DiscipleShips vision is to go to the hard-to-reach coastal areas in the world and bring the Good News of Jesus, His mercy, and discipleship. By utilizing small flotillas, the places where there is no airplane landing strip, where boats don’t go to deliver supplies, or where they receive only supply once a month or so, will be reached and impacted for the Kingdom of God. Each flotilla will have a minimum of three vessels going into one area, where each vessel will go to a different island to minister and disciple the locals. Periodically the vessels reunite and have fellowship together. They will have communion, talk about what went well, how to improve, and encourage one another. After this they will go back to the same island, or if the Lord leads them to move to another island they will move on. The vessels in the flotilla are not supposed to be all DiscipleShips. We want to see the body of Christ coming together and working together to build God’s Kingdom here on earth. This means that one vessel might be DiscipleShips and could be sailing in a flotilla together with boats from other organizations. The people on the vessels will not be from one organization, but will have people on it from different organizations and churches, this to show even more that the body of Christ is working together to reach those areas. For example, working together might be YWAM (youth with a mission), Wycliffe, JARS, Spoken World Wide, Operation Christmas Child, missionaries that are already in the area, churches, and even a Christian family who wants to see if full time ministry is something for them. Once on the island they will first talk to missionaries who are in the area to learn about the customs and needs of the locals. Otherwise, the team will engage with the locals directly. The Good News of Jesus Christ will be shared, and mercy ministry and discipleship. Sharing the Good News will be done through different methods, because everyone learns things in different ways. Mercy ministry will be done only when it is possible to get professionals on board who are allowed to serve and in countries where they are permitted to practice their profession. Discipleship will be done on the vessels among the different people that will live on it and on the island to the locals. But if there are locals who want to learn more and are serious about being discipled, they might join for a season on the vessel and then be commissioned to make disciples and sent out from us wherever the Lord leads. Depending on the need on the island and the time that God allows a vessel to be at one island, the locals might receive training/education in clean drinking water, boat building, and/or any other trades that they express would assist them in being all that God has called them to be.
