Discipling the Next Generation Life-on-Life
Why do you believe in life-on-life discipleship among students or young people?
Andson
I am the product of campus ministry! I came to Christ through the campus ministry of The Navigators and have been discipled by various mentors God has placed in my life. I am grateful to God that He has given me mentors to establish and equip me throughout these years. Who I am today is the outcome of their faith, love and patient endurance! They spent hours pouring out their lives into mine, desiring and praying that one day, I can truly follow Jesus, the Great Shepherd.
Early on in my spiritual journey, I gave a much higher priority to evangelism and little attention to disciplemaking, having lost sight of the value of the latter. This led to my inability to attend to the real needs of my followers, and eventually, some left the faith and the ministry. While my heart was broken, I continued with the same course of action.
It was only when I started meeting my current mentor that I began to understand that the Great Commission is accomplished through one faithful disciple investing his or her life in another to build up yet another disciple, one spiritual generation at a time. This helped me to understand the importance of investing my life in people. When one grows well in the Lord, he has great potential to reach many men and impact the world. (Proverbs 14:4).
Where there is no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength
of an ox comes an abundant harvest.
— Proverbs 14:4
Students and young people are the future generations of labourers. When well trained and equipped (Proverbs 22:6), they can be a blessing to their classmates, friends, family and people around them. It grieves my heart to see students giving their lives to temporal earthly goals, worldly desires and passions rather than to following Jesus. How I wish they could see that God can use them tremendously when they commit themselves to follow Jesus.
Training a disciple, to build them up in their faith requires intentionality, time and energy. The process is often arduous and slow and requires love, prayer and perseverance until Christ is formed in them. (Galatians 4:19). Without having a clear vision, I will not be able to finish well.
By God’s grace, He allowed me to experience this through A, whom I met when he was a Year 1 student. After several sessions of Bible reading, he was convicted by the Spirit and invited Jesus into his life. Back then, he thought there was no need to meet me upon receiving Christ. To his surprise, I continued to follow up with him, helping him to grow in his new love for God and work through the hindrances to his spiritual growth. In God’s time and grace, A is today a dedicated disciple of Christ and pioneering a new campus ministry.
Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
— Proverbs 22:6
There is no greater joy to see that my children are walking in the truth.
— 3 John 4
Bi Fen 
My life was personally impacted by life-on-life discipleship.
I was once a shy and pessimistic person. I had many fears (fear of examinations, death and the spiritual realm) and little confidence to face the future. But my life was changed after I came to know the Lord and was discipled by The Navigators during my first year in polytechnic. My mentor helped me to grow in my relationship with the Lord and equipped me to share the gospel.
I started to reach out to students and many of them came to receive Christ. I started following up with the new believers the next year. My friends and schoolmates were amazed to see how a timid person like me was able to proclaim the gospel. Amazingly, one of my secondary school friends also came to know the Lord after witnessing the changes in my life.
After I graduated from polytechnic, I continued to stay in the campus ministry to learn and serve. Over the years, I saw the value of discipling the youth and willingly spent my after-work time or non-working days to share the gospel and disciple the students despite the demands of a challenging job and responsibilities at home.
Life became more challenging when I got married and had children. Serving God in the fast-paced campus ministry with young children challenged my convictions. A vision trip I went on 18 years ago also impacted my life deeply. I saw many individuals who had graduated and moved on to later seasons in life, filled with love for God and living zealously for Him and the Great Commission. I saw that the outcome of their lives was the result of them having been discipled when they were students.
Serving God in a full-time capacity since 2012 on two different campuses has only further deepened my conviction for disciplemaking, having seen numerous lives changed by and living for the Lord.
“Reach the campus, reach the world”—this is what we believe in. The youth will be the next generation of leaders—the ones who will impact the world. When they are discipled, trained and equipped, they will impact not only their generation but also the future generations to come (2 Timothy 2:2).
Many youths are yearning for meaning in their lives; yet, many are lost, broken and living aimlessly. With some spiritual guidance, they will be empowered to live purposefully.
And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.
