This is a letter I sent to my new friend in Africa as we begin our discipleship journey. March 9, 2003
Hello Alfred,
I was checking the time clock, and see that you are 8 hours ahead of me.
Not sure how many times a week you can get to the Internet Cafe to check mail?
Perhaps one day soon you might have a computer at home. How much does Internet access cost on a monthly basis over there?
Is there a source for purchasing used computers at a cheaper cost?
Here in the states, people almost give away old ones when they buy a new one. It seems they are outdated so fast these days.
My computer is almost four years old, but filling up fast. It has a six gig drive, and almost filled to capacity.
My heart is excited about our ongoing relationship. I have told many friends of our emails and they are excited also, that God has brought us together from so many miles away.
I can envision that perhaps many people around the world through cyberspace can be spurred on to Internet Discipleship through our story.
I would like to chronicle our journey together in order to challenge others around the world to do the same. Is that O.K. with you?
I do not know if you have any oppression from government sources or not, but let me know if you do. Many thoughts have raced through my head as I try and help you grow in the Lord.
If you have access to a printer, then get a three ring binder notebook for our discussions.
I printed this out for some men I am discipling here in the states. Then I made a copy of the table of contents from this link. Of course that will change as I add more pages.
Then as we go over each lesson, you can make some notes on your copy.
As I stated in one of my lessons, this is a good place to start with someone you are just getting to know, like we are.
I will be adding three discussion questions to each of my pages soon. That will help when you sit down with your Timothy and help him.
There are several questions I would like to ask you.
If we were sitting down to lunch and going over lesson 9, then these questions would come up as we talked.
1. Tell me how you became a Christian. This gives me a starting point so I can see where you are, and where you would like to go.
2. Assuming I got a good response and felt good about your relationship with Christ, then I would continue. If you gave me some response, that caused me to question your salvation, then I would go over the bridge illustration with you, and nail down your commitment so that you really understood it. Many men that we help will be unclear about their salvation, and many men will not even know the Lord, even though they are saying some of the right words. Only the Spirit of God can "bear witness with our spirit" Romans 8, and give us that assurance.
Now once I am assured of your citizenship in heaven, I would proceed with the next question. What is your experience in discipling men? Have you ever led another person to Christ? If yes, did they continue to walk with the Lord? Again, depending on where you are at on this question, would determine where we go next. That is why I have included feeding the new believer and the basics in lesson 2 and 3 of my website. You have to begin where they are, and proceed from there. Since we are doing this email, I will just ask you many of the questions now. But in real time, with you helping another, you would not do that. In America we call that "dumping the truck" on them. That is not good, since many men have to be led along gently. Some take years to get where you are right now.
3. So I will wait to hear from you before I ask any more questions. If you have not helped anyone personally to a become a disciple of Jesus, then we will both begin to pray for God to give you a man. That is covered in lesson one. That might happen soon, or it might take a long time. God has his own timing. He only wants you to be one step ahead of that person, and you will find that discipling another man, keeps you from sin. Even yesterday when I was discouraged about some bad things that happened to me, I thought of you, and the bad things did not seem so significant, when I thought of the joy of your letters and the possible future of many men in Africa being affected by our relationship.
Our God is great my friend.
I will call you soon. Let me know the best time to reach you.
Jim
I welcome your comments and criticism as I develop these pages. If you want my views on any particular subject please let me know. I have not "arrived" but am a fellow pilgrim just like you.
