What is Radical Discipleship?

What does Radical Discipleship look like on our kids?

In our ministry we really zeroed in on creating opportunities for this generation to have incredible encounters with God. But according to the statistics, even some of the choicest Christian kids show little difference in conduct compared to their unsaved friends. It’s bad enough to hear this about the general population of Christian youth, but I began hearing very troubling reports about some of the young people who have been raised in a supernatural environment that are also succumbing to lifestyles at odds with their biblical upbringing—some we know can hear God’s voice, heal the sick, give prophetic words, have been praise and worship leaders, etc. They aren’t the kids who’ve been on the sidelines of their Christian faith. They are the ones who’ve really been engaged in walking with Christ.

Asking Hard Questions

I began to ask myself some hard questions. Have we worked so hard to make sure they could hear God’s voice and feel his presence that we forgot to mention scriptures to them like, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Have we been so anxious to see the power of God at work in their lives that we forgot to tell them that if you love the Lord you will hate evil and that you must be holy in everything you do, just as God — who chose you to be his children — is holy?

Have we pushed so hard to raise a revival generation that we forgot that when true revival comes true repentance also comes, and that it means turning your back on sin and going another way.

A Coddled Generation?

I have often wondered, especially with this Millennial Generation, which has also been nicknamed the “Coddled Generation” because they have been the most coddled, protected, and babied generation in history—and that’s according to the secular experts.

Have we been so anxious to make sure they knew that there was nothing they could do, no sin so great, that Jesus would still forgive them and love them. I’ve actually watched that played out to mean, “I can do anything and get away with it, because all I have to do is ask Jesus to forgive me and he will.

If I had to choose between a generation of kids who know how to heal the sick, speak in tongues, do signs and wonders, give prophetic words and a generation of kids who will live radical, holy lives laid down as sacrifices before God, I’ll take the holy generation any day of the week.

I want to raise up a generation of RADICAL DISCIPLES. Do you know what radical discipleship is? It’s not teaching kids to jump and shout when they sing. It’s not teaching kids to pray loudly in tongues. It’s not waving their arms crazy in worship. That’s not radical discipleship.

In fact, may I suggest to you that those things are simply learned behavior in a specific cultural stream in the body of Christ?

Radical discipleship is living a laid down life before God, putting his will, his commandments before our own desires. Radical discipleship is going against the flow of culture that is in conflict with the commands of our God It’s raising up a generation of kids who love God’s word more than they love to see visions.

Do our kids have enough personal encounters with God to let them know He’s real, and that He is worth laying their lives down For? Your thoughts?

(To hear this entire message, see “A Holy and Righteous Generation” in our School of Supernatural Children’s Ministry. Now $2 off full retail price.)

Kids in Ministry International
PO Box 549 * 111 Collins Avenue
Mandan, ND 58554
701-258-6786
Email: kidsinministry@yahoo.com