Free at last! That’s the spirit of millions of beautiful young college students heading off to the big “U.” Life at college is all about ballgames, tailgating, frat parties, socials, nightclubs, and no curfews with thousands of pretty people and no parents. Wow! Sounds like fun doesn’t it? Well, there is that thing called the library, but that’s only a temporary distraction when duty interrupts the sweet life.

Is today’s church preparing our youth for this critical rite of passage? Are we intentionally equipping high school students for a greater purpose in life and giving them a good plan to carry it out? It doesn’t seem so.

Studies indicate that as many as two-thirds of our youth will actually drop out of church during their college years. Many will cast off all restraint and indulge in the atmosphere of drunkenness, drugs, and sexual freedom that prevails. Spring break will take precedent over spiritual growth.

We can do better. We can equip them to live the D-Life. High school students can be trained to live a lifestyle of discipleship. We can send them off to college with a higher purpose than to see how many beers they can drink. What if their mission while at college was to see how many disciples they can make and how many D-Groups they can multiply?

D-Life is a perfect plan for training high school students to live a lifestyle of discipleship. D-Life is simple. Even with the busy demands of college, every student can read one chapter of the New Testament a day five days a week. This is a very attainable goal that will give them a plan and a purpose for reading their Bibles daily. With the D-Life web/app on their mobile phones, they will have right at their fingertips the daily Bible reading plan, weekly study guides, and everything they need to begin a D-Group.

Numerous studies have shown that millennials are relational and team oriented. They value authenticity and care about social issues. D-Life is relational and team oriented. In D-Life, a D-Group of three to eight people become extremely close as they discuss the Bible together each week. Open and honest discussion of God’s Word in a coffee shop or dorm room is an authentic way to disciple others.

As a team, every D-Group shares together in one ministry and evangelism project every two months. Again, this is a doable goal even for busy students. Millennials value ministry that addresses the concerns of current social issues.

We have also found that millennials are confident and goal-oriented. If properly trained, they can go to college and live the D-Life. What if your church was constantly commissioning and sending well trained student “missionaries” to college campuses to live a lifestyle of discipleship? How many D-Groups could  one student multiply in four or five years? What kind of impact would it make on university campuses if hundreds or even thousands of D-Groups were continually multiplying and spreading–meeting anytime and anywhere?

This is what D-Life is all about. It’s about a movement of God that goes back to doing things the way Jesus did. It’s called D-Life–living a simple lifestyle of discipleship.

Pastors and youth pastors, are you content with the way you are preparing your students for this critical rite of passage called college? Let me encourage you. I think we can do better. Perhaps there is no better group of people to begin a movement of authentic discipleship than college students who are equipped and empowered to live the D-Life.

Let me know what you think about it.