— 2 Timothy 2:2
The season of youth is one filled with much potential and energy, and hence, a critical time for us to take hold of. We must feed youths with God’s Word so that biblical values will be forged in them in this formative season of their lives. As their minds are renewed by the word of God, so will they make decisions with eternal perspective and invest their time and energy in eternal purposes (Romans 12:2).
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
— Romans 12:2
The season of youth also symbolises availability for training. Instead of leaving them to spend time on futile pursuits, we can make use of this season to lay spiritual foundations in their lives, develop their character and equip them for God’s work. We are very thankful for the many youths who were and are willing to devote their mornings and vacations to the Lord. Many are excited about the opportunity to live together for life training in an apartment and at my home.
Having Quiet Time sharing with fellow believers
Life Training: Preparing a mouth-watering breakfast together
Based on your observations, what challenges do students or young people currently have?
Social Media
The prevalence of social media has invited several societal concerns. The campus is not spared from these either. Time that could be used purposefully may sometimes be lost to mindless scrolling and what is seen on social media may distract and deceive. Perhaps, our young people are prompted to compromise on their single-hearted devotion towards God because of this. They need to be encouraged to let go of the things that hinder them from living fruitfully for Christ.
Materialism
Youths may sometimes give greater attention to the present successes and pleasures in life and pay lesser attention to the matters of eternity. Their concerns may centre around their own education, career or ambition rather than the souls of men.
Mental Health
More and more students experience challenges in their mental and emotional health. Some experience anxiety and see little purpose in life.
How do you disciple them to live out an integrated life of discipleship among the lost that goes beyond the campus?
Andson and Bi Fen
The life of discipleship is a life-long journey! Helping them go beyond the campus requires them to follow Jesus daily. (Matthew 4:19, Luke 9:23). There is no short-cut or instant formula. If they walk well with the Lord in their time as students and have learnt to follow Jesus by committing to the Lordship of Christ, they will more likely continue this journey of discipleship even when they start working.
We also focus on helping them to be a follower of Christ wherever they are. We believe that if they follow Jesus well, their lives will be a blessing to others wherever they go.
Beyond the campus, life will be even more challenging. Without first building the foundation of faith in their early years as students, it will be difficult for them to stand the test. We have observed that the students who dedicated themselves to the Lord in their student days were often the ones who became the light of the world in their workplaces.
Before DY met The Navigators, his life motto was “enjoy while you can” because of his “YOLO” mindset (You Only Live Once). He joined five clubs and was eager to try everything. After he learnt discipleship, his motto changed to “save while you can,” and he zealously reached out to the lost on campus, and even during his overseas exchange program.
As a working adult, he actively reaches out and disciple others for Christ. On a work trip to East Asia, he led a young man to Christ. As he grows, his motto has become “Love Jesus. Be Jesus,” as he strives to do everything out of love for Him.
“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I make you fishers of men.”
— Matthew 4:19
Then he said to them all, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
— Luke 9:23
How do you actively reach out to the non-Christian friends and parents of the students or young people in your ministry?
Andson and Bi Fen
Every soul is precious in the eyes of the Lord and our desire is for our family members and friends to be saved! We did what we could while keeping our focus on discipling the students and young people.
We trained and equipped our students to grow in their discipleship and be the spokesmen and women for Christ among their families and friends. We thank God that in recent years, two labourers’ parents came to Christ and are still walking with the Lord!
We also dedicate our yearly Christmas celebrations as an outreach event to our families and friends. It is always heartwarming to see many parents willing to attend the Christmas party and hear the true story of Jesus. We are doing the work of sowing and watering, but God enables the growth till the harvest comes.
Opening your home to the students or young people for meals, play, and family life together can be costly. What motivates you to live this way?
Andson and Bi Fen
Jesus first set the example!
Our mentors also set the example and we too, became convinced of its importance! Jesus was always on the move with the 12 apostles and had close fellowship and discipleship with them. This allowed them to observe and learn from his life examples and teachings. He lived in such close proximity that His life could be transmitted to them.
Our mentors opened up their homes to train young people through life sharing and doing things together to impart knowledge, skills and conviction to raise the next generation of labourers. And indeed, many labourers have been and continue to be raised!
Disciples are made not born!
