation

Chapter 5

TRANSFORMATION

Your great glory is not to be inferior to what God has made you.

Pericles

"Ted, I hear you’ve left Youth for Christ to start a new ministry. Let’s get together for coffee.”

I counted it a privilege to have Rick as a friend. A former NFL player, he was big and gregarious, with a heart of gold.

“Well, buddy, you’ve done it! You have pulled the trigger and now you are committed to building this new ministry. So here are some things I think you need to do . . .”

Rick’s advice was strong and sincere: “Here are some ‘deep pocket’ potential donors you should approach.” “You should consider partnering with [this other ministry].” “You should talk to [this person] about serving on your board.” I appreciated his advice but was unsettled as to how some of his directives fit with the ministry I was envisioning.

Perhaps it was my youthful idealism and my eagerness to go where others feared to tread. More likely, observers saw a crazed person engaged in a noble yet impossible task and desperately in need of all the help he could get. I had moved into Five Points intent on creating a community-based youth ministry. That action prompted not only Rick but also many other friends who were leaders in their own right to weigh in.

Throughout my life, I have been blessed with great friends and wise leaders. I appreciate their concern for me and their desire to help me along the way. But you have to be careful with free advice. A wise man once said, “Listen to others, but hold your own counsel.” It is important to listen to advice, to glean from the wisdom and experiences of those who care about you. But when all is said and done, you alone must decide and define.

I knew my friends who gave advice early on genuinely wanted me to succeed. But I had to reject some of their counsel because my friends’ perceptions of the ministerial task did not align with my own. I discovered early in the journey the importance of definition: If you do not clearly define who you are, what you are doing and why, others—without even realizing it—will impose their agendas on you. Businessman and leadership author Max De Pree was profoundly on target when he declared: “The first task of leadership is to define reality.”

Definition does not come easy. One of the most difficult sentences to write is a purpose statement. During the first two decades of Neighborhood Ministries’ existence, our statement was revised numerous times. Why? It took time to find the right combination of words to capture what we believed God wanted us to do. A mission statement should reflect a singular purpose and clarify your organization’s unique reason for being. Honing that statement takes time.

Over time, our work evolved into a clear philosophy of ministry and process of urban youth development. Until recently I had no name for it.

Now I call it transformational discipleship. When I first settled on this terminology, I thought I had discovered something original. But self-congratulations ended the moment I Googled the phrase. Books had been written a decade ago titled Transformational Discipleship and Transforming Discipleship. I even found an online assessment tool by that name! As with many words wrung through the Christian cultural mill, I discovered that the words “transformation” and “discipleship” had been frequently used, both separately and together, for some time.

Have they outlived their usefulness? I wondered. Perhaps I should find a different name. But I could not let the phrase “transformational discipleship” go. It captured perfectly the essence of the concept I was attempting to convey. Separately, each term highlighted a significant dimension of the ministry process. Together, they introduced a dynamic and unique approach to urban youth development.

About Transformation

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).

The word “transform” holds special significance within Christian thought and practice. The dictionary defines the verb this way: “To make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of.”¹ A transliteration from the Greek gives us the word metamorphosis.

There are three places in the Scriptures where this word is used.

The first is in Matthew’s description of Jesus’ Transfiguration.

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light (Matthew 17:1-2).

The Wuest translation reads: “the manner of his outward expression was changed before them, and his face shone as the sun.”

Jesus was God incarnate—that is, embodied in flesh, in human form. Of Him the Scriptures say, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14) and “He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Phil. 2:7). Jesus publicly appeared as a man—the Son of Man. But that day on the mountain, in the presence of His closest disciples, Jesus allowed His true essence—the Son of God—to show.

Paul later used the same term (on two separate occasions) to describe the dynamic and ongoing experience of the believer:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2).

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18).

What do these two passages tell us about transformation?

• To be transformed is to experience a dramatic change in behavior.
• Transformative change begins with the renewal (renovation, complete change for the better) of the mind (one’thinking processes). Tom Skinner would say, “It’s not ‘since Jesus entered my heart,’ but ‘since Jesus entered my mind.’”
• For the believer, transformation is both commanded and expected. The emphasis in Paul’s exhortation to the Romans is: allow yourself to be changed by the renewing of your mind.

