“Shadi is an excellent discipler.” This is the first thing BMA Missionary Charlie Costa said when describing what discipleship looks like in his church in Lebanon. What makes Shadi an excellent discipler? It’s his focus on relationship building, systematic methods, and biblical foundation that makes his approach to discipleship excellent. 

Relationship Building

Shadi focuses on one specific area of a certain people group which lives in the mountains above Beirut. Shadi loves the people; they aren’t just a number to be added to the church for numbers’ sake, but they are real people in need of a real Savior. This leads him to build authentic friendships by doing life with people and truly caring for them as people. 

As the friendships grow, people become more interested in Shadi’s faith, which they can see in his actions and in his words, and they begin to ask questions. This opens the door for Shadi to invite them to home groups where they can learn more about Christ in a small-group setting, and he begins to meet with them individually. 

The people are a non-Muslim people group who give more veneration to the person of Jesus, but they believe he’s only a prophet. Talking about Christ is normal for them, but they will face some challenges in their thinking as they discover Christ as their Savior. 

Systematic Methods

This people group tends to think extremely systematically and logically. For them to accept a new thought or idea, things should be rational and make sense. Shadi realizes this, so he leads them through a study of scripture from creation to Christ, and this leads them to the issue of salvation. They will read passages of scripture and answer four questions: What does this passage teach us about God? What does it teach us about man? What does it teach us about living a life pleasing to God? Who am I going to tell?

At the end of each session, they have to decide what to do to apply what they learned, and then apply it in the days to follow. At the next meeting, they will discuss how things went. This approach allows people to get involved as active participants, not passive listeners. 

Biblical Foundation

Shadi’s method of study, called Discovery Bible Study, is beneficial because it is strictly reading scripture, retelling the story, and discovering its deeper implications. This is helpful to this people group because they have no knowledge of scripture. Costa says, “Once they’ve accepted Christ, we up the dose of Bible study and take them even deeper.” Costa adds, “Discipleship is valuable because it allows the individual to voice questions, doubts, challenges, and temptations, and the discipler is then able to respond more relevantly to these issues from scripture.”