We are thankful for God’s provision for a bigger rented house at a discounted price for us to facilitate home training. A home provides a platform for training where the labourers and disciples can stay and train together. This is where values, skills and character can be transmitted and learnt so that they can be life-long labourers where God calls them to be.
Vision must be taught and caught. Living and doing life together enables the next generation to catch our conviction and vision. Mere classroom instruction will not do.
Yes, it may be costly to open our homes up to others but our hearts are encouraged to see one individual after another being raised up as a disciple of Jesus Christ to reach the world for him. We are simply learning to love Jesus by sharing His heart to accomplish the Great Commission through life-on-life discipling.
Our concern for the spiritual condition of the youths highlights the desperate need of the hour—to raise workers for His harvest field.
Life Training: Trimming and tending to the garden together
What have you learned from journeying with your spiritual and physical children? Were there unexpected ways you saw God move in their hearts and lives?
Andson
Our spiritual children are gifts from God and are as dear to us as our physical children. God always works in ways beyond our imaginations so that we cannot claim any credit for ourselves. We want to give Him all the glory.
God is the Revealer of all things! As much as we desire our spiritual and physical children to grow in the Lord, there is a limit to what we can do. Our dependence is not on our own experiences, knowledge and skills, but on the only God who reveals Himself to them and changes what we could not change.
Through journeying different seasons in the lives of our children, we learnt to trust God for the things we are unable to change and be patient with them. We constantly demonstrate to them the unconditional love of God so that they can see Christ in us and that His image can be formed in them.
Bi Fen
One girl, AP, has suffered from an extended period of anxiety. She was constantly surrounded by accomplished family members, which prompted her to chase after the same. As a result, her identity was formed mainly based on her achievements in life.
AP used to struggle to prioritise God's word in her life, but after receiving 2 Samuel 24:24 from her mentor, she wanted to be faithful in meeting God daily and joined Quiet Time sharing every day in school. Through His word, she saw who God says she is; her identity is based on Him alone. Her perspective in life also started to change. As someone who used to be very concerned about people’s perception of her, she has now begun to live for the audience of One (Galatians 1:10).
While she had once been hesitant to help her peers in their studies due to the extent of competition, she now generously gives time to disciple them and help them with their studies. Amid tests and exams, she remained committed to fellowship and witnessing, willing to "lose" time studying to gain Christ (Philippians 3:8). Though last semester’s result did not meet her expectations, she still saw Christ as her greatest gain. Thank God for people who loved Him sacrificially!
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
— Galatians 1:10
How has it been co-labouring with your daughter in the campus ministry?
Andson and Bi Fen
It has been a great blessing for us to have our daughter, Joy, co-labour with us in our ministry and we are so proud of her! Her involvement with us has brought many blessings and joy to the fellowship. She has a pure love for people and is always seeking ways to help them overcome their weaknesses to grow.
One of the girls she is helping used to experience social anxiety. Joy was very patient while helping her to grow and now this girl is boldly sharing the gospel and even discipling one of the girls she reached out to last year. Glory to God in the highest!
Andson and Bi Fen’s daughter, Joy, (middle) with the girls she is discipling
About Andson
Andson grew up in a traditional Chinese family and was deeply concerned about the possibility of going to hell after death. Driven to find a path to heaven, he met The Navigators through a divine appointment. Although invited to a Christmas retreat, he initially chose not to receive Jesus. However, by God’s mercy, he experienced a personal encounter with Christ while travelling to his polytechnic. After graduating, he worked as a technical officer in the Electrical Engineering field.
Andson also enjoys sports and time in nature.
About Bi Fen
Bi Fen was born in a large Taoist family with 9 other siblings and lived in fear of examinations, death due to her poor health, and the spiritual realm since she was young. After coming to know Christ during her polytechnic days, she grew in her assurance of salvation and Christian life with the help of her mentor from The Navigators. She continued to learn and grow in discipleship with The Navigators after graduating from the polytechnic and working in the auditing industry.
Bi Fen likes singing and spending time by the sea in her leisure time.
Andson and Bi Fen joined The Navigators, Singapore as staff members in 2012 and now lead two campus ministries. They are parents to two beloved children.