Preaching Is Not Enough

If you were to break down the average youth ministry into its component parts, you would find—in addition to copious amounts of pizza, games and music—a significant dose of preaching. By “preaching” I mean one-way communication (whether it comes from a pulpit or from one of a dozen folding chairs arranged in a circle in a fellowship hall). Now exhortation is a powerful mode of persuasion that has resulted in changed lives. Preaching can indeed trigger transformation, but only when two other factors are present: the engaged mind of the listener, and a heart that is open to change.

One Sunday I attended a church service where the guest preacher was the congregation’s former pastor. He spoke with great passion and animation. He shared colorful illustrations and funny stories. People seemed delighted to hear him again.

During the fellowship hour, I remarked how impressed I was. A longtime member of the church overheard me. She said dryly: “You wouldn’t feel that way if you had to sit through that same message and those same stories Sunday after Sunday. That’s what we got for years!”

I’m sure that preacher loved his former flock. He wanted to “bless” them through his ministry. But something was missing. Few of his statements were designed to induce change from within. His message was laced with anecdotes and clichés that he had used repeatedly during his tenure as pastor. The congregation, as if on cue, shouted: “Amen!” They were entertained—but they were not transformed.

The great Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard humorously illustrates this principle in his well-known Parable of the Ducks:

A story is told of a town where all the residents are ducks. Every Sunday the ducks waddle out of their houses and waddle down Main Street to their church. They waddle into the sanctuary and squat in their proper pews.

The duck choir waddles in and takes its place, and then the duck minister comes forward and opens the duck Bible. He reads to them: “Ducks! God has given you wings! With wings you can fly! With wings you can mount up and soar like eagles. No walls can confine you! No fences can hold you! You have wings. God has given you wings, and you can fly like birds!”

All the ducks shout, “Amen!” And then they all waddle home.

Variations on this theme often show up in youth meetings. The strategy employed is persuasion through assertion. Those in the audience who are already convinced (pastors, adult youth staff, other Christian onlookers) heartily affirm the message. But post-Chris- tian youth feel they have heard these clichés ad infinitum. Hearing them again—with no relevant contextualization or practical application—amounts to a brazen attempt at coercion.

The gospel is good news—the greatest anyone this side of heaven will ever hear! We feel Paul’s urgency: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). Yet Paul did not sacrifice reason on the altar of fervency. He knew that if transformation was going to take place, the mind first had to be renewed. His exhortation to the Roman church on this topic stemmed from his firsthand experience and observation of the transforming power of God’s Word:

• After his conversion, Paul spent 15 years in Tarsus preparing for future ministry. He reprocessed everything he knew about God through the new grid of knowing Christ. He let the gospel transform his life and his message.

• Paul did not treat the gospel message as an incantation possessing magical powers. When Isaiah declared: “It [God’s word] will not return to me empty, but will ac- complish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11), he was not saying that his words were magical, but rather that they were effective and filled with grace. The gospel is “the power of God that brings salvation” (Romans 1:16), but words themselves are not magical. Words are as powerful as the ideas they convey. Paul mastered the Kingdom ideas (truths) that undergirded his message.

• Paul engaged people with those ideas. “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). He fought to win the battle for people’s minds.

• He was adept at reasoning, appealing to people’s understanding. King Agrippa found Paul’s arguments to be so compelling that he cried out: “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” (Acts 26:28). To which Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains” (v. 29).

So Christian transformation begins when gospel ideas, empowered by God’s grace, take root in people’s minds. Such ideas then lead to behaviors consistent with those ideas. When Paul exhorted the Corinthian believers to “imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1, NKJV), he was highlighting both his belief system and the behaviors those beliefs produced.

The Medium Is the Message

The pursuit of transformation involves not only the engaging of ideas but also the use of appropriate methods.

Careful study of Paul’s movements reveals that he employed strategies consistent with his mission. He targeted cities, knowing the gospel would spread outward to the rural areas. His methods mirrored the incarnation (i.e., Jesus’ choice to become human and dwell among those He had come to love and serve): Paul stayed in people’s homes, interacted with local residents in synagogues and public squares, gathered converts around him, and demonstrated by his own behavior the things he taught.

