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Summary: Emulating Jesus' discipleship methods these days with youth is practically unrealistic. One way of approximating it is ministry in their second space, that is being at school with them...
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There's nothing like a shower to feel refreshed... renewed... reborn... especially after spending four days in the bush without a shower and limited change of clothes (don't worry, I changed my underwear each day). As I wasn't known to most people at the Robinvale Easter Camp, I was called many things. Being the most noticed person in the outdoor marquee kitchen, I was called 'Cook' - after all, I was the only Asian among the Indigenous camp attendees, and the only male helping out in the kitchen. The younger people called me "Uncle" in line with tradition. But some found out my first name was Andrew. Many of the young people there were surprised when they discovered I was a secondary teacher - that is, working for a system they feel offers them little... a sentiment I share.

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I've only recently become a secondary teacher. Prior to that I was involved with Christian youth ministry at various levels, across denominations and in paid and unpaid capacities. Many years back, 'discipleship' became a trend word that everyone in youth ministry liked. Suddenly practically every church claimed to have a youth 'discipleship' program - which either was their old youth ministry programs re-branded, or ideas inspired by Tim Hawkins or the hills of music place in Sydney)... but none of them seemed to come close to what Jesus actually did with his disciples. For other dissatisfactions and views on contemporary youth ministry, see this link and this link.

So I toyed with the idea of a three-year road trip with 12 young people, where I would give most of them new names... but then thought I might run into some legal issues if I did.

After all, according to David Watson (from his book 'Discipleship') discipleship involved the disciple living with his master so closely that it was the disciple that handed the towel to his rabbi after his rabbi finished bathing - he saw practically (literally) every aspect of his master's life. It wasn't about just seeing him when he was teaching the disciple - but the disciple for years also eavesdropped and spied on practically every one of the rabbi's interactions and probably even on his private moments.

Now when I was in full-time professional ministry, I spent the majority of my week doing 'work-for or related-to-God', as opposed to 'normal' folk who had to spend the majority of their week on 'stuff related to the world'. Who comes across 'on the surface' as more of a 'hero for God'? And then it is also easy to appear 'full-on' for God, when you've psyched yourself up to be a 'great Christian example' for about the 2 hours a week contact time you have with young people. Naturally the young people assume you're like that for the rest of your week and life. They get inspired by your great example, and then get discouraged about their own lack of intensity, commitment, endurance and consistency in comparison to your seemingly hyper-normal life.

The Sony Playstation launched itself as the 'third space' - the most frequented recreational space, after home and work/study spaces. Practically all ministries are held in the 'third space' or later sequential numbered spaces.

Jesus did discipleship in the 'first space'. Camps, beach and other short-term missions is also discipleship in the 'first space'... but they are always short-lived affairs... with the outcomes of 'mountain-top' or 'drug-induced highs' that don't always translate well back to the mundanity of their 'normal' first and second spaces.

Most modern youth ministries aim to give youth an experience of how 'full-on', extreme, cool, and emotionally good or high it feels to be for Jesus. But the reality for young people is that most of their lives will be lived in times where they are just 'normal' - not high but the mundane. Sure, they can be cheery, and upbeat with a positive outlook, and a constant assurance 'that God has purpose-filled plans for their lives' - but their lives are largely filled with un-intense un-extreme aspects. Again we give them 'highs' that don't translate well to their normal first and second spaces... so many get conditioned to only be full-on for Jesus in Jesus-spaces.

So how can I do discipleship (or to use a more modern term - apprenticeship) well with young people?

I decided I needed to be part of their lives where they can observe, eavesdrop or spy on me for the long-term (and hopefully avoid legal issues related to adults hanging around young people a lot) and in a variety of situations. So although I have a lot of reservations related to the effectiveness of schools and education systems (as well as the perceptions young people have towards teachers) to empower youth, I chose intentionally to enter their 'second space.'

So I retrained to be a teacher (only 1 year), and when most people ask me what I do these days, I usually reply "I pretend." Because my main aim is not to help young people be the best academically they can be (at parent teacher interviews - I usually answer questions of how can my child do better in this subject with "get a better teacher"), but to help them experience more the Kingdom of God - through empowering them and broadening them with Kingdom views and values.

Of course to be effective in incarnational ministry, I needed to incarnate the message. So I left the urban upper middle class largely-White life of most Christians, and moved to a rural regional centre (I was too chicken to go remote rural) where I work in a state secondary school, and am primarily involved with an Indigenous Christian community.

I was very impressed with a young person who explained the difference between the his involvement with the large Hawkins-styled youth ministry and a smaller alternative youth ministry at his same church. With the former, he said "for any situation, I know what my youth group would tell me what I should do", with the latter, "for any situation, I know what my leader would have done and know how he would have done it". The latter was more effective discipleship... but even then, there are still short-comings to any church models...

I am sometimes tempted to go back to traditional church models for youth ministry (it's easier to get pats on the back from fellow Christians and feel effective)... and I occasionally dabble in there... but my primary focus is still youth ministry in the 'second space'. I'm still fairly fresh with this... so I welcome fellow companions...