The Student Discipleship Program is a critical ministry of the AE Ethiopian team. The basic objective of the Students Discipleship Program is Building the Church of Tomorrow, Today, through discipling the next generation. The program has a broad focus, targeting students from grade 5 until young adulthood.
The objectives are:
- Equipping students to grow in their faith in God, develop a more solid understanding of the Bible and have a desire and ability to reach out to their peers with the Gospel.
- Training youth in basic leadership skills and equipping them to grow as effective Christian youth leaders in a changing world.
The beauty of the program is that it can be repeated annually. This consistent sowing of Gospel seeds has led many young people to Christ. Christian youth can be reached yearly with new skills and strategies to learn and implement in their own walks with Jesus.
The Gulele FGB Church in Ethiopia is one of the partnering churches that hosts the program.
Through the Gulele discipleship program, more than 200 students undertook the 2023 course. The feedback from church leaders has been that the program has contributed greatly to the spiritual growth of the students that attend the program over the years. One major change that they’ve noted is the growing interest in students to read the Bible and attend church services.
Breket Dawit is a 2nd year discipleship trainee and in grade 10 at school. She has attended the discipleship program for six years in her church and greatly values the benefits she has received from the program.
Bereket shares, “Because of this program I have a better grasp of the Christian faith. As a Bible believing Christian, though I accepted that God is one in three persons, I was not able to explain it until I studied in the discipleship class. Now I can explain what I believe. It has shaped my life positively and I got answers to the spiritual challenges I faced in school. In fact, there were times when my friends in school challenged me but because I was able to defend my faith, some of my classmates have started to come to our Christian fellowship club. This is the beginning of evangelism.”
“Please continue with this important and helpful program especially to the youth such as me who are tossed back and forth with new globalisation ideas and worldviews,” Breket urged.
Please pray for Breket and others like her who have been greatly and positively impacted by the discipleship program. Pray for more students to attend so they too can understand their faith and deepen in their love and knowledge of the Lord.