This incorporating of beliefs into organizational behavior, ensuring that operations clearly reflect core values, is where many ministries fall short. Here are some of the missteps:

• Some “helping ministries” do more harm than good. In the short run, ministries like youth mentoring programs, food basket giveaways, and short-term mission projects provide welcome relief. But the damage to people’s dignity can be devastating. If these types of programs are not approached carefully, black youth will catch the subtle message that only white people can solve their problems. A father’s shame goes unnoticed as he watches his children open Christmas gifts provided by wealthy strangers. Poor churches become dependent on the resources of foreigners, snuffing out any personal motivation to solve their own problems.
• Jesus never issued “blind” orders to His disciples. His demeanor was not: “Do this, and don’t ask why; just do it!” He valued transparency and informed participation. “I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). As Merrill C. Tenney writes in his commentary: “Jesus elevated the disciples above mere tools and made them partners in his work. A slave is never given a reason for the work assigned to him; he must perform it because he has no other choice. The friend is a confidant who shares the knowledge of his superior’s purpose and voluntarily adopts it as his own.”2 This is servant leadership, a quality sorely missing in many Christian organizations today.

Behaviors send a powerful message, for they convey our true beliefs. Hence the saying: “What you are doing speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you are saying.” When methods sync with ideas, the message is credible. When they do not, the message is suspect, and transformation is stifled.

Transformation and Leadership

In their groundbreaking book Transformational Leadership, Bernard Bass and Ronald Riggio examine the differences between transactional and transformational leadership. Let me explain.

Transactional leaders focus on managing exchanges. Politicians exchange jobs for votes. Bosses offer financial incentives for productivity. The leader defines what is required and then specifies conditions and rewards related to the transaction. Motivation for productivity is external: the jobs, the paycheck, the perks.

All leadership engages in transactions. But transformational leadership operates at a much higher level. Transformational leaders are characterized by:

• Charisma: They behave in ways that allow them to serve as role models.
• Inspiration: They behave in ways that motivate and inspire others by pressing meaning and challenge into their work.
• Intellectual stimulation: They stimulate followers to be innovative and creative; they encourage the questioning of assumptions, the reframing of problems, and approaching old situations in new ways.
• Individual consideration: They pay special attention to the individual follower’s need for achievement and growth. They serve by acting as a coach or mentor.³

Transformational leaders focus on tapping internal motivations; they induce (engender, encourage, trigger) change in others.

In the workplace, such leadership manifests itself through: (1) commitment to a vision that is shared by the team, (2) innovative problem solving, and (3) maximizing the individual’s leadership potential.

The Power of Aptness

Among their other characteristics, transformational leaders are keenly aware of the power that can be wielded through words. The right words spoken at the right time can produce life-changing results. The Bible has a name for this: aptness.

A person finds joy in giving an apt reply—and how good is a timely word! (Proverbs 15:23).

Aptness is the quality of being appropriate or suitable.⁴ Jesus was a master at cutting through fuzzy thinking with clear teaching that spoke directly to people’s deepest needs and most pressing questions. We see this in His encounters with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman (see John 3, 4). He not only spoke truth; He also spoke it aptly. He was adept at expressing the right idea at the right time.

Commenting on Proverbs, Bible scholar Derek Kidner explains: “A truth that in general makes no impression may be indelibly fixed in the mind when it is matched to its occasion and shaped to its task.”⁵

Aptness is a tool of transformation. It touches the mind. Recently I was in court with a friend who was fighting for cus-

tody of his children. Another minister and I were sitting outside the courtroom, talking with this friend’s 12-year-old daughter. Cute and spunky, she went on and on about how she could never forgive this other person who had done her wrong.

After listening awhile to her stubborn insistence that she was right, despite the reasoning of the other pastor, I commented: “Only forgiven people forgive.” My friend’s daughter was taken aback (to my surprise, so was the pastor!).

“What do you mean?” she asked.

I explained: “If you’ve never tasted God’s forgiveness, you won’t be able to forgive. If you have tasted God’s forgiveness for the bad things you’ve done, you’ll be able to forgive the bad things others have done to you. Only forgiven people forgive.”

That simple comment jarred her thinking and prompted her to ponder what her refusal to forgive said about her own experience of God’s grace.

I have also found myself on the receiving end of apt words. When I began my seminary education, I had little interest in urban ministry. I was convinced God was fine with me not serving in the inner city. I was making this point rather fervently to some students in the hallway one day, not realizing that Dr. Vernon Grounds, the seminary president, was standing (lurking!) nearby.

I must have said something like “I’m not responsible . . .” when a voice rang out: “Are you sure? Are you sure you’re not responsible?” as Dr. Grounds passed by and disappeared up the stairway.

