Our discipleship group is called Joshua Generation because we are dedicated to raising up young leaders that can lead their generation like Joshua led his when he led them to take the promise land. The Promise Land that we read about in the Old Testament is symbolic of the destiny that is in our lives today. God has a "Promise Land" for everyone, and especially for our generation.

We have developed a discipleship group devoted to helping young people, at a prime transition time in their life reach, their destiny. The purpose and goal of the Joshua Generation is, "To mature young Christians and train them how to be effective leaders of and ministers to the Body of Christ, with an emphasis on reaching our Generation with the Good news of the freedom through Jesus Christ, as well as raising up men and women of strong prayer and relationship with Jesus Christ." This is their Promise Land that we not only want to take them to, but equip them to be able bring others with them along the way.

Developing such a group seems to be something the Holy Spirit is emphasizing in the Church today. Bringing together a discipleship group, in all honesty, is fun and exciting, but at the same time should not be taken lightly. Nothing one does in service to Christ that will effect the lives of others should be handled light-heartedly.

The foundation of the Joshua Generation is a simple philosophy that our team learned form The City Church in Kirkland, WA. It is a very focused philosophy that some might consider too simple, but we found that by keeping it simple would allow more flexibility. When dealing with the lives of individuals it is important that in the Church, when structuring all our programs, we remember the importance of keeping things very flexible. When dealing with individual lives there is nothing that can be completely concrete. In order to accommodate this reality, we decided to adopt a philosophy that would fit perfectly in this mind frame. Pastor Steve Carpenter originally developed this philosophy. He took his philosophy from Philippians 4:9 which says, "The things which you learned and received (Instruction) and heard and saw in me, (Mentoring) these do (Ministry) and the God of peace will be with you."

We adopted his three pillars as our own: Instruction, Mentoring, and Ministry. Every aspect and structure of the Joshua Generation Program has been divided into one of these three categories. Through Instruction, which is the area that will be highlighted in this paper, those interning in this program are taught the Word of God in various ways. We chose this as one of our principles because we believe strongly that these messengers of the gospel need to make sure they have a message, and that they are capable of correctly communicating it. Then there is the actual mentoring process that takes place. In the mentoring process, the focus is on bringing change and influence through relationship that is founded on the Word of God. Finally there is the practical aspect of the program which is ministry. In this they take the teaching and mentoring they have received and apply it to various areas of ministry. One area of ministry that will be emphasized in our program will be Evangelism. Through these three pillars the Joshua Generation Program sets its philosophy outline.

The area of the program I was assigned to was deciding what curriculum should be taught in our Program. Before settling on a particular program I decided to see what kind of teaching emphasis and effort should be focused on. Throughout the Bible we see that God puts an emphasis on the importance of the message. One place God teaches us this important lesson is in II Samuel 18 in the story of Ahimaaz who was a messenger without a message. Ahimaaz was a chosen messenger of King David at the time when the conflict between King David and his son Absalom took place. When Absalom was killed, Joab sent a Cushite, who was a witness to Absalom’s death, to go and tell King David what he had witnessed. After Joab had sent the Cushite messenger, Ahimaaz comes along insisting that he be sent to take the message to King David, even though the Cushite messenger had already been sent. Finally, Joab gave in to Ahimaaz’s request and allowed him to go and tell the king what he knew, which was very little in comparison to what the Cushite had to tell him. Ahimaaz passed the Cushite and beet him. Ahimaaz was the first to take any word to the King. The word he took to the King though was not much of a word, as we see in verse 29, "The king said, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" Ahimaaz answered, "When Joab sent the king's servant and me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was about." II Samuel 18:29. Though Ahimaaz was an appointed messenger of the king, his service to King David was of no use because he did not have a message to bring him. It was the Cushite who in the end delivered the message David needed to hear.

As Christians, Christ has called us all to be messengers to some degree or another, but that by no means, implies that we automatically have a message in hand. Before we can go out and take the message to the people, which is exactly what Christ commands us to do in the great commission, we must have a message ready to give them. What good is it to take hungry people water? It is important that we equip ourselves with the milk and meat of God’s word in order to feed a hungry people.

In Ezra 7:10 it says, "For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel." Here we see that Ezra literally took to heart the responsibility of learning and teaching the word of God to others. In Proverbs 3:1-2 God warns us not to forget his teaching because of all that it brings to our lives. It brings us long life and peace. Proverbs 6:23 tells us that it will be a lamp for us. Teaching is so essential for not just practical things in our lives, but for long-term guidance.

Jesus has often been referred to as the Master Teacher. This is because He taught whereever he went. Consistently in the gospels when we read about Jesus, we read that he was teaching as he traveled in this ministry: "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people." Matthew 4:23. We also see that Jesus taught in various places. Sometimes it was in formal settings such as the synagogue and temple courts. At other times it was on a hillside, in a boat, or along a roadside. For Jesus, teaching was not just something he did, it was a lifestyle.

In the early church, we find that they continued in the pattern that Jesus outlined in the Gospels. "And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." Acts 5:42. They made teaching a part of their continued lifestyle. They understood and put into practice the important truth of teaching. Not only did they understand the importance of teaching they realized the common place it had in one's lifestyle.

Having realized the mandate of teaching laid out in scripture it was impossible to overlook the role in which it would play in our discipleship program. The focus put forth in scripture is the rock we stand on in placing it as one of our pillars in our program. Teaching is absolutely essential in every area of the Body of Christ, especially when dealing with forming the minds and lives of young people.

Having understood all of this, it was now time to choose the actual curriculum we would teach in our program. After looking at various programs and examining the options, we came up with some that are commonly used. But the reason they are commonly used is because they work. And as the old saying goes, "If it isn’t broken, don't fix it." We decided that it was best to go with a program that has a proven track record and was not so complicated that it went over all of the student’s heads.

The wisest option we came up with can be divided basically into three different sections with room for flexibility. The first section is the teaching of Basic Doctrine. We chose this because we firmly believe it is essential that all young people, as well as old, have a basic understanding of doctrinal issues that are laid out in scripture. The Basic Doctrine would be taught over the entire 9-month program. The second section that would be taught is Old Testament and New Testament survey. The Old Testament Survey would be taught over the first 4 and half months, followed by New Testament Survey, to be taught over the final months. We saw this as an important part of the teaching program because through this curriculum the student will be taken through an overview of the entire Bible.

I think many people would be shocked if they realized how many young people who, even though raised in church their whole life, have never read through the entire Bible, much less have a basic understanding on it. In the first two sections the interns would receive Bible College credits for their work.

The third section of our teaching program would be a crash course of Personal Bible Study. This would not be for college credit, but rather for the use of equipping them to study the Bible on their own. For this we would take a week out of our normal teaching schedule and focus on Personal Bible Study. Then throughout the 9 months, assign them papers that correspond to the other courses that would require them to use their Personal Bible Study skills. These are the basic sections of our teaching or instruction pillar.

There might be times of equipping where other teaching that does not fit into this schedule will be taught. One example of such an equipping teaching would be right before a missions trip. In times such as this there might be a couple of days of Personal Evangelism or a day on the culture of that country. Other kinds of equipping might include weekend teaching seminars.

The Joshua Generation Program is devoted to every pillar of its philosophy. More important though than any philosophy is a focus on the needs of the young people. With this in mind, our program hopes to help them reach their own personal Promise Land through the mandates and examples that are laid out in scripture for us.

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