Capernaum Personal Discipleship Plan
We are so grateful to Katie Vidal, Area Director, Tucson Capernaum Young Life for all her amazing and intentional work on these discipleship plans! Thank you so much, Katie!
Over the last few months, we have been brainstorming ways to be more intentional about providing our friends and their families with resources as they transition out of Young Life Capernaum and into a lifelong faith community. We know that across our country, people with disabilities are underrepresented in our churches. Many of our friends and families expressed that they weren’t sure how to begin conversations with church leaders about the skills and gifts God has equipped them with and the ways that they want to use those gifts to serve in the Body of Christ. We wanted to create a tool that our friends can bring to their churches to express their individual discipleship goals and the ways that they would like to serve in their church.
We modeled our Capernaum Personal Discipleship Plan after the one that is accessible to staff and leaders on Staff Resources. We created three different options for our friends; one tool that allows them to write their own answers, one in which they can circle pre-populated answers, and one with pictures illustrating the pre-populated phrases.
Our friends first get to identify the ways that they want to continue to grow in their faith, both individually (i.e. pray on my own) and corporately (i.e. join a Bible Study at church). Next, our friends get to identify the gifts and strengths that God has equipped them with. Lastly, our friends identify the ways that they want to serve in their church and come up with some tangible support that they need in order to be successful in those roles! Our hope is that our friends can fill these out with their families and then take the plan into meetings with church leaders.
I had the privilege of helping my friend Jessica fill out her Discipleship Plan with her parents. Jessica expressed her desire to read her Bible everyday and listen to worship music. She recognized that she is very friendly, likes routine, and loves children. Jessica expressed her desire to volunteer in the Children’s Ministry at her church as well as help with greeting at service. Jessica came up with some steps that would help her be successful, like reminders when a task needs to be completed. Jessica and her parents were then able to sit down with a Sunday School teacher and talk about the ways that Jessica would love to serve in their classroom. They also met with the head usher and now Jessica is being trained as a greeter for Sunday mornings.
Our hope is that these tools will help churches see the untapped skills and gifts of our friends and help move them on the continuum of not just being included in their churches, but experiencing true belonging.
We modeled our Capernaum Personal Discipleship Plan after the one that is accessible to staff and leaders on Staff Resources. We created three different options for our friends; one tool that allows them to write their own answers, one in which they can circle pre-populated answers, and one with pictures illustrating the pre-populated phrases.
Our friends first get to identify the ways that they want to continue to grow in their faith, both individually (i.e. pray on my own) and corporately (i.e. join a Bible Study at church). Next, our friends get to identify the gifts and strengths that God has equipped them with. Lastly, our friends identify the ways that they want to serve in their church and come up with some tangible support that they need in order to be successful in those roles! Our hope is that our friends can fill these out with their families and then take the plan into meetings with church leaders.
I had the privilege of helping my friend Jessica fill out her Discipleship Plan with her parents. Jessica expressed her desire to read her Bible everyday and listen to worship music. She recognized that she is very friendly, likes routine, and loves children. Jessica expressed her desire to volunteer in the Children’s Ministry at her church as well as help with greeting at service. Jessica came up with some steps that would help her be successful, like reminders when a task needs to be completed. Jessica and her parents were then able to sit down with a Sunday School teacher and talk about the ways that Jessica would love to serve in their classroom. They also met with the head usher and now Jessica is being trained as a greeter for Sunday mornings.
Our hope is that these tools will help churches see the untapped skills and gifts of our friends and help move them on the continuum of not just being included in their churches, but experiencing true belonging.
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