That simple, passing question stopped me in my tracks. It hounded me! A few months later, I found myself volunteering at a storefront mission in Five Points. My journey into the city had begun, thanks to an apt word that challenged my thinking on an important topic.

Inducing change requires more than pronouncements. It requires aptness: ideas that compel the listener to change because they speak directly to a felt need.

So the “transformational” side of transformational discipleship has to do with change—change that results not by coercion or force, but through the influence of Kingdom ideas upon thought patterns, perspectives and beliefs. Changes in thought lead to changes in behavior—and that is transformation. A transformational ministry is not careless about its methods, as if the end justified the means. Its methods—addressing felt needs, maximizing potential, pressing core values into organizational policy and practice, the apt response—are intentionally transformational as well.

Whereas the term “transformational” addresses the dynamics of change, “discipleship” speaks to the environment needed for change to take place.

About Discipleship

My years in Vienna, under the tutelage of my pastor, missionaries and newfound Christian friends, were formative ones. They were discipleship intensive. Everything—friendships, the counsel and instruction I received, my meager leadership exerted toward youth in the International School, the many struggles and failures—played a foundational role in my early spiritual growth and formation.

Yet until recently, if you asked me how I had been discipled, I would point to a 10-week Wednesday evening class taught by a missionary from the Navigators, an international discipleship ministry. The instructor of this class employed what is known to- day as Design for Discipleship, an excellent curriculum I’ve used many times over the years.

Why did I single out that class as “discipleship,” to the exclusion of the other events that had shaped my life? Like many others, I had adopted a fairly academic definition of discipleship, in which the central activity was the acquisition of knowledge about God and His Word. To be sure, learning Christian content is a significant part of being discipled. But being trained and nurtured as a follower of Jesus extends far beyond any formal classroom.

I cannot imagine categorizing Jesus’ sermons as “discipleship” while viewing His responses to individuals and situations merely as “teachable moments.” Discipleship is not the same as a catechism class. Discipleship is learning and applying Christian content in the context of life.

Consider what Eugene Peterson, translator of THE MESSAGE and author of A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, writes on the subject:

Disciple . . . says we are people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ. We are in a grow- ing-learning relationship, always. A disciple is a learner, but not in the academic setting of a schoolroom, rather at the work site of a craftsman. We do not acquire information about God but skills in faith.⁶

Discipleship is “a growing-learning relationship, always.” This has sweeping implications for youth ministry. Many treat this ministry as a vehicle for evangelism. Conversion is viewed as the main goal to be reached, with discipleship as “icing on the cake.” But even salvation is expressed in the Scriptures as having three dimensions: I have been saved, I am being saved, I shall be saved. Salvation is more than a point of entry; it is a process and also the final destination of the believer.

What if we dared to apply the command “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) to youth ministry? Might we be compelled to approach youth gatherings not as evangelistic military strikes but as part of a larger, sustained discipleship culture?

You see, these urban youth—those touched by brokenness yet bearing God’s image—need a culture of discipleship. They need to be challenged to think—to ponder ideas bigger than those of the street. And they need a safe space where they can do so freely, openly and regularly.

As I considered discipleship, a paradigm shift took place within me. My assessments of young people had moved from “saved” versus “not saved” to “disciple”, “not yet a disciple,” and “open to becoming a disciple.” My longing became to influence world views—to listen carefully and then challenge how youth interpreted life. With eyes open to who they were, I became focused on who, in Christ, they could become.

What are some key elements of this discipleship culture we need to create for our young people?

• Providing a steady witness as Christian leaders whose lives are transparent, accessible, and worthy of imitation (“Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” [1 Corinthians 11:1, NKJV]).
• Matching youths’ natural search for meaning with the dis- covery of God’s purpose for their lives.
• Ensuring that the Bible—the written Word that reveals God, the Living Word—is central to our process of discerning and understanding life. (Always exploring the question, Where is God in all this?)
• ¥ Learning by doing, where serving others becomes the classroom in which youth discover God and themselves, and in doing so are transformed.

The Wineskin Challenge

Jesus’ parable regarding wineskins introduces the modern-day reader to a slice of life from the ancient world, where flasks were made out of goatskins. New skins, still soft and pliable, could hold fermenting wine. Pouring new wine into an old wineskin placed fermenting gases in a container that had become hard and brittle, causing that container to break. New wine, needing room to expand, required new wineskins.

As Jesus said “No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins” (Luke 5:37-38).

