DISCIPLESHIP TRAINING SCHOOL

The first three months of the REACH program are spent in the Discipleship Training School (DTS). The DTS is designed to build strong spiritual foundations in the lives of all participants. The teaching and practical experiences of the DTS are centered around the eight Essential Components of Discipleship Training as outlined by the Global Discipleship Training Alliance. These components are: Communion/Intimacy with God, Holy Spirit Empowerment, Christ-like Relationships, Biblical Truth, The Body of Christ, Evangelism and Compassion, Dying to Self/Living for Christ, and World Missions.

The DTS is held at the SEND Training Center in Columbus , Ohio . The Training Center is a large house built in the late 1800's. It is located on the edge of a nice middle-class neighborhood, but is bordered by an inner-city neighborhood which provides many opportunities for ministry. Speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds, churches, and organizations are represented among the resource persons for the DTS.

OUTREACH

Following the DTS, REACH teams travel to their cross-cultural ministry locations for the outreach component of the REACH program. On outreach, the primary emphasis will be on evangelism but will also include a balance of work/service projects. Teams will interact with local groups of believers in such activities as musical and drama performances, friendship evangelism, assisting mission workers and pastors in outreaches, involvement with church youth groups, street evangelism, and a variety of manual work or medical projects.

RE-ENTRY

At the end of the outreach component, each team will take part in a debriefing which will last several days. This will be a time when returning teams can share with each other what they experienced during outreach. It will also be a time of reflection, evaluation, and preparation for returning to home communities and churches.

TEAMS

The SEND Department believes in the value of team life and thus makes it a strong component of the REACH program. Each REACH participant is placed on a team of 4-6 people according to outreach location. While the SEND Department takes seriously an applicant’s preference(s) regarding outreach location(s), we ask applicants to remain open to prayer and counsel as the team going to an applicant’s preferred location may already be full, or an applicant’s gifts may be better utilized on a different team.

Each team has an appointed team leader. Team leaders are peers chosen on the basis of their experience and preparation to model the qualities of humble, confident, and God-reliant leadership in prayer, learning, obedience, and love. They give direction to the life of the team in group relationships and discipling, and serve under the authority of REACH administration and local church leaders in ministry ventures.

GOALS

The following are goals that the SEND Department hopes are achieved in the life of each REACHer as a result of his/her participation in the REACH program.

• TO REACH UP
To engage in a period of intensive discipleship training in preparation for lifelong service for Christ.
To experience inner healing and growth in maturity through study, prayer, intimate fellowship, and service.
To grow in personal relationship with Christ and in exercise of spiritual disciplines for personal holiness and for stability and effectiveness in spiritual warfare.

• TO REACH OUT
To develop a winsome evangelistic lifestyle through practical witness and service ventures.
To move out in a cross-cultural response to the need for workers in the spiritual harvest around the world.
To be open to initiating new expressions of evangelism, service, and mission under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

COMMITMENT

To be accepted into the REACH program, applicants must commit:

To affirming Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
To practicing the personal disciplines of Bible reading and study, journaling, meditation, prayer, and learning to hear the Lord.
To relating to the other members of the group in love, self-sacrifice, encouragement, and submission.
To responding graciously to designated leaders, recognizing accountability to God-given authority.
To sharing Christ in word and deed as opportunity affords.
To maintaining a close relationship with one’s home congregation in giving and receiving finances, letters, reports, and prayer.
To entering wholeheartedly into the life of the church where one is sent, with sensitivity to the new culture, praying for a learner’s heart.
To lifelong service in the Kingdom of God , recognizing that REACH is not an end in itself.