A Christian’s journey in spiritual growth is like running a lifelong marathon. To mature in faith, a believer often requires the enduring stamina of a long-distance runner as opposed to the short bursts of power exhibited by a sprinter. With the help of the College Hill (Beaver Falls, Pa.) RPC, a number of young people at Geneva College are not only progressing in their endurance but are even renewing their energy by making a “DASH” during their college years.

DASH—Discipleship, Accountability, Service on the Hill—is a program that was developed and initiated by College Hill RPC pastor Titus Martin to create and strengthen the bonds between the church and the college students. “I can’t have deep connections with all of the students,” explains Pastor Martin, a 2001 graduate of Geneva. “So very early on, I developed this small-group discipleship that takes a few students and groups them together with a mentor from the congregation.”

During the fall and spring semesters, each DASH group meets once a week for about an hour with an adult mentor from the church. All of the groups also come together once a month for a workshop conducted by Pastor Martin, which is devoted to one aspect of the Christian life. “The first year focuses on the personal walk and devotions—sin and temptation and developing good habits,” says Pastor Martin. “The second year is evangelism—naming a few people the students interact with in casual settings and intentionally praying for them, as well as learning how to share a testimony with unbelievers and how to explain the gospel. The third year is discipleship—learning how to disciple a new believer.”

Lauren Holmes is a 2012 Geneva graduate who completed the entire DASH program as a student. “Some of the activities that I did in the group included small-group book studies, Scripture memory, developing my personal testimony, and prayer,” she notes.

“In the midst of all of this, we try to instill a kingdom perspective so that students come to understand that all of life is to be lived for the kingdom and in service to the King,” says Pastor Martin. “We’re trying to help them see how what we all do now—how we live, how we work—matters for eternity.”

This kingdom perspective reinforces the core message the students receive in all of their academic and co-curricular activities at Geneva. As stated in the college’s Foundational Concepts, the purpose of Christian education is, “to seek the realization of the potential of the individual as the image of God through the development of God-given capacities.” In providing this Christ-centered, academically challenging education, every member of the administration, faculty and staff “endeavors to develop each student’s capacity for the enjoyment of the world as God’s creation, in all its cultural richness, realizing that all of life as a coherent whole is related to God and His redemptive activity.”

From its humble beginnings with just 20 students, the DASH program has nearly tripled in size in 5 years to serve around 60. “It has grown almost every year,” says Martin. “The students have different backgrounds, but connect through Geneva College or coming to church.”

“I actually joined a DASH group before becoming a member of the congregation,” Lauren says. “I started coming to College Hill RPC as a visitor and approached Pastor Martin about joining one of the groups after he made an announcement in church.”

Many of the students involved in DASH regularly attend College Hill RPC, like Holmes, but the program reaches a much wider group of young people. “It is not required that they go to College Hill RPC to be a part of DASH. Some students get involved through their friends,” Pastor Martin says.

This organic grouping of students means that members usually have previously established connections and are already comfortable sharing with one another. According to Pastor Martin, “The most valuable thing about the DASH program is that the members of the groups are then able to hold each other accountable. They learn by doing and they get support.”

Lauren agrees. “Being in a DASH group provided accountability and allowed me to get to know other believers outside of the church. As a result of knowing members of the group, I was able to discuss personal joys and struggles more readily than if I’d walked up to someone in church and randomly shared something personal. I was also able to listen to the personal joys and struggles of other members of the group.”

Sarah McChesney, a 1993 Geneva graduate who has been a mentor since the program’s inception, also sees accountability as a prime strength of DASH for the mentors as well as the students. “A mentor doesn’t go into a discipleship group hoping to be encouraged by it. In fact, though, it has provided accountability for me to do my personal devotions, too, and for me to memorize whatever Scripture we’ve challenged each other to memorize,” she says. “So being a mentor is a blessing that way, too, because it pulls me up to where I want to be spiritually.”

“A mentor’s responsibility is to facilitate the groups, directing conversations, making sure the groups are on task,” says Pastor Martin. But there is much more to the mentor/student relationship than just leading group discussions. “At the same time, they’re sharing their lives together,” he adds. “Mentors go through the whole program, helping group members share their testimony or being there for them when they’re going through a hard time—developing friendships where they can walk together through life.”

“A primary thing that comes out of a discipleship group is that students have an adult figure when they’re taken out of their comfort zone and put in a new place,” says Sarah. “DASH gives students a group of peers with an adult to go to when they have life questions. The first year, they usually have surface-level questions. But in the final year, at least with my group, everything clicked and they were coming to me asking deeper questions.”

“One of the things I enjoyed the most was the ability for us to share what God was doing in our lives, whether it was joyful or a trial,” says Lauren. “We shared areas that we were struggling with and gifts that God had put in our lives. Afterwards, we would pray for each other. I appreciated this because it was an opportunity to drop everything I was doing and fellowship with others.”

Through this atmosphere of mutual support and accountability, the students in the DASH program are preparing themselves for a spiritual marathon and building up strength for a lifetime of service to the Lord. “By developing the spiritual disciplines of godliness and holiness at an early age,” McChesney adds, “it becomes a pattern of life after they leave college.”

And as Hebrews 10:36 tells us, “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” —Greg Wise

Greg Wise is a 1995 graduate of Geneva. He is the college’s publication services manager.