The same is true for new ideas. Just as the gospel requires “new skin”—that is, new patterns of conduct consistent with Jesus’ teachings on Kingdom life—so too must other new ideas be implemented within frameworks that are fresh and flexible enough to hold them. Transformational discipleship establishes a context for youth development in which certain skills and values glossed over in traditional approaches become paramount for effectiveness and success.

Such change does not come easily. Jesus warned: “And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better’” (Luke 5:39).

Like fermenting wine exerting pressure on an old wineskin, Jesus’ teaching cannot be contained within an old religious system. It requires a new system—a new context. Yet Jesus acknowledges a sobering truth: People tend to resist the new—no matter how good it may be—in favor of the old.

Despite the skepticism and resistance we have sometimes encountered along the way, at Neighborhood Ministries we have embraced transformational discipleship as a new ministry context—new wineskins—to hold these key principles:

• As already described, the shift from an evangelistic focus to creating an environment conducive to knowing Christ and growing in Him.
• The shift from exerting authority on the basis of age, rank or title to yielding the kind of authority that emanates from one’s character (see 1 Timothy 4:12) and commitment to the ongoing growth in Christ of the youth being served (see James 1:2-4).
• Visionary leadership that says to youth: “There’s nothing you see in me that you cannot become” (transparency; credible role modeling; vision casting).
• Enacting organizational policies and practices that are congruent with the transformational discipleship philosophy and mission.

Embracing Transformational Discipleship

Transformational discipleship is an approach to youth ministry centered on maximizing the adolescent leadership experience in ways that mold youth for future service and motivate the future leaders (children) they influence.

1. An Approach

Transformational discipleship is first of all an approach to youth ministry. Youth programs come in all shapes and sizes. But generally speaking, they encompass three age groups: children, early adolescents and adolescents. Youth ministries tend to mirror the organizational structure found in secular educational institutions. Each “grade” receives a focus all its own, separate from the other age groups, resulting in distinct, age-related curricula.

Children Early Adolescents Adolescents

This model is characterized by a lack of interrelating between age groups. Because the context is the classroom, and each class is age-specific, there is little influence of older children on younger ones.

Transformational discipleship builds on the oft-quoted African proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child.” In villages, children influence one another: Older children have responsibility for the younger, and the younger can envision their future by observing the older.

Transformational discipleship capitalizes on the natural desire of youth to influence children by involving adolescents in the development process of younger children. In a carefully designed leadership environment, adolescents engage in teaching and leading children, and while doing so learn about God and themselves.

Adolescents

(High School)

Early Adolescents (Middle School)

Children (elementary)

2. Leadership

Transformational discipleship maximizes the adolescent leadership experience. It invites youth to join a leadership team that takes responsibility for ministry to younger children.

On a transactional level, these youth are accomplishing a task: teach children and lead the children’s program. But from a transformational perspective, the “job” becomes an opportunity to discover, develop and exercise their unique talents. The problems, challenges and roadblocks inherent in any meaningful endeavor become teachable moments—opportunities for supportive adults to explain and help process youth leaders’ experiences in order to arrive at best solutions. Through these experiences, the youth learn about God and themselves, in the real-life context of meaningful service.

Within this discipleship-rich environment, adult leaders serve as coaches and mentors (not preachers or drill sergeants).

3. Direction

Transformational discipleship molds adolescents (emerging leaders) for future service. It addresses the question: What is the church’s responsibility to young people during the formative years of their lives?

At a time when their greatest quest is for identity (answering the question, “Who am I?”), leadership helps adolescents discover the divine imprint—the uniqueness of their creation. Over time, they gain appreciation for their strengths, as they gravitate toward helping to meet those needs for which they sense they are particularly qualified. Awareness of personal strengths, reinforced through meaningful service, helps direct adolescents toward fulfilling tasks, jobs and vocations that maximize their gifts and abilities.

4. Legacy

Transformational discipleship motivates the future leaders (children) the emerging leaders influence. Something very powerful happens when credible role models only a few years older in age lead children. Often, during our summer day camp, a child would approach me and ask, “Can I do what they [the emerging leaders] are doing someday?” One of the many positive outcomes of transformational discipleship is children aspiring to lead.

In a social context saturated with violence and brokenness, adolescent disciples of Jesus bring real hope to children. In these young leaders, children can recognize positive possibilities for their lives. As for the leaders, they experience what Jesus promised: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Through their acts of service, they simultaneously influence the next generation of emerging leaders, position themselves for a variety of educational and vocational opportunities, and leave a precious legacy in their communities.

