Discipleship in Education

Students are often tested to evaluate their academic knowledge, but few Christian schools use objective measures to determine if a student has become a true disciple of Christ. Unfortunately, there are few organizations that provide metrics for measuring biblical knowledge, let alone any sort of comparative evaluation of students engaging in the Christian disciplines, forming a biblical worldview, or actually being impacted spiritually by the programs of the school. No matter whose statistics one chooses to believe, the inescapable truth is that the church is losing its young men and women at an alarming rate once they graduate from high school. The solution to this problem is simple, but increasingly difficult to solve with each passing year. Discipleship is what is needed for young people to truly identify who they are in Christ, so that they can begin to develop godly habits and ultimately grow in their knowledge, faith, and desire to serve the Lord and his Kingdom. Christian schools have some particular advantages in the area of discipleship; however, their full potential is, at the moment, untapped. Discipleship in Education is about preparing everyone from administrators, teachers, pastors, and parents to be ready to unleash that potential. ""The number of Christian school graduates who leave their faith behind when they go to college may not be in spite of what Christian schools do but because of it. How do we measure what our students really believe and what they do with what they learn? How can we ensure that what we teach will be used later in life? Allotta's book gives a thoughtful and practical approach to answering those questions."" --Dennis Cox, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Trinity College of Florida ""Joseph 'gets it, ' he understands biblical discipleship! He destroys the myth of discipleship being an activity on the calendar or advanced option for super-believers. Furthermore, he defines the biblical mandate for discipleship and establishes a strategy. He has written for the Christian school but this is applicable to all of life."" --Mike Calhoun, Pastor of Ministry Training, The Summit Church Joseph Allotta is assistant professor and director of the Ministry Department at Trinity College of Florida and lead pastor of The Crossroads Church. He holds a bachelor's degree in Pastoral Ministry from Trinity College as well as a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Liberty University. He has been involved with Christian education as a student, teacher, administrator, and pastor for over twenty years, and his passion to make disciples has been ever-growing.