Discipleship experiences pave the way for lifetime walk of faith
WINNIPEG, MB—Ask Dan Boon what impact Quest, the discipleship training program at Columbia Bible College (CBC) in Abbotsford, B.C., can have, and he'll tell you about a student from this past year who enrolled after completing two years of university.
"He just kind of realized that his life was headed in a direction that he was not excited about" before he joined Quest, says Boon, one of the program's leaders. "He was an incredible guy before he came to Quest, but he basically found a passion and love for Jesus here that is guiding his next steps."
The student is planning to attend CBC in the fall to complete a degree in counselling. He wants to dedicate his life to full-time ministry.
Boon says his hope for students who participate in the eight-month program is that they leave better equipped to serve.
"Ultimately, we want students to end up more like Christ and to be dedicated to a life of service and ministry, and following Christ for the rest of their lives," Boon says.
Quest is just one of many discipleship training programs offered by post-secondary institutions, camp ministries and other organizations across Canada—programs that combine classroom learning with personal development, outdoor adventure and ministry opportunities.
One of the newest is Encounter, which launches this September. Offered by the Canadian Sunday School Mission (CSSM), a Winnipeg-based camping ministry with 40 locations across the country, each month of the seven-month program takes place in a different province, starting in New Brunswick and moving west to B.C.
One of the key components of the program is exposing participants to the many service opportunities that are available in Canada.
"So many times, when we think about missions, we think overseas," says Barry Buhler, director of Encounter. "We want to teach students how to live and serve at home. It's not that we don't want to send people out [overseas] but ... Canada is a massive country with so many people groups and so many mission fields."
After students complete the program, they have the option of participating in a second phase for four months in a leadership role at one of CSSM's camps.
"It's an opportunity for the students to be able to learn how to lead in a safe place, and put what they just learned into action," Buhler says.
Another camping ministry that offers a discipleship training school is Winkler Bible Camp in Winkler, Manitoba. The purpose of Cross Current—an eight-month program that combines classroom learning with camp activities like horse wrangling, as well as service opportunities in Winkler, Winnipeg and a three-week missions trip to a U.S. city—is to give participants a solid biblical foundation for the rest of their lives.
"We want to create leaders," says Eric Coursey, Cross Current's director. "We want them to share their faith [with others]."
Coursey says a missions trip to Houston, Texas in 2012 had a big impact on Cross Current students. The students worked with organizations that deal with human trafficking and the sex trade.
"Tackling that whole subject brought up discussions about how we live our lives as Christians in a failed world," Coursey says.
Living in community is a major portion of most discipleship training schools.
Boon notes that for Quest participants, the time they spend together is key to shaping their experience in the program.
"To have your teachers and leaders with you in the classroom, and then out on a mountainside or on a tall ship or skiing the slopes together, to be with the families and to see life being lived in the best way we know how—that probably has the strongest impact for students," he says.
"We definitely begin the year a group of strangers and finish the year a group of friends."
Dear Readers:
ChristianWeek relies on your generous support. please take a minute and donate to help give voice to stories that inform, encourage and inspire.
Donations of $20 or more will receive a charitable receipt.Thank you, from Christianweek.