Something Special Is Happening Here

The emerging leaders had completed their four months of preparation. Now they were well into the second week of the Summer Enrichment Program (our five-week summer day camp for third- through fifth-grade neighborhood kids). A seminary student was interested in doing an internship with Neighborhood Ministries, and he had asked to meet with me. I invited him to have lunch with me at the camp.

I had caught glimpses of the fruit of our approach to youth development prior to that lunch. I saw it during the training as the emerging leaders infused their unique ideas into the camp program. I witnessed it in their excitement at preparing Bible studies and decorating their learning center classrooms. They did more than work at the camp: They seemed to own it.

But it was while observing the lunchroom that I began to fathom the significance of this transformational discipleship approach. My guest and I had arrived early, so we had already grabbed plates of food that had been prepared by a team of volunteers and had sat down at a table along the wall when the campers began to file in.

What happened next seemed at first rather ordinary. Kids and teenage staff picked up their plates and sat down at the tables. There was talking and laughter. The campers seemed relaxed as they enjoyed their food and one another’s company. After a while, I noticed the staff rise and go to the serving table, where the volunteers had prepared dessert. The staff took the dessert to the campers! After serving them, the staff quietly rejoined the campers. The only sound that remained constant was mild chatter and laughter, which was finally interrupted by Raquel’s announcement that lunchtime was over.

It seemed an ordinary event until we—the seminary student and I—began to explore the question, Why? Why were the kids so relaxed? Why was there such rapport between children and teenagers? We had both experienced meals with large groups of children before. One expects a few chaotic bursts to occur. Why did this meal go so smoothly?

That is when I recognized the extent to which we had successfully taken the lessons learned over the past 20 years and pressed them into an approach to youth development that actually transformed lives. The fruit of that approach was on display at lunch, in the attitudes and behaviors of the kids and staff.

I overheard a parent remark after observing the camp: “There’s something special going on here.”

It was special. Transformational discipleship was happening in our midst.

Notes

1. New Oxford American Dictionary, Third Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
2. Frank E. Gaebelein, ed., Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 9: John and Acts (Grand Rap- ids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), p. 151.
3. Bernard M. Bass and Ronald E. Riggio, Transformational Leadership (Mahwah, NJ: Law- rence Erlbaum Associates, 2006), Kindle edition.
4. New Oxford American Dictionary.
5. Derek Kidner, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 17 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Press, 1964), “Proverbs 15:13.”
6. Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2012), Kindle edition.

Questions for Thought

1. What is transactional and what is transformational about your current leadership style and practices? To strengthen the transformational dimension of your leadership, what needs to change?
2.  How would you describe the culture of your youth ministry? What steps can be taken to create more of a discipleship environment?
3. What “wineskin” challenges are you facing? How can you work to create a fresh ministry context in which new ideas can flourish?

Foundations

Why Transformational Discipleship?

It took me years of ministry among youth to discover (or stumble into) this philosophy of ministry, which has since developed into what I call a strategic construct.

A construct is an idea or theory formed by multiple elements. I did not realize the need for such a construct until, as a doctoral student at the Bakke Graduate School of Ministry, I explored the research question, How can the church animate (bring to life) leadership capacity among youth native to higher-risk communities?

Few scholars or ministry leaders had addressed the subject. Those who did were highly theoretical, offering little practical insight.

Yet I needed to answer the question, Why transformational discipleship? So I framed the answer as a construct—the coming together of four separate yet related concepts:

1. Mission as the identity and purpose of the church;
2. Urban youth as a focus of neighbor love and discipleship;
3. The image of God as key to personal motivation and life contribution; and
4. Leadership as the activity in which discipleship, image discovery and life purpose come alive during the adolescent years.

The following section examines these foundational concepts. I realize that theological concepts can come across as a bit heady. My desire is the same as that implied in the title of Dr. Bruce Shelley’s masterful work: Church History in Plain Language. Hopefully I have achieved that goal in answering the why of transformational discipleship.

I am also aware that reading these chapters might require a measure of courage. If my theology and reasoning are sound, the material presented here may prompt a dramatic change in thinking and behavior. It could cause you—as it has done me—never to see work among urban youth the same way again.

So my prayer for you is courage—courage to discern and act upon the implications of God’s Word to your life and ministry.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9).