Free Discipleship

God has given me the wonderful opportunity to serve him at a bible college in Melbourne, Australia. I really enjoy teaching classes on campus, but my passion is in the classes that are taught at local Baptist Churches. The college has a distance education program where an individual (usually me) meets with small groups of Believers in churches once a week. The students will be discipled using college level material that can later be used for class credit if they are interested in pursuing further studies.

The material itself is good. But it is the small group type setting that I think really makes these classes great. It gives people the opportunity to be taught truth, but also discuss what is taught, apply it to their lives, ask hard questions about it, and get clarification. These small groups also minister to the emotional needs of students for acceptance, encouragement, and comfort. The relationships developed in these situations are great sources of help for both the teacher and students as well.

In January I taught a young man named Tim using the colleges discipleship program for a few weeks. His pastor had begun teaching the class but was too busy to continue. Since the lesson was pretty basic I decided to spend some time learning more about Tim the first time we met. Within about five minutes he started talking to me about a serious struggle he was going through. Tim had become married while unsaved and although he accepted Christ as his Savior, his wife had not. A month before that class she left him. What made things so hard for Tim was that he still loved her and wanted to reconcile their problems. But she was not interested in being married to him any more. The fact that they had a little girl didn't make things any easier.

In my classes with Tim we spent time covering the lesson. But we also spent a lot of time talking about what God wanted him to do. And about the love he still had for his wife. I realised that Tim simply needed someone who he could talk to about the struggles he was experiencing. And that class gave him the opportunity to do that. There was one other student in the class but he was well aware of the situation, and helped me encourage Tim.

At the end of four weeks the class was finished. I honestly wanted to continue teaching Tim because the truth of Scripture would be a great source of strength to him. But I knew that having a place to talk about his emotions was helpful as well. Inwardly I prayed that he would take another class so that we could continue meeting together.

In May my prayers were answered when Tim's pastor said he was making plans for the next class. I talked to the pastor about the situation and learned that Tim needed good christian friends more than ever before. There was a great desire in my heart to start the next class that very week! But sadly the class still has not begun.

Tim has an outstanding bill from the previous class that he took at the Bible College. And of course he will not be allowed to take another class until he has paid the balance of his first one. This does not upset me because it is a wise move on the part of the Bible College. If payment for classes was not demanded, then students could take classes without paying at all! And the college deserves payment for the good quality education that are received by the students.

What bothers me is the fact that Tim may not be able to pay his bill. Currently the Australian economy is lower than it has been in some time. And many people in Melbourne are having a hard time paying for groceries or petrol (gasoline). In a hard financial time it is very probable that Tim won't have the money necessary to continue taking classes. Maybe he would have enough to pay his outstanding bill, but not enough for the next class.

I feel with all of my heart that Tim needs to continue taking bible college classes. They would minister to his spiritual needs by pointing him to Christ as the one true source of hope. And they would also give him the encouragement and strength he needs at this time. But I will not go against the colleges rules about students paying their bills. So by God's grace I will do the next best thing. In a few weeks I will begin meeting with Tim again and discipling him using my own books and Bible studies. These meetings will be totally separate from my Bible college responsibilities, and will in now way use the colleges material. This probably will put a lot more work on me, but I feel that those in need should be ministered with the Word of God, even if you have